GREENIFY YOUR HEALTH

                          GREENIFY YOUR HEALTH

Leafy greens, vegetables and fruits are the most lacking items in our diets nowadays. Can we feed our bodies with nutrient depleted industrial food like substances which are empty of life and still be healthy? Can food industry chemicals and processing replace nature made foods?

A 100 years ago all food was organic, local, seasonal, fresh or naturally preserved. All food was food. Now less than 3 percentage of our agricultural land is used to grow fruits and vegetables which should make up 80% of our diet. Today for everyone who wants to achieve lasting and optimal health should select a revolutionary greener path to eat real food because our bodies are designed to run on real food and our natural default state is health. We need to greenify and simplify our way of eating. Mother nature is the best pharmacist and food is the most powerful drug on the planet. The solution to today’s health crisis is not complicated.

Greens help build our internal rain-forest and strengthen our respiratory and circulatory system. The color green is associated with spring, a time of renewal, refreshment, vital energy, emotional stability and creativity. Nutritionally, greens are rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and vitamin A, C, E  and K. They are also crammed with fiber, folic acid, chlorophyll and other micro nutrients and phyto chemicals.

Some of the benefits gained from eating dark, leafy greens and vegetables.

Some of the benefits gained from eating dark, leafy greens and vegetables.

• Blood purification( detoxifying enzymes)

• Cancer prevention

• Improvement in circulation

• Immune strengthening

• Subtle, light, flexible energy

• Lifted spirit and elimination of depression

• Healthy intestinal flora

• Improved Liver, gall bladder, kidney functions

• Clearing of congestion especially in lungs and reduced mucus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The hemoglobin of our blood and chlorophyll in greens have similar structure. Both are composed of four elements  carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. The only difference is that, for chlorophyll the porphyrin ring is built around magnesium and for hemoglobin it is iron. Hence the intake of chlorophyll by way of intake of greens promotes circulatory health, cleanses the body, builds hemoglobin and increases oxygen throughout the body. Deeper the greens, richer the chlorophyll and more is the health building qualities. The cancer causing hetracyclic amines found in cooked red meat binds with chlorophyll and gets excreted from the body contributing to the cancer preventing properties of greens.
  If you are green inside ,you are clean inside - The acid- alkaline balance of our body has got definite correlation to the risk of getting life threatening chronic diseases like cancer. This is primarily determined by our eating habits. To maintain our ‘normal’ pH levels which is slightly alkaline above neutral ( 7.2-7.3) it is suggested to have at least 75-80 % of alkalizing foods like green vegetables, leaves and sprouts in your diet. 
  
  
  Presence of enzymes- proteins present in raw vegetables and fruits helps the breakdown and absorption of nutrients and prevention of diseases. Anti oxidants and phytochemical plant compounds  which attribute to the color, flavor and aroma that are now extensively researched for their health benefits are present in high concentrations in all vegetables and fruits
  
  
  Vegetables and fruits thus have conferred on them the status of ‘functional food’, capable of promoting good health and preventing or alleviating diseases.
  
  
  Many people have an aversion towards vegetables (veggie haters). Some maybe having negative veggie experiences in their childhood where they were forced to eat vegetables. Some must have been served raw or cooked or under-cooked or mushy vegetables against their tastes. Perhaps they were habituated on a Standard Indian Diet (SID) from childhood with few vegetables. Or they were on a fad diet where all they could eat were certain vegetables. Or some of us may have a false belief that eating vegetables is “uncool”.
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  

  How to improve the intake of vegetables.

  
  
  
  
  • Add more vegetables in quantity and variety to dished you already love eating. Eg -Add tomatoes, Cabbage, asparagus, spinach into your omelet, more vegetables in your fried rice and noodles.
  • Prepare soups at home with carrots, green beans, spinach etc.
  • Slip them into salads- load your salads everyday for lunch and dinner with cucumber, carrots, beans , onions, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage , parsley, green pepper , capsicum, lettuce, spinach etc. Serve them raw or with curd. Try a breakfast salad. Raw salads are refreshing, cooling, soft and full of live enzymes. Try salads before main meal
  • Drink your vegetables as juices and smoothies.
  • Have fun with vegetables and fruits in kebabs, grills , sandwiches, wraps, pitas and pasta fillings.
  • Stir frying- to cut the bitterness and odour, stir fry in olive oil or coconut oil with salt and spices. Eg- cruciferous vegetables, egg plant( brinjal) , okra (lady’s finger)
  • Steaming- Lightly cook and prepare by steaming. Minimal cooking retains appeal, color and crunchiness.
  • Make them into classic Indian curries.
  • Snacking  with sweet vegetables and fruits. Eg- sweet potatoes, carrots
  
  

   

  Tips

• • Buy seasonal fresh vegetables and fruits, preferably from local farmers market. If you have a weekly purchase habit, buy a box of mixed vegetables , wash them in running water, rinse them in saline water and keep in the refrigerator in the top trays ( out of sight means out of the mind).
  • Ensure that you have 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables/day (half plate)
  • Be adventurous and try greens you have never seen or tried before. We have a rich tradition knowledge about edible local leaves and greens.- Eg- Leaves of cowpea, pumpkin leaves, drumstick leaves, Winter melon leaves.
  
  
  • Go Local, Go fresh, Go Organic
  
  
  • Vegetables and leaves containing oxalic aid maybe consumed only in moderation as they may deplete calcium from bone and teeth. Eg- Spinach. Cooking removes the oxalic toxicity
  
  
  • Nourishing yourself with greens will naturally crowd out foods that make you sick. Try this for atleast 15 days and see how you feel because it takes some time for your taste buds to get activated
  
  
  
  

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