Getting to Know Green Leafies

Last week, I talked about the importance of easing into a love of vegetables by using gateway veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes. Moms do that sort of thing with kids all the time, but it’s never too late. You can learn to love veggies at any age, if you are committed enough to your health. After you fall in love with those gateway vegetables, it’s time to start having some more salads in your life. Salads are great because they get raw, leafy greens into your body – which is invaluable to your health. I know what you’re thinking: boring! But, I’m going to ask you to bear with me again. Salads don’t have to be boring! They’re only boring if you don’t use your imagination.

Why You Should Eat More Salads

Leafy green vegetables, like romaine lettuce, are rich in vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting antioxidants, but they are also very rich in fiber, which keeps your colon happy and healthy. Fiber has also been shown to reduce cholesterol and blood sugar while helping to minimize blood sugar swings. If you’re trying to lose weight, this may be your favorite benefit of increased dietary fiber: It helps you feel full, so you end up eating less.

When you’re shopping for lettuce, always avoid iceberg. It’s not that it’s bad for you, but it isn’t the best you can get. The one benefit is that iceberg has a lot of water, so it can help hydrate you, but it doesn’t have many nutrients. Go for the greener varieties, like romaine lettuce. Red leaf lettuce is also very healthy. Once you get used to having salads, you can even throw in some baby spinach or kale to boost the nutritional value even further.

How to Spice Up Your Salads
Stop thinking of salads as boring. They don’t have to be! You can add virtually anything to your salad to make it more interesting. Here are some ideas to get the ideas flowing: berries; apples; walnuts; pecans; dried cranberries; sprouts; pomegranate seeds; flaxseeds; and nutritional yeast. I wouldn’t suggest adding all of those things at once (that would be a lot of work), but add a combination of things you like. Also, it helps to find a tasty dressing recipe. My favorites include a tahini ginger dressing and a ginger miso dressing. Yep, I’m a big fan of the ginger! You might not be, so find a recipe that works for you. Of course, you can always go out and buy your dressings, but you lose control of the quality that way. Usually store-bought dressings have a lot of sugar, fake sugar or sodium – and not to mention, preservatives.

Another thing about salads is that they are great to use in bag lunches. All you need is a container, dressing, a fork and a refrigerator. They don’t need to be cooked, so you can grab lunch and be eating in no time. My aunt, who is a paralegal at a busy law office, swears by salad for lunch. She says she gets interrupted too many times during her lunch break to have to worry about her food being hot. Salads just work, and they’re nutritious. What could be better than that?

Learning to Love Vegetables

If you’re anything like me, you grew up on TV dinners and frozen pizzas. There weren’t too many vegetables around in my house. It’s not that my mom didn’t care about our health, but she was a single parent struggling to make ends meet and those were quick meals that we would eat and she could afford. She went straight from her second job as an administrative assistant to her night classes at the community college, so she didn’t really have the time force us to sit there until we ate our peas. But, as a result, I really didn’t have much of a taste for vegetables. Most veggies are like a fine wine or a stout beer: you need to develop a taste for them. Generally, people aren't just born loving spinach, but over time, it grows on them.

That’s one reason why it’s important to include vegetables with every meal. The other reason is because it’s essential for good health. Vegetables are extremely rich in all of the essential vitamins and minerals (except B12 and D), so if you aren’t getting enough veggies, you might be causing a deficiency in your body. When the body is starving for a nutrient, the starvation doesn’t always present itself as hunger. You could experience thinning or dull hair, nails that chip or poor circulation: symptoms that could also come as a result of a myriad of problems. So, many people suffer from vitamin deficiencies and don’t know it. They end up on one prescription drug or another that may or may not alleviate their worst symptoms. Trust me, getting to know and like vegetables is a lot easier than stressing out because you don’t know why you’re losing so much hair or getting acne.

Some vegetables, like spinach, Brussels sprouts and kale, are extra-specially good for you – but they can be a little bitter, especially for those who aren’t used to them. What I suggest in these cases is for you to work your way up to those vegetables. Start with a sweet potato. A sweet potato is so yummy that you won’t even realize you’re eating a vegetable. The next day, commit to eating a carrot. After that, try snacking on some edamame or celery. Once you get the hang of some sweet vegetables, add a salad to your daily food repertoire and load it up with carrots, celery and broccoli. After you top that salad with your favorite dressing, eating veggies won’t feel like such a chore. Have no fear; eventually, you’ll make your way to the spinach, Brussels sprouts and kale.