I write a lot about green smoothies and the benefits of drinking green smoothies. I’m also a huge advocate of juicing your greens. But one of the important aspects of drinking your greens is the rotation of plants.
Let me explain.
When you consume the exact same variety of green leafy vegetables, your body is always getting the same nutrients. Each variety of plant will give you different nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants.
But it goes even further than that. You see, each plant has a self-defense mechanism to keep animals from completely devastating their favorite plant. For example, if monkeys loved spinach and decided to eat all the spinach around then the plant could not procreate and it would die out.
Nature’s system is so smart because it knows that it’s important to keep greens around (hello! most nutritious food pound for pound!). So green leafy plants actually have a minute amount of alkaloids, which act like a poison if ingested regularly.
That’s where rotating your greens comes in! If you switch between different types of green plans, your body’s immune system is actually getting a boost because it is working on different alkaloids all the time.
So my recommendation, backed up by Victoria Boutenko is to switch between at least 10-12 types of greens. You can have say two or three days on one green like spinach, and then two or three days on kale, then two or three days on gai lan, you get the picture.
This actually ties in well with the Traditional Chinese Medicine system of hot and cold foods. Some people do well on certain types of greens, while others are better off with different types.
I think it’s super important to swap greens regularly! Oh, and the reason we don’t need to focus on swapping fruit as much as greens is that fruit were designed to be eaten and spread by animals. Greens would rather grow, and have their seeds blow in the wind or be pollinated by insects.
Greens are the most powerful healing foods out there, so it’s great to make them a staple part of your diet!
List of Greens to Get You Started
Your best bet is to go to a farmer’s market and look a the vast array of colorful greens. Pick some up, smell it, ask the farmer what it tastes like, and give it a try! If you’ve got the space and inclination, I’d highly recommend you start a garden. Plant a few of these vegetables and see which ones you like!
- Spinach
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Bok Choy
- Gai Lan
- Dandelion Greens
- Mustard Greens
- Carrot Tops
- Yu Choy
- Sunflower sprouts (sprouts in general)
- Romaine lettuce
- Buttercrunch lettuce
- Boston lettuce
- Arugula (Rocket)
- Collard greens
- Cabbage
- Watercress
- Purslane
- Sorrel
- Tatsoi
- Turnip Greens
- Radish Greens
- Beet Greens
- Basil leaves
- Coriander / Cilantro
- Parsley
- Mint leaves
What other greens do you enjoy?
There are literally hundreds of different green edible plants out there. Which ones are your favorites and what have you tried that you didn’t quite like?
{ 10 comments }
I have to say I tried juicing mustard greens for the first time a few months back… I don't recommend it! If you're making something like a savory green smoothie it would taste great with a little garlic though. ;)
I love spinach in my smoothies, I haven't really tried many other greens. I did try cucumber once and surprisingly I hated it even though cucumber is my favorite veggie! The cucumber flavor overpowered the fruit, I find the spinach flavor blends in really well.
I love spinach too! Funny about the cucumber – it's one of my faves too, and I prefer it in salads. Oh, and it's actually considered a fruit – so you can eat it every day if you want. ;) Leafy greens that go well in smoothies other than spinach are swiss chard, romaine, and spring mix.
Happy early-birthday Laura! :D :D
Don't forget wild edibles, they have more nutrition than the farmed greens we get in the store.
Hi Emily! Absolutely – wild edibles rock! Most people don't realize that there are wild greens and vegetables nearby, like here we have asparagus, garlic, and tons and tons of greens.
To those reading – if you're not sure whether it's edible or not, get a library book with photos and go on an adventure. :)
i've had problems rotating my greens because of my variety within meals and the fact that there's only one of me. eg: a bag of greens lasts me about 5 days, not 2 or 3. also in a given day i love to have a juice with kale for breakfast, a smoothie with spinachfor lunch, and a big salad with romaine or mixed greens for dinner. this also just about covers the only greens available at my local store. any suggestions? i don't want to do anything dangerous to my body…
It sounds to me like you are rotating, in terms of eating 3 different greens each day. I would challenge you to get out to a farmer's market, an asian market, or to grow some of your own veggies to get more variety in there. :)
so that counts as rotating even though i'm eating each green every day?
i do get out to markets as often as i can and love the experimenting i get to do, but for practical reasons i need to be able to construct my plan around what's availbale at the store around the corner.
I love juicing, although Kale and Collards are very strong for me, I like to add organic cayenne pepper, ginger root, gogi berries-when I need something to chew during juice feasting, and spinach is by far my favorite green to juice. Although I must say that I was extremely obese when I started juicing and I didn't ease my way in I just started to feast and my life has never been the same because of it. I have been a Raw for 35 days and found out I was pregnant a week ago, I curve my cravings with raw macaroons and almonds or a wonderful salad with agave on top. I have extra juice throughout the day and my doctors don't understand how healthy I am even though I'm juicing and eating RAW. No hypertension which is normal for me with my pregnancies, I don't have carpal tunnel anymore, and I'm no longer anemic-thanks to finding the right veggies that helped with iron deficiency I can still work out just fine and I'm losing weight in the process, of which my doctor says is wonderful because being overweight gives greater risks for the pregnancy. I just felt I needed to share my testimony! By the way, my skin is Phenominal!!!!
Aww thanks so much for sharing that my dear. It's always great to read stories like yours. :) Keep on rocking it!
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