What’s the Big Deal About Green Salads?
Green leafy salads are a staple in our home. Why salads? According to Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat To Live the one food that research has shown is most highly associated with longevity is leafy greens….in other words salads. This may come as a surprise to you, but leafy green vegetables are the most nutrient packed foods available to us.
Think about it, how do the giraffe, hippo, elephant, gorilla and cow get so big? Where do they get all the protein they need to create those big muscles? They get it from the leafy green vegetation they eat. All protein starts with the process of photosynthesis in green plants.
The added health benefits of green salads are that they are raw. To the leafy greens we use for our salad base we add lots more fresh raw vegetables. In Eat to Live, Dr. Fuhrman reports that a review of 206 studies showed raw vegetable consumption to be our strongest defense against cancer of any foods.
Making a Great Garden Salad
To make great salads you must start out with fresh produce, preferably organic. It’s the greens that are considered the powerhouse of nutrition, so include a variety of leafy greens in your salads. Green leaf, red leaf, romaine, spinach, kale…really any kind of greens can be added to your salad.
To your highly nutritious greens you can add a wide variety of raw vegetables. Make your salad colorful, fun and exceptionally nutritious by using all the colors of the rainbow. We love vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips, squash, sprouts, sweet potatoes, broccoli, bell peppers and red cabbage. But really, what ever you have on hand works well. To make your salad even more exotic try adding fruits, seeds, nuts and berries.
Preparing Your Green Salad
Food preparation is made easiest when you have the right equipment. First and foremost you must have a quality salad spinner to clean and dry your greens thoroughly. We found a great one at Bed Bath and Beyond. It’s large, spins and dries well and can be used to store your freshly prepared greens. You may find it convenient to prepare several days worth of greens at one time. That way, you can quickly throw some already cleaned leafy greens in a bowl and add a variety of raw veggies and “voila”, you have a fresh garden salad ready in no time.
Variety is The Spice of Life
Beyond the salad spinner a sharp knife is mandatory and a mandolin and a food processor are helpful to have as well. One of the ways to avoid salad boredom is by varying the veggies you put in your salad and by varying the cuts of the vegetables. Slicing, dicing, shredding them into different sizes, shapes and lengths makes your salads more appetizing. Another way you can add variety and maintain the health benefits of green salads is to use a variety of homemade salad dressings. Start with our basic vinaigrette dressings and then dress it up by adding things like ginger, garlic, mustard, herbs, Braggs amino acids or other favorite spices.
How Much Salad Should You Eat?
Sadly only 1 out of 100 Americans are eating enough nutrient dense raw vegetables to get the benefit of defending them against cancer. A good rule of thumb to use is making salads and raw vegetables your main course for lunch and dinner. Dr. Fuhrman recommends 1 large head a day per person or about 1 pound of greens. Personally, We eat about 2 large salads daily – the size of a dinner salad you would get at Chili’s or some other comparable restaurant. The bottom line is You can never eat too many greens and raw veggies. So fill up on them first and you will be on your way to better health and longevity.
