Get to know your Greens!

Greens are a very important part of a healthy diet. Your best bet is to get a variety of them. Keeping them raw ensures you benefit fully from all the vitamins and minerals. Salads, blended salads, thrown in smoothies, on sandwiches, any way you like them, just keep them raw!

Blended Salad

Romaine

With only about 1 calorie per leaf, eat up! It has a very mild taste so it's great mixed in a smoothie. It contains all 8 essential amino acids. It is low in Saturated Fat and Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Calcium(2mg), Magnesium(.8mg), Phosphorus(1.8mg), and a very good source of Vitamin A (523IU,10%), Vitamin C (1.4mg,2%), Vitamin K(6mcg), Folate(8mcg), Potassium(14mg).

Kale

Kale has about 35 calories in one cup, . This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber (1.3g), Protein (2g), Folate (19mcg), Iron, and a very good source of Vitamin A(10302 IU, 206%), Vitamin C (80mg, 134%), Vitamin K (547 mcg, 684%), Calcium(90.5mg),  and Manganese(26%).

Red Chard

I love the beauty of red chard! It's wonderful in veggie juice as well as other raw cuisines. One cup only has 7 calories. It is very high in sodium, but in my opinion, natural sodium is NOT a bad thing. It's white iodized salt that's bad. It's one of the best sources of Vitamin K. This is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Folate and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber (2%), Vitamin A (44%), Vitamin C(10 MG, 18%), Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K (299mcg,374%), Calcium (18.4 mg, 2%), Magnesium (29.2mg, 7%), Phosphorus(16.6mg, 2%), Potassium (135mg 4%).

Spinach

I love putting Spinach in smoothies, it doesn't change the taste at all, in our opinion (we used to do kale, but that totally changes the taste). It does change the color though, but if you use blueberrries, they kind of over power the green so it's not as noticeable if that matters. My kids, though, are used to green smoothies. This is a wonderful food with it's antioxidants and anti-cancer constituents. One cup has almost 7 calories. It is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber(.7g), Protein (.9 g, 2%), Vitamin A (2813, 56%), Vitamin C (8.4, 14%), Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K (145mcg, 181%), Folate(58.2mcg,15%), Calcium (29.7, 3%), Iron(.8,5%), Magnesium(23.7,6%),Potassium(167mg,5%),  and Manganese(.3,13%).

Arugula

Arugula has 2.5 calories in a half cup. It's often found in salad mixes. It's great on sandwiches. It is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. A good source of Vitamin A(237IU,5%), Vitamin C(1.5mg,2%), Vitamin K(10.9mcg,14%), Folate(9.7mcg, 2%), Calcium(16mg, 2%).