What food group should be the star of your plate?

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Are you eating nutritionally dense or calorically dense food?

Make leafy greens the star of your plate.

Right from ancient times, green leafy vegetables were a constant in our diet and there was never a substitute for the same. Dark green leafy veggies are the most densely packed in micro-nutrient content when compared to any other food group in the world!

Why is this important?

Well think of it this way:

We all get a 2000 (ish) calorie allowance per day. Can you fill these calories with ‘diet- chewda’s, low- calorie drinks and ‘healthy’ nashta’s? Yes sure. They will not protect you against heart diseases, cancer, and brain degenerative diseases, but you will lose weight.

But if you are any smarter, you want to fill every single one of those calories with nutritionally packed food. Food that not only serves to fill your belly but heals your gut and protects you against infections.

Green leafy veggies are just that. Ask yourself,

• How many servings of greens did you have today?

• How many varieties of greens did you have today?

If your answer is one cup of spinach once a week, then there is scope to improve.

How much should you consume?

Ideally your body weight worth of greens in grams. So if I am 55 kilo’s, I want to be able to consume at least 55 grams of greens per day.

They also protect your body by reducing the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and cancer. Needless to say, they are immuno-boosters.

Different types of Green Leafy Vegetables:

• Kale

• Gongura

• Brahmi

• Kashi Soppu

• Amaranth

• Rocket leaves

• Mustard Leaves

• Celery

Is raw better than cooked?

You want to get a good mix of cooked and raw greens. While only Vitamin C is destroyed by heat exposure, other nutrients like flavonoids and beta carotene are not affected much.

Aim to get raw greens through smoothies, salads, and stuffed parathas while soups and sabzis are a great way to include cooked greens.

Here is a smoothie recipe for you!

Hope this helps,

Loving you always,

Roshni Sanghvi.