The quick answer: Eat a big salad, with lots of dark leafy greens, daily. It’s the easiest way to get your vegetables and very affordable.
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The Magic of Salad
Most people eat about 15 servings of food a day, traditionally divided between three meals and a couple of snacks. Nothing wrong with that. (A serving fits in the palm of your hand, about ½ C for most folks, less for kids.)
Of those daily servings, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans say we should get 4-5 of vegetables. A lot of what’s in the Guidelines is nonsense, but this is good advice. The problem is Americans average just one daily serving if you throw out French fries (and you should). So here is one of the most critical issues in nutrition—eating enough vegetables.
Here’s the solution—put a green salad in the center of your plate at lunch or dinner. Depending on the size of the salad, you can get 2-4 servings. How easy is that? Making salad is pretty easy for the cook too and that’s a good thing.
A salad is any mixture of greens served with a dressing, though it’s good to include a variety of colorful vegetables. Back in the day when fats were out of favor I ate salads without the dressing. That wasn’t so good because lots of nutrients are fat-soluble so having a little fat makes them bio-available. (Vitamins K, A, D, and E are all fat-soluble.) There was a lot of wisdom in that old olive oil-and-vinegar salad dressing.
Dark Greens
I bet half of our vegetable intake is dark leafy greens. They’re rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Dark greens are also full of omega-3 fat, folate and carotenoids. Dark greens contain the stuff of life and you can buy them year around for around $1.00/Lb. That’s less than half the price of less-healthy processed foods.
The bagged, prepared greens in the produce section of the store make salads even easier. Our family likes Brooke’s Broccoli Salad.
I think this might be the easiest Healthy Change:
Please comment: Share your favorite salad recipes. Tell what salads your children love.