By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

February 28, 2014

• Are you getting all you should from your greens?
• Common cooking mistakes that could derail your health
• My secret recipe for maximum nutrition

I’m always glad to hear it when a patient tells me he or she is eating plenty of green leafy vegetables. Some of them are partial to turnip greens, collards, mustard greens and kale. Others like to eat salads that contain a mix of lettuces along with some spinach and arugula.

Greens are loaded with antioxidant nutrients that help protect against cancer, reduce the risk of diabetes and promote a healthy heart. They can lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, boost your immune system and even guard against osteoporosis.

Even though many of my patients are eating plenty of these healthy green veggies, it didn’t take me long to realize they might not be getting the health benefits they should. In fact, they may be doing more harm than good.

Let me explain…

In many cases, perfectly good, healthy, life-extending vegetables are being destroyed in the cooking pot.

I have patients who throw their greens in a big pot of water, then leave the whole kit and caboodle to simmer on the stove for two or three hours.

Talk about a disaster!

Once these veggies have been cooked to death, I’m not even sure they can still be called green. After all, most of the green benefits have been cooked out of them!

Just take a look at what you lose when greens are left on the stove too long…

The nutrients in green leafy vegetables are plentiful. These veggies are loaded with vitamins K, A, C and many of the B’s. Green vegetables provide magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Many of them also include something called glucosinolates, which have anti-cancer properties.

But, guess what happens when you overcook them?

All of those nutrients leach into the water. Then they evaporate. POOF! They’re gone.

The longer you cook any vegetable – and the higher the temperature – the more likely it is that most of the nutritional value will be destroyed.

This means you won’t receive the health benefits from eating them. All you’ll do is stop your stomach from growling!

What you put into your veggies is equally important.

Cooking them with fatty, greasy meats is a sure way to derail the health potential of any vegetable. Cheese sauces, especially processed ones, are another way to destroy perfectly good greens.

But I see other mistakes, too – like dumping greens over a plate full of unhealthy white rice or pasta.

And what about topping a beautiful green salad with things like croutons, cheese, lunchmeat, bacon, buffalo chicken and bleu cheese dressing? These sorts of toppings pretty much cancel out the health value of eating a salad.

Now, I’m no gourmet chef. However, I can chop, steam, sauté and broil veggies like a pro. Load up my plate with greens, and I’m a happy man.

When I’m in a hurry, I like making a big salad of mixed greens topped with avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, nuts, boiled eggs and a drizzle of olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar. It makes a quick and easy lunch or dinner.

If you’re going to cook up some collards, kale, turnip greens or other greens, I’ll let you in on my secret recipe:

1. Buy 16 to 20 ounces of fresh, organic greens and wash them thoroughly. (If you don’t buy organic, I suggest washing them three times or more, since they’ll likely be loaded with insecticide residue. You should take this measure even if the label says “pre-washed.”)
2. Remove the tough stems and chop the leaves into ½-inch pieces.
3. Steam them for about five minutes on the stove. You can put them directly in the water if you absolutely have to, but I prefer letting the steam cook them. Here’s an easy cooking tip: If you don’t have a steamer basket, you can use a metal colander. Just put the greens inside the colander and set it inside a pot that contains an inch or two of boiling water.
4. Once you remove the greens from the stove, toss them in about two tablespoons of olive oil, some minced garlic to taste, a few dashes of sea salt and a couple squirts of lemon juice or vinegar to bring out the flavor.

Using this cooking method will ensure you don’t lose the nutritional value of your greens. Just as importantly, they taste great.

But if you don’t really like the taste of cooked spinach or kale, here’s something else you can try. Why not try a green drink? These drinks are loaded with phytonutrients, chlorophyll and antioxidants that deliver the same health punch as fresh, properly cooked green vegetables.

Remember, the greener you eat the healthier you’ll be!

Sources:
Patrice Carter, et al. “Fruit and vegetable intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMJ 2010; 341:c4229.

Joshipura KJ, et al. “The effect of fruit and vegetable intake on risk for coronary heart disease.” Ann Intern Med. 2001 Jun 19;134(12):1106-14.

Kim MY, et al. “Leafy vegetable mix supplementation improves lipid profiles and antioxidant status in C57BL/6J mice fed a high fat and high cholesterol diet.” Journal of Medicinal Food. 2009;12:877-884.

Gullett NP, et al. “Cancer prevention with natural compounds.” Seminars in Oncology. 2010;37:258-281.

Fujii H, et al. “Daily intake of green and yellow vegetables is effective for maintaining bone mass in young women.” Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2009;218:149-154.