5 Ways Leafy Greens Make Your Family Healthier

If you want your diet to be as healthy as possible, it should include an abundance of leafy greens. Arguably, these are the healthiest foods you can find, so adding at least one green salad to your daily meal plan is an absolute must. This will protect your brain from deteriorating, help you lose weight, improve your immunity, and enhance eye health among other benefits.

Healthiest Food Ever: Top 5 Health Benefits of Leafy Greens

1.      Prevention of cognitive decline

The rates of dementia, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases that lead to cognitive decline have been rising steadily over the last few decades. The problem has gotten so big, it might soon reach epidemic proportions.

Regular consumption of leafy greens reduces the rate of age-related cognitive decline, states a study published in Neurology in 2018. As a result of this protection, the risk of developing neurodegenerative disorders also goes down.

2.      Weight loss aid

You’ll find leafy greens on every list of what to eat to lose weight fast. That’s because they are rich in nutrients but low in calories. All leafy green vegetables contain large amounts of fiber, which is an essential element for fast and effective weight loss. It takes a while to travel through your digestive system, thus curbing your appetite.

Benefits of leafy greens for weight loss also include an improvement of your digestive health. This enables your body to process foods more efficiently and reduces nutrient absorption issues caused by inflammation and bad diet.

3.      Protection from disease

Exceptionally high antioxidant content is one of the main benefits of leafy greens. These elements protect every cell of your body from oxidative damage. This boosts your overall wellbeing as well as reduces the risk of diseases that range from inflammation to cancer.

No matter whether you choose to eat lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, or any other leafy green, you’ll get a huge serving of phytonutrients and vitamins, especially vitamins C and A. They will fuel your body’s defenses and improve the condition of your skin as well as your healing factor.

4.      Heart health protection

As cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the US, the ability to reduce the risk of its development is one of the most important benefits of leafy greens. Due to the high levels of antioxidants, essential nutrients, and dietary fiber these vegetables improve your cardiovascular health on many levels.

Eating leafy greens lowers your cholesterol and gives you lots of vitamin K. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, vitamin K has the power to improve both bone and heart health. It improves the very structure of your heart and generally strengthens the blood circulatory system.

This research showed that vitamin K deficiency literally weakens the heart and might cause left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). If this condition gets severe, the left side of your heart will enlarge so much, you might suffer a fatal heart attack. This condition is also associated with high blood pressure and can occur in people of any age.

Leafy greens are one of the best natural sources of vitamin K. Due to this and their other heart health benefits, people suffering from cardiovascular deficiencies should be eating as many servings of leafy greens as possible. If the issues are caused by a vitamin K deficiency, you should see some improvement within a week.

5.      Preserving eye health

It’s important to understand that despite the many important benefits of leafy greens, they don’t have the power to significantly improve your vision. However, they can help keep it sharp.

Swiss chard, dandelion, mustard greens, and kale are particularly good for this. The antioxidants contained in them help reduce the risk of cataracts. They also serve as a natural sunblock, but you still need to wear sunglasses to protect your precious eyes.

Comments

  1. very nice information

  2. Debbie W says

    I know the benefits, but I just think they taste good. I love my leafy greens.

  3. Deborah P. says

    I grew rainbow Swiss chard in my garden this year and tried some in a salad and steamed and it was quite good. I am adding it to my beef & cabbage soup as well for more vitamins. My daughter I making smoothies and can add it with all the greens we love so much. Its good to know this info so what to add to garden next season.

  4. Greens are so good for you! I just wish they’d taste like chocolate!!

  5. Lynda Cook says

    I really need to start to eat more greens, I would like to start to have a healthy smoothie for breakfast!

  6. Nena Sinclair says

    Great info! I’m including greens more and more in my diet.

  7. We grew a lot of greens in our garden this year. We donate a lot of produce to our local shelter and include kale, swiss chard, lettuce and mustard greens each year.

  8. Treen Goodwin says

    This would be perfect for me , i’m trying to be a bit more health conscious and i would love to include more greens in my life ! thanks for sharing !

  9. Anne Taylor says

    Great article! We really need to start doing this but we never seem to have the time

  10. I am always looking for new smoothie recipes for our morning smoothies. Thank you.

  11. Rosanne Robinson says

    Adding leafy greens to the morning smoothie is a terrific way to increase their daily intake, thx!

  12. Excellent info. We love adding greens to smoothies.

  13. Nena Sinclair says

    This is good to know. I eat greens, but probably not as much as I should.

  14. This would help me get more greens in my diet.

  15. thank you greens are so healthy

  16. Good thing I love my green vegetables.

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