To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art. – Duc Fransois de La Rochefoucauld
Duc Fransois de La Rochedfoucauld, aka Prince de Marcillac, was a writer of mildly cynical and somewhat pithy maxims. He was born in Paris in 1613, hung around the royal court and spent most of his time making snippy comments about what he saw as the disturbing state of human affairs. Considered an intellectual harbinger of the Enlightenment – I imagine him as a 17th century Dennis Miller with an over-the-top, hoity-toity name. Much more uppity and not as funny as Dennis, but concise, satirical and witty nonetheless.
While I don’t always eat intelligently, I like this general maxim. It’s a good reminder and is there a better way to eat intelligently than to choose nutrient-dense, vibrant, unprocessed, living plants? Like the ones featured above. Look at the colors. You can literally see the phytonutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll.
Okay, maybe seeing vitamins and enzymes is a stretch, but you can guess by looking at these greens that they’re full of nourishing goodness. Plus, they’re low in calories and alkalizing to the body. This is perfect food.
Now compare that to a donut or a plastic-wrapped sweet-roll from a gas station vending machine.
Which one is the artfully intelligent choice?
This photo is of the 3 cups of mixed greens I used to make power smoothies this morning, wonder woman and super man food. It’s a smart way to start the day, even if it doesn’t match up with the new USDA MyPlate thing the government designed to help us figure out how to feed ourselves?
Really?
We’ve “evolved” to the point that we need a plate icon with food on it to show us what to eat?
I’ll bite my tongue, keep my snippy, food irony comments to myself and offer you a power greens guide to ease your transition into the world of nutrient-dense green food.
Power Greens Flavor & Nutrition Guide
This is the abridged version. If I included every green I could think of and all the nutrient goodness, this post would be a mile long. What’s your favorite power green and how do you like to serve it? Add it to the list in the comment section.
Swiss chard
Chard has a slightly bitter taste, so when I use it raw in smoothies I add something sweet like a Fuji apple to counterbalance the bitterness. It also has a very salty taste to me when pulverized in my VitaMix, so I like cinnamon mixed in. One cup of chard is off-the-charts high in vitamin K, A and C, along with a host of other botanical wonders. All for a measly 35 calories.
Spinach
Spinach is mild, slightly bitter and versatile. It’s a good power green to add to kid-friendly smoothies as it’s fairly easy to hide if you add a pear or ripe banana and a little goat yogurt into the mix. Speaking of vitamins K and A, one cup of spinach has 1110% (K) and 377% (A) of the recommended daily values. Add in the high concentration of folate, iron, vitamin C, potassium, etc. and there’s a lot of bang for your 41-calorie-buck in a cup of spinach.
Kale
Kale is a little confusing. It has a mildly bitter taste, but it can also taste slightly sweet. It’s hearty (and hardy) and full of volume, if that makes sense. The power green nutrition profiles just keep getting better. One 36-calorie cup of kale gives you almost 200% of the daily value of vitamin A, close to 100% of vitamin C and a whopping 1328% of vitamin K. It even contains a jolt of omega 3 fatty acids.
Mustard Greens
Swiss chard tastes salty and mustard greens have a strong, peppery taste. If you use these in a smoothie, mix a small amount in with some lighter greens like romaine lettuce or spinach. Warning: don’t use raw arugula and mustard greens together! Whoa, that makes for an intense smoothie with a peppery kick. You get the idea on the nutrition part. Most leafy greens are ridiculously high in all kinds of powerful nutrients and mustard greens are no exception.
Turnip Greens
I’ll admit, not my favorite. Especially raw, turnip greens have a intense and bitter taste. They’re very high in plant-based calcium, which may account for the bitter bite. Only 26 calories per cup, they’re worth adding to your arsenal of power greens, but go easy on them and mix them in with some milder vegetables and sweeter fruits to mask the bitterness. Turnip greens are great sautéed lightly in a little broth.
Collard Greens
Aside from the “rubber glove” texture of collard greens, I like these greens for their mild and somewhat smoky flavor. They’re absolutely wonderful blanched quickly, cooled, dried and used as a wrap for chicken salad. You can also add some chopped collard greens to smoothies, but do it in small doses to see how you like them.
Romaine Lettuce
Mild, crisp and somewhat sweet. I love Romaine. This is a perfect “beginner” green and blends in well with other veggies and fruit for a nice mellow smoothie. It’s perfect raw, but I’ve also lightly sautéed lettuce before and it tastes great. Romaine is the low calorie winner at 15 calories for 2 cups and while it’s not the power-house that kale or Swiss chard is, it’s a rich source of plant nutrients.
Arugula
Arugula, also called rocket or Italian cress, is a touch spicy with a hint of mustard. It’s best mixed in with some milder greens for a salad as it tastes bitter by itself. It can also be used in small doses in smoothies and is wonderful sautéed or thrown into a soup at the last minute. I like it on pizza with olives and sliced tomatoes. Like the rest of these greens, arugula is very low in calories, high in antioxidants, is low glycemic, anti-inflammatory and even has a little protein, calcium and iron.
Tatsoi
Tatsoi is part of the bok choy family and although it’s slightly bitter (not bad), it’s excellent in a tossed salad, lightly sautéed or as part of a green smoothie mix. Because of it’s dark green leaves, like the rest of these, it’s rich in antioxidants and is even a good source of calcium and iron. Sauté it with some onions and garlic and serve it with brown rice. It makes for a wonderful “Buddha bowl.”
Frisée
Frisée is that curly, lighter green lettuce that is often added to mixed salad greens. It’s not as hardy as kale, spinach and the other more intense greens. It will even wilt if you put vinegar on it, so wait until the last minute to dress your salads if frisée is part of the mix. It has a mild, very slight peppery taste with a nutty hint to it. It pairs well with bananas and berries in a smoothie (I’m sounding like a leaf sommelier). For a delicious summer salad, try a bed of frisée topped with roasted and sliced beets, pecans, crumbled goat cheese and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Divine.
Here’s a great resource for greens and herbs, complete with pictures so you’ll know which green is which.
You might also like
Green Lemonade from Elana’s Pantry
Spicy Kale Salad with tomatoes and chiles from Tasty Eats At Home
Raw Super Green Salad from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
Peace, love and power greens!
Melissa
Tags: arugula, collard greens, frisée, gluten-free, herbs, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, salad greens, spinach, Swiss chard, tatsoi, turnip greens
Hooray for power greens! I love adding greens to my smoothies and changing them up in my salads (lately, I’ve been piling on the beet greens, actually – my beets never grew up to be beets in my garden, so I harvested all the little 3-4 inch greens and am making salads and smoothies with them). My favorites are spinach, collards, and beet greens. To me, kale is really strong. I prefer it in a salad like you shared (thanks for that!) or lightly steamed or sauteed. Or in kale chips. Yum.
Alta,
I’m a huge fan of kale chips as well. Love them. And beet greens are my all-time favorite!
Well timed post! I am opening my eyes to the wonderful world of greens that’s out there. We use a lot of spinach in our smoothies so we usually go romaine, kale and arugula in salads etc… I love the collard green comment about gloves. Bang on girl! But I still love to use them as a wrap. I have some cute ones growing in my garden right now! Thanks for all the info. I can’t ever imagine counting calories when it comes to greens, but I know where to come if I need to!
Maggie,
I love collard greens as wraps as well. But, they are pretty hefty, aren’t they! Perfect for wraps. As for calories and greens, no need to even think about that. You can’t eat enough greens to make a dent in your calorie intake! Thanks for the comment!
We drink a smoothie made with kefir and fruit for breakfast every morning… but I need to remember to add more greens.
I prefer the bitter greens (mustard, arugula, radicchio) in salads, and more mild greens in smoothies. And I love mixing strongly flavored greens — like turnip & mustard — in Indian dishes, like saag paneer. Just did that last night, in fact. With a side of curried masoor dal. Yum.
Lo,
I love goat kefir. Mango goat kefir is like dessert to me. You’re the queen of interesting Indian food (even with all that blonde hair of yours)! I love your recipes.
My favourite green is good old spinach, it goes with just about anything. Rocket and watercress are my friends too, but I’m not so fond of the really bitter greens.
I agree, spinach is the perfect green, no matter what you use it for. I haven’t used a lot of watercress, but do like it!
What a great roundup of greens. I love all greens, and just reading your post made me hungry!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Lynda. I love all greens (pretty much) as well!
This is the first chance I’ve had to catch up on blog reading since returning home and I must say…I LOVE your blog! I feel so blessed to have met you last weekend and we’ll certainly have to stay in touch. I really need to get a Vitamix…
This post is a great resource!!!
Thanks, Lexie! Hope you’re enjoying all your greens from Grant Family Farms! Good stuff for sure. xo
I really love this information. I have an organic farm and just started using my greens in smoothies so it is great to get some ideas. FYI I believe Tatsoi is in the same family as mustard greens although it tastes just like bok choy to me. I wanted to let you know because as far as I know they are very high in vitamins etc. as most other members of this family are.
Great information, Leslie! Thanks so much for commenting. I really appreciate it — especially the “expert” tips!