When I was a child Popeye cartoons went a long way towards making me eat my vegetables. He would down a can and practically lift a car. Impressive wasn’t it? A bit exaggerated,  but the general idea was correct — you get strong by eating leafy green vegetables.

Five of the healthiest dark green vegetables include broccoli, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce and Swiss chard. These vegetables, identified by their dark green color, are rich in antioxidants and usually have large amounts of phytochemicals like Vitamin C.

If you’ve turned on the television in the past three years, antioxidants have been all over the news. They’ve been proven to help reduce the risk of cancer and strengthen the immune system.

Many foods tend to lose nutrients when cooked. The great thing about these dark green vegetables is that you can find them easily in your grocery store and they taste great with little or no cooking, leaving much of their nutrients intact.

Here is some important information about these healthy veggies:

Broccoli is a fun vegetable for kids because it feels like you’re eating a small tree. In fact, the little buds are actually tiny flourettes that contain more than twice the amount of Vitamin C of an orange.

Some facts about broccoli you may not already know include:

• Broccoli is a great source of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. It not only meets both types of fiber needs, but it’s also a rich source to add to your diet.
• Research has shown indole-3-carbinol – found in the phytonutrients of broccoli – actually deactivates a metabolite which can become cancerous.
• Broccoli also helps restore sun-damaged skin, reduces the risk of heart disease, and boosts the immune system. At the same time, it also promotes healthy bone growth due to its massive amounts of calcium.

Kale is a slightly bitter, leafy green with a huge amount of folic acid and potassium. Try some kale in your stir-fry. You may just find yourself thoroughly impressed.

• The folic acid found in kale is a great addition to your diet if you suffer from poor hair, skin and nails.
• In addition, the potassium helps to promote the breakdown of lactic acid in muscles after a workout, and is a great food to help prevent muscle soreness in the recovery process.

Swiss chard is similar to spinach, with a little more of an earthy undertone. Rich in Vitamins C and K, as well as calcium, Swiss chard is a great addition to salads.

• Vitamin K helps promote healthy eye and brain function. The next time you have to spend hours staring at a computer screen or studying for that big exam, try some Swiss chard and let your mind be at ease knowing your brain is getting the nutrients it needs.

Spinach is a lean mean green antioxidant-packing machine, rich in flavor and in Vitamins A and C, and iron.

• Spinach is loaded with important vitamins and minerals to promote healthy brain function as well as strong bones and muscles.
• Next time you have a salad, try it with spinach instead of lettuce for a little variety and a big explosion of taste.

Lettuce may be the last thing that comes to mind when you picture dark green vegetables. While many of the lighter shades of lettuce, such as iceberg, have very little nutritional value, the darker the color, the more they have to hide.

Romaine lettuce, while still made up mostly of water, is packed with antioxidants and fiber.

The darker green the leaf, the more folic acid is present, which prevents heart disease.

Even though lettuce seems so simple, look at some of its complex attributes:

• Lettuce is great for diets since it’s very low in calories.
• Magnesium, found in romaine lettuce, does wonders in revitalizing muscular tissues, the brain and the nerves.
• The chlorophyll-packed juice in lettuce is very helpful in maintaining normal hair color.
• Lettuce is high in iron, which helps the formation of red blood cells.
• Lettuce may help in treating insomnia, acid indigestion, colitis, constipation, gout, stress and many other diseases as well.

While you might have been forced to eat your dark green veggies as a kid, now you know why it was so important. Even today, your dark greens are vital to your health and well-being. Try these dark greens in some new recipes; you just might surprise yourself and actually enjoy it!

Asparagus is a green vegetable with spear shaped stalks. It grows best in sandy soil and is part of the Lily family along with garlic, onions and leeks. It has a high content of folic acid, potassium, thiamin, and fiber. Asparagus is a good source for vitamins A, B6 and C.

Asparagus is one of nature’s most perfect foods. It is low in calories and sodium, loaded with vitamins and minerals, cholesterol and fat free. Asparagus also contains the phyto-chemical glutathione, which has antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties.

According to John Heinerman in Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits and Vegetabless, asparagus helps “to dissolve uric acid deposits in the extremities as well as inducing urination… Asparagus is especially useful in cases of hypertension where the amount of sodium in the blood far exceeds the potassium present. Cooked asparagus also increases bowel evacuations (Heinerman 14).”

Asparagus contains high levels of glutathione, one of the body’s most potent cancer fighters. Glutathione is a protein composed of the amino acids; cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. Glutathione helps with detoxification by binding to fat-soluble toxins, such as heavy metals, solvents and pesticides and transforms them into a water-soluble form that can be excreted in the urine.

A controversial e-mail has been circulating for years purporting that asparagus is a cure for cancer. Although asparagus testing indicates that one of its constituents, Asparanin A “shows promise as a preventive and/or therapeutic agent” against human liver cancer (Liu 2009), it still remains that there is no clinical proof that asparagus cures the wide variety of cancers that some people claim.

After studying the research, the truth is in the hands of the individual, as many anecdotes making claims for asparagus as a cure for cancer persist. What harm can be done by consuming Asparagus daily? Surely, there are only benefits because asparagus is so highly nutritious.

The recipe for the controversial asparagus cure recommends using pesticide and preservative free asparagus. Select organic asparagus if possible when using the fresh vegetable. Both Green Giant and Stokley brand foods claim to be free of pesticides and preservatives. This is a way to get a little bit of the benefits of asparagus every day.

Asparagus recipe:

In a food processor or blender, liquefy cooked (cooled) asparagus including the juice and store refrigerated. (Asparagus can be home-cooked or commercially canned.)

The dose equals four tablespoons, morning and evening. This dose can be diluted with water, for a hot or cold drink. Larger doses may be taken but it does not necessarily speed any action, the four tablespoons daily is sufficient. Asparagus capsules can be purchased at vitamin and herbal stores and on the Internet.

Some people have reported improvements in their various conditions in 2 to 4 weeks.

Since consuming more vegetables is a good choice for everyone it may well be worth the effort to put asparagus on your dinner table more of.

Pumpkins belong to the same family of plants as cucumbers and squash. Eaten fresh, the fruit is 90 percent water, provides zero cholesterol, less than 100 calories, and low sodium. When we add sugar, eggs, butter, and other ingredients, our healthy pumpkins become heavy and calorie laden.

You might guess that its bright orange color signals it contains antioxidants, and you’re right. Pumpkins contain large amounts of the antioxidant beta-carotene. We have heard about the benefits of antioxidants. They work to reduce the signs of aging and various diseases. Many skin care products include pumpkin as an ingredient which probably has more to do with its antioxidant properties than the healthy qualities of the fruit.

When pumpkin is a part of a healthy diet, potassium supplements are not necessary. Eating a piece of pumpkin a day is just as effective as an apple. If you don’t care for bananas, try eating some pumpkin. It contains over 500 milligrams of potassium per serving.

If you’ve ever carved a pumpkin, you know there are copious amounts of seeds. Pumpkins seeds are a great dietary source of zinc. By all means, clean off the seeds and roast them with a little bit of salt. The mineral zinc is essential for the production of sex hormones, sperm and female lubrication!

Men age 50 and older are at risk for prostate enlargement also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH for short. The zinc in pumpkin seed oil appears to help combat BPH.

Without all of the extra sugars and fats, eating pumpkin is healthy. Whether eaten alone or in a recipe, it provides nutrients that benefit the human body.

Spiced Pumpkin Flapjacks

What You Need:

2 C all-purpose flour
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 3/4 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin puree
1 lg. egg
2 TBSP canola oil

How to Make It:

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl.Add the brown sugar and baking powder and toss to combine.
Sprinkle in the pumpkin spice and salt and toss again making sure all the ingredients are incorporated together.

Pour the milk in a separate bowl. Add the puree, egg and canola oil and mix with a rubber spatula until combined well. Place the puree mixture into the flour mixture and continue to mix until completely moist. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Place just enough canola oil in a large skillet to cover just the bottom.

Allow the oil to heat up.
Pour 1/4 C of the batter into the skillet.
Cook 2 minutes or until bubbles begin to appear around the edges.
Flip and continue cooking 1 minute or until a golden brown.
Continue until all the batter has been used.

Makes 8 Servings. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with syrup.

Resources: Healthy Meal Planning

Dried fruits and vegetables are high in fiber and carbohydrates and low in fat, which is good since part of the food pyramid says that we need to eat fruit on a daily basis. The only down side to dried frufits is that they are calorie dense compared to fresh fruit, so the recommended serving size is half that of fresh fruit.

Since a piece of fruit is mostly water, the drying process concentrates the natural sugars and can feed our sweet tooth better than candy and other sweet foods. Unlike candy, dried fruits contain vitamins and nutrients present in the fresh fruit. Depending on the fruit, it can contain folate, antioxidants, vitamin C, and vitamin A.

There are a couple of different ways to dry fruit. I’m sure you’ve heard of sun dried tomatoes? You can dry fruit outside in the sun but this requires low humidity and 3-5 consecutive days of 95 degrees or above. You can also dry fruit in the oven but this can get expensive as the over has to be on for a long time and the fruit often comes out darker and more brittle. Also, vitamin C is destroyed by heat.

Although you don’t need a food dehydrator to dry fruit, there are benefits to owning one — you can use it to dry more than fruit. Dehydrators can be used to dry meat for jerky as well as fruit. Even if you don’t eat jerky, you can use it to make dog treats.

Dried fruit takes up less space than regular fruit. A cup of pineapple slices may contain four slices while a cup of dried pineapple slices may have twice as many. Since there is no water, it takes up less space. A handful of raisins give the same daily benefit as two cups of grapes.

Because dried fruits contain concentrated amounts of sugar, they are popular in cereals, breads, and trail mixes. Probably the most popular is raisins which are used in cookies, cakes, and sweet breads. It only takes a couple of handfuls of raisins to get most of the daily allowance for vitamin C and A. Because they’re naturally preserved, dried foods make great lunchbox and after school snacks.

Sea Bass with Dried Fruit Salsa
Makes 4 servings

Each serving equals 1/2 cup of fruit or vegetables

Ingredients

4 (5 to 6 ounce) sea bass fillets, about 1-inch thick)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¾ tsp salt
¼ cup of each dried fruit, mango, papaya, cherry, and pineapple
1/3 cup apple juice or cider
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp apricot jam
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Rub fish with olive oil. Combine coriander, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper; mix well. Set aside ½ teaspoon of the mixture for the fruit salsa. Add salt to remaining mixture. Rub seasonings over both sides of fish. Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat until hot. Add fish. Reduce heat to medium, cook 3–5 minutes or until fish is browned and seared. Turn fish over; cook about 5 minutes or until fish is slightly firm and flaky. Combine dried fruit, juice, vinegar and ½ teaspoon reserved seasoning mixture in a small saucepan or microwave-safe dish. Bring to a boil. Stir in jam. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer fish to serving plates. Top with fruit salsa and sprinkle with cilantro.

Nutritional Analysis: Calories 337, Fat 6g, Calories from Fat 16%, Protein 28g, Carbohydrates 43g, Fiber 3g, Cholesterol 58mg, Sodium 241mg.

Resource: Healthy Meal Planning

Do you ever watch television shows about addiction? They’re always so shocking. In one episode a man addicted to heroin lost everything — family, friends, career, home — all to chase a high that has ruined his health and will inevitably kill him.

Would you be surprised to learn that there is a legal substance that is just as addictive and destructive as heroin? It may sound like a bad joke, but the truth is that sugar and heroin have a lot in common.

Both substances start out as plant extracts. Heroin is extracted from the poppy, and sugar from sugar cane. In the lab, they’re refined into very addictive substances. One may be more socially acceptable than the other, but they both have devastating effects on your health.

Heroin damages the brain first, then moves on to the heart and lungs. The majority of heroin addicts never break the addiction and overdose.

The damage from sugar is much more systemic — it affects every bodily system. Most people experience this as feeling lethargic, moody, or depressed without sugar.

Feeding your sugar addiction results in a constellation of diseases ranging from insulin resistance to diabetes. In fact, sugar addiction can cause more than 150 health problems including –

• pre menstrual syndrome (PMS)
• polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• night sweats
• chronic fatigue
• candida
• wrinkles
• premature aging
• depression
• sexual dysfunction

Considering that adults consume about 160 pounds of sugar each year, you might say sugar is more devastating than heroin.

Fortunately, disease and depression don’t have to be a way of life. You can erase sugar-related damage to your body while at the same time ridding yourself of brain fog and various chronic health problems.

If you recognize that you’re a sugar addict and are searching for tools to stop sugar cravings and finally break your addiction to sugar, visit sugar free lifestyle.