There is a wide variety of green vegetables. They are almost essential to your health and diet planning. Some green vegetables are high in iron. Best examples of these are spinach, collard, beet greens have a high iron content. Iron is a necessary nutrient needed for energy. Strong bones are associated with eating greens. Most cultures from around the world eat some kind of green vegetables.
It is amazing how important many green vegetables are. Four of the best greens are kale, spinach, swiss chard, and lettuce. Many dark green vegetables dismantle free radicals and can contribute to your overall health.
The following is a list of known benefits of a couple dozen dark to medium green vegetables: calcium, dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, proteins, vitamin A, vitamin B-6, vitamin C. Depending upon how you prepare your green vegetables will also determine the concentration of your nutrients left in your vegetables to eat. Fresh is almost always recommended. But some vegetables have tough stalks and need to be cooked. The juice from many cooked vegetables are full of nutrients. If possible, drizzle some of that juice over your meat and potatoes. You can get twice the benefits.
You can use green vegetables as medicine. Many green vegetables when cooked and strained are capable of fighting infections. It may be hard to imagine. Green vegetables are better fresh but if stored frozen can stay fresh for up to 10 months in your freezer. Canning is possible for long term storage. Try canning beets and greens, green beans and green tomatoes. This can give you a good supply of food with high nutritional value over the winter months.
You need some tips on washing your vegetables. It is very important to wash your vegetables and rinse thoroughly regardless which garden they come out of, yours or commercially grown far away. Lettuce must be washed to get dirt, residue and dead bugs off the leaves. There are commercial cleaners at your produce counter, where you soak them in a pan in your sink first. Then rinse the batch of lettuce really good. Another tip is, if you have no cleaner, take a small bowl fill with cold water and put a drop of clear bleach in the bowl. Swish the water around so the drop mixes in completely, then put the lettuce in and stir it around. Dump the water out, without the lettuce in it and rinse twice in cold water. You have safely washed lettuce.
It is best to buy fresh greens to eat within a few days. If you buy them too far in advance and they are not eaten right away, remember they can spoil just sitting in your refrigerator for a week and lose their nutritional value.