Let Food Be Thy Medicine: Leafy Greens!!!

Your Goal this Week: Eat Greens for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Green vegetables are the foods most missing in modern diets. Learning to cook and eat greens is essential to creating health. When you nourish yourself with greens, you will naturally crowd out the foods that make you sick. Greens help build your internal rain forest and strengthen the blood and respiratory systems. Green is associated with spring, the time of renewal, refreshment and vital energy. In Asian medicine, green is related to the liver, emotional stability and creativity.

Nutritionally, greens are very high in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K. They are crammed with fiber, folic acid, chlorophyll and many other micronutrients and phyto-chemicals. Whenever possible, choose organic. But eating non-organic greens is much better than not eating any greens at all!

Some of the benefits from eating dark leafy greens are: 
Blood purification 

Cancer prevention
Improved circulation
Strengthened immune system
Promotion of healthy intestinal flora
Promotion of subtle, light and flexible energy
Lifted spirit and elimination of depression
Improved liver, gall bladder and kidney function
Cleared congestion, especially in lungs by reducing mucus

Click "read more" below to get recipes for eating greens for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

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There are so many greens to choose from. Find greens that you love and eat them often. When you get bored with your favorites, be adventurous and try greens that you’ve never heard of before. Broccoli is very popular among adults and children. Each stem is like a tree trunk, giving you strong, grounding energy. Rotate between bok choy, napa cabbage, kale, collards, watercress, mustard greens, broccoli rabe, dandelion and other leafy greens. Green cabbage is great in the form of sauerkraut or raw. Arugula, endive, chicory, lettuce, mesclun and wild greens are generally eaten raw, but can be consumed in any creative way you enjoy. Spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens are best eaten in moderation because they are high in oxalic acid, which depletes calcium from bones and teeth, and may lead to osteoporosis. Cook these vegetables with something rich like tofu, seeds, nuts, beans, butter, animal products or oil. This will balance the effect of the oxalic acid.

Cooking Greens

Try a variety of methods like steaming, boiling, sautéing in oil, water sautéing, waterless cooking or lightly pickling, as in a pressed salad. Boiling makes greens plump and relaxed. Boil for under a minute so that the nutrients in the greens do not get lost in the water. You can also drink the cooking water as a health-giving broth or tea if you’re using organic greens. Steaming makes greens more fibrous and tight, which is great for people who are trying to lose weight. Raw salad is also a wonderful preparation for greens. It’s refreshing, cooling and supplies live enzymes. But make sure to use spinach, mixed green, and romaine lettuce rather than iceberg lettuce! When some people hear “leafy green vegetables,” they often think of iceberg lettuce, but the ordinary, pale lettuce in restaurant salads doesn’t have the power-packed goodness of other greens.

You can also add greens to lasagnas, enchiladas, scrambled eggs, omelets, soups (especially bok choy), pasta sauces, stirfrys of any vegetables or meat, etc. Get into the habit of adding these dark, leafy green vegetables to your daily diet and you will feel the difference!

Recipes for Eating Greens at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Try it out for a month and see how you feel. I predict you will have reduced cravings & more energy!

A great additional resource for recipes and ideas is Greens Glorious Greens by Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers.

Breakfast: Ultimate Eggs

6-8 eggs (preferably cage free, grass-fed, no hormones or antibiotics)

1 small zucchini or squash (can also use other veggies you have in your fridge like bell pepper)

5 – 10 mushrooms

1 entire head of kale or chard (will look like a lot but it will wilt down when you cook it and you won’t even notice how many greens you are eating!!!)

1/4 small onion

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (preferably not the kind already grated for you as this contains weird preservatives, etc)

3 slices peppered turkey deli meat (Optional)

1 scallion (Optional)

salt, pepper, olive oil or ghee (clarified butter)

hot sauce (optional)

avocado (optional)

Food Prep: Chop your zucchini, mushrooms, and onion into sizes that you prefer to eat AND mince your garlic. Grate cheese, dice turkey meat, chop scallion. If using kale make sure to remove all of the hard stem… just rip off and use the leafy parts. If using chard you can cut up and use the whole stem but may want to cook the larger stem pieces a little longer by throwing them in the pan for a minute or two before the other veggies.

1. Put a tsp. of olive oil down in your pan on medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent (about 3 minutes).  Then add mushroom and zucchini and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Lastly, add the kale or chard and season with pepper and a small pinch of salt. When kale/chard is wilted down, remove all veggies from the pan onto your serving plate. By now it's smellin' good in the kitchen!

2. Reduce heat to medium/low. Crack all the eggs straight into your pan. Season with pepper. When eggs are almost fully cooked, add your turkey meat, cheese, and veggies. Bam! You’re done.

Transfer to serving plate and sprinkle scallions on top. Serve with hot sauce and avocado if you want! And don't forget your favorite fruit on the side.

Lunch:  Kale with Peanut Sauce and Garbanzo Beans, Tofu, or Chicken

If you need a grain you can put this dish over whole wheat pasta, gluten free pasta, soba noodles, or brown rice.

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (can use almond butter too but make sure whichever you use is the all-natural kind without sugar or anything added besides the nuts!)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar

1/4 cup maple syrup or honey  (you can reduce amount if you are trying to reduce sugar in your diet)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 – 2inch piece of fresh ginger chopped or 1 tsp ground ginger

3 garlic cloves

1 - 2 tbsp hot pepper sesame oil

1 pinch cayenne pepper

2 tsp hoisen or worchester sauce

1/4 tsp. chili powder

red pepper flakes (optional)

1 bunch scallions (optional)

1/2 cup peanuts (optional)

1 head of chopped kale (make sure to remove all of the hard stem… just rip off and chop the leafy parts)

Either 1-2 cups of garbanzo beans (canned or freshly cooked), 12 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes , or cooked chicken cut into small cubes.

Combine all ingredients through the chili powder into a food processor and mix until smooth adding water if necessary to get it to desired sauce consistency. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in frying pan on medium heat. If using tofu, add cubed tofu and cook stirring occasionally until browned. Remove tofu from pan. Add 1 tsp olive oil to pan. Add kale and mix occasionally until slightly wilted. Add tofu, garbanzo beans, or chicken as well as desired amount of peanut sauce  to pan with kale and mix. Heat to desired temperature, remove from heat, top with red pepper flakes, scallions and peanuts if desired. Serve.

You can also use this peanut sauce as a salad dressing especially for the cabbage salad below or to stirfry with broccoli or other vegetables. Use it as a dipping sauce for carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, or snap peas! Kids love this sauce and it will get them to eat their vegetables! (you may need to remove some of the spicy ingredients like cayenne pepper and chili flakes for kids taste buds)

For another lunch idea see cabbage salad in dinner section below!

Dinner: Tilapia and Kale with Soy sauce, Garlic and Parmesan cheese  (can serve kale dish with Chicken or fish or your choice)

5 minute Tilapia

4 fillets of tilapia (or any fish of your choice)

3 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs honey

2 tbs rice vinegar

dash of chili pepper (or 3 dashes:)

2 tbs canola oil

3 cloves garlic

1/4 small onion

Food prep: Crush and mince garlic. Cut onion into slices.

Heat large skillet to medium/medium-high heat with 1 tbs canola oil. Place tilapia on a plate. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Pour mixture over tilapia. Slide tilapia/onion/sauce onto the hot skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side ( do not move it around a lot), flip fish over and cook for 1 more minute (or until cooked to your firmness and liking). Quick and easy 5 minute meal! Serve with cabbage salad or kale dish below.

Kale with Soy sauce, Garlic and Parmesan cheese

1 head of kale (make sure to remove all of the hard stem… just rip off and chop the leafy parts) You can also use collard greens, bok choy, or mustard greens.

Soy sauce (to taste)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (preferably not the kind already grated for you as this contains weird preservatives, etc)

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute. Add chopped kale (stems removed). Sprinkle with soy sauce as desired and stir occasionally until kale is wilted. Remove kale from pan and mix in grated cheese.

Cabbage salad with Peanut Sauce

Combine desired amount of green and purple cabbage, grated carrots, sliced radish or dikon, snap peas, etc. For protein, you can add garbanzo beans, sliced almonds, or cooked chicken pieces if desired. Add chopped cilantro, chopped scallions, and peanut sauce from the lunch recipe above. This is also a great lunch recipe!