Why You Should Rotate Your Greens
Rotate your greens, really?
I bet you are curious why you should rotate your greens?
There are a couple of key reasons you'll want to rotate your greens.
First, if you eat the exact same variety of greens (or any food for that matter) day-in and day-out, your body gets the exact same nutrients day-in and day-out.
Where as it's best you feed & nourish your body with a wide variety of nutrients.
Every variety of greens gives you different minerals, antioxidants & nutrients ~ so if you eat the same greens (or foods) all the time you are missing out on getting a good variety of nutrients.
Eating a variety of foods, including greens, is important to ensure your body gets a full spectrum of nutrients for optimal health.
The best part is that nature has built-in mechanisms to ensure a variety of greens is consumed.
What is ALKALOID?
Each leafy green plant has a built-in self-defence mechanism designed to keep animals from completely devouring their fav plants!
Think of it this way ~ if a goat loved kale and ate ALL the kale around him, that kale plant would die off and become extinct in that area pretty quickly.
Nature is super smart that way, don't you think?
So to avoid killing the plant species completely, leafy greens actually have a tiny amount of “ALKALOID” in them – I know sounds like science-techy!
In a nutshell, it means leafy greens contains minute quantities of toxins that are found naturally within the greens! They are there to “warn” the unwelcome grazers so they will move on to another plant family before eating up all the greens.
Nature's way of protecting the species!
So, yes – if you eat the same type of green ALL the time, for long periods, these alkaloids can build up in the body, resulting in negative side effects such as nausea, vomiting, headache, rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, depression or anxiety.
This is known as “Alkaloid Buildup“.
Ok so it might sound a bit scary, but truth is alkaloids are only harmful in VERY LARGE quantities, but in small quantities they are relatively harmless (we don't eat as much as animals who would be grazing the fields of greens!) – they certainly won't send you to the doctor's office.
Oh and in case you are wondering we don't see this in fruits ~ why? ~ because fruits are designed to be eaten, and eaten, and eaten!
To propagate nuts rely on animals to spread their seeds.
Greens like to grow, seeds from fruits like to be spread, blown in the air, or pollinated!
Once again, nature highlights how amazing it is!
Greens Are the MOST Powerful Healing Food
Oh and don't forget ~ greens are the most powerful healing foods out there, so be sure to make them a staple in The Menopause Fat Loss Approach!
From a nutritional perspective, the best way to prevent any issues is to simply rotate your greens every few days or weekly to ensure you get a wide variety of greens, which will also ensure you get a wide variety of nutrients.
This premise of rotating foods actually applies to all foods for that matter (not just greens) what is important is to ensure your diet has lots of variety so that you also get a broad spectrum of nutrients and never lack any one nutrient.
You should be aware of “Alkaloid Buildup“, but know it isn't anything to be concerned about – as long as you ROTATE YOUR GREENS throughout the week, you will be fine.
BEST Way to Get Your Greens
Dark leafy greens are the foundation of The Menopause Fat Loss Approach and they are one of the key ingredients that gives your body energy.
After all greens=chlorophyll, and chlorophyll=energy, so getting a good dose of green each and every day is super important!
The easiest way to incorporate leafy greens into your day is by adding greens to any of The Menopause Fat Loss Smoothies & Lunch Salads. Et voila, you will have consumed 4+ cups of greens!
Trust me, your body will love it!
Editors Note: If eating so many greens is new for you, spinach is the mildest of greens and the flavour is pretty much disguised within any of our smoothie recipes. A perfect example is this Cacao Energizing Smoothie, the whole family will LOVE this smoothie and they will never know spinach is one of the ingredients (unless of course you tell them :-) shhhhhh!)!
Ok, another tip is to add 1 lemon (peel removed) to any smoothie - the lemon is a great way to "cut" the green flavour and at the same time adds a nice refreshing kick!
Greens to Get You Started
There are TONS of greens available these days ~ trouble is, many of us (including me) tend to stick with those we are most familiar with, and in so doing we may not be getting the variety of nutrients.
So let's step out of your comfort zone and try some new green varieties, and in doing so we will get a greater variety of nutrients, minerals and antioxidants and you will also stay clear of Alkaloid Buildup.
A great way to enjoy new varieties of greens it to visit your local Farmer's Market and look a the wide variety of colourful greens.
Ask the Farmer what he/she likes, pick some up, smell it and give it a wee taste!
- Spinach
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Bok Choy
- Mustard Greens
- Romaine lettuce
- Boston lettuce
- Arugula
- Collard greens
- Cabbage
- Watercress
- Turnip Greens
- Radish Greens
- Beet Greens
- Sprouts (Sunflower, Broccoli, Alfalfa, etc.)
- Microgreens (Broccoli, Fenugreek, etc.)
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Cilantro
- Fresh Parsley
- Fresh Mint leaves
What Greens Do You Like?
There are literally hundreds of edible greens out there.
Which ones are your favourites?
What have you tried & liked, and which one's didn't you like?
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