The nutrition in collard greens is often overlooked, especially in the mild-summer climates where growing broccoli, cabbage and kale during the summer is the norm. However, in the 100-degree heat of Southern U.S. summers, the only member of the Brassica family that can be grown successfully is the collard green.

Following are some of the nutrients of this leafy vegetable, the health benefits it brings to your body, and – if you want to give it a try – how to grow it in your own backyard.

Nutrition in collard greens

As with all the dark, leafy greens, this one packs a lot of nutritional punch in very few calories – 49 per cup of cooked leaves, to be precise. Here are the most prevalent vitamins and minerals it contains.

• Vitamin K, which is essential for normal blood clotting.
• Vitamin A…you know this one: it’s the eyes, Sweetie!
• Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant, and so lowers your risk of cancer.
• Manganese, which promotes healthy bones, normal blood sugar levels and healthy thyroid function.
• Folate, which supports skin and red blood cell production, and is critical for a healthy nervous system.
• Calcium…you learned about this one in childhood: “for strong bones and teeth!”

Health benefits of collard greens

Like all Brassicas, they are rich in sulfuric compounds, which serve double-duty to help optimize brain function and increase the liver’s detoxification power. The sulfur compound glucosinolate is believed to reduce the risk of many kinds of cancer) perhaps by improving the liver’s function), and the calcium it contains makes it a great vegetable for bone health.

IN addition, it’s a great source of carotenoids and so can protect the eyes from free radical damage. In turn, the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration are lowered. These carotenoids, combined with the vitamins A, C and E, make the vegetable and antioxidant just waiting to happen in your body.

How to grow and eat collard greens

You can sow the seeds either in the round or start them indoors, which I prefer. Plant four per square foot, and water as usual. They will tolerate some dryness. They will also tolerate light freezes, and will not turn bitter or bolt in 100-degree heat.

When the leaves are about the size of the palm of your hand, start cutting them off for eating. That way, you can harvest from the plants all season long, as they will continually grow new leaves.

Enjoy them lightly steamed (they are too peppery and touch to eat raw) with butter, coconut oil or olive oil, and perhaps some raw crushed garlic and salt. The nutrition in collard greens make them a great addition to your diet!

If salads are an integral part of your healthy diet, there is no domesticated green that can compare to Romaine lettuce. You can buy it year-round and it adds a slightly bitter crispness to your meal. If you don’t care for the bitter flavor or somewhat tough (compared to leaf lettuces) texture, but don’t want to miss out on the nutrition, they are a great green in green smoothies.

Nutrition in Romaine lettuce

This superfood is a great source of several vital nutrients – and you can get them in only sixteen calories per two-cup serving!

1. Vitamin K allows normal blood clotting and prevents oxidative cell damage.
2. Vitamin A promotes eye health and fights off viruses.
3. Vitamin C has excellent anti-oxidant properties and helps your body absorb iron.
4. Folate supports skin and red blood cell protection, and facilitates proper function of the nerves.
5. Manganese helps with thyroid function, blood sugar levels, healthy bones and protection from free radicals.
6. Chromium helps promote both healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Health benefits of Romaine lettuce

Need to lose weight? Despite its low-calorie content, this lettuce is quite filling, making it an ideal healthy weight loss food. It also contains nutrients essential for eye health: vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthin.

The chromium makes it a great food for balancing blood sugar levels, and the lettuce contains several heart-healthy nutrients, such as folic acid, vitamin B6 and potassium, as well.

If you’re not including Romaine lettuce in your diet, you’re missing out on a highly nutritious, relatively low-cost superfood. Put it on your grocery list, and make a habit of eating it several times a week.

I am so excited that I finally have asparagus growing in my vegetable garden! I love the sweet flavor of the steamed young stalks, and it is so nutritious – but also so expensive at the grocery store. I also have a hard time finding fresh-looking stalks at the store. The tips are almost always wilting, a sign that much of the nutritional value has gone out of the food.

Nutrition in asparagus

When it’s fresh, asparagus is bursting with nutrients. The top six include:

1. Vitamin K, necessary for normal blood clotting and healthy bones. It also prevents oxidative cell damage.
2. Folate, which supports red blood cell production, helps prevent build-up of homocysteine, and facilitates in proper nerve function.
3. Vitamin C, a great antioxidant which improves iron absorption and regenerates your body’s supply of vitamin E.
4. Vitamin A, famous for its ability to keep your eyes healthy, also helps fight off viral infections.
5. Tryptophan, which lifts mood, improves sleep, and regulates appetite.
6. Vitamin B₁, essential for nerve and muscle coordination, a healthy heart, and high energy levels.
7. This superfood also contains good levels of vitamin B₁, B₆ and B₃; copper; potassium; iron; and zinc.

Health benefits of asparagus

It facilitates healthy digestive function, as it contains a food – inulin – for the friendly bacteria in our gut. The fiber, of course, helps with bowel regularity. In addition, asparagus has a diuretic effect, and so can be used to help relieve the joint swelling in arthritis.

This superfood also promotes a healthy heart, due to the nutrients that reduce the blood vessel-compromising substance, homocysteine. Asparagus is a great food to feast on before and during pregnancy, as it contains high levels of the folic acid that prevents birth defects.

Asparagus helps with bone health, thanks to the vitamin K, calcium and magnesium it contains. The manganese and B vitamins help keep up your energy levels, and it contains several nutrients that combat free radicals.

In summary, few vegetables can surpass the health benefits of asparagus.

Click here for a great resource to help you eat healthy despite a busy schedule.

Have you heard about the great health benefits of krill oil? If not, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. But first you might be wondering, “What on earth is krill?” It’s a tiny kind of shrimp that ends up in the belly of the world’s largest whales. It is also food for other sea-swelling creatures, such as seals, penguins, sea birds, squid and some fish.

But let’s go back to the whales for a moment. A blue whale will consume about 8,000 pounds of krill every day. Think of the massive size of that mammal, and how much nutrition it must need to keep up its energy and strength. This should give you a clue as to how powerful krill oil can be for you.

As a matter of fact, this product contains a number of different antioxidants, which neutralize the harmful free radicals that are constantly being released into your body. In addition, it is a superior source of the Omega-3 fatty acids, even more so than the highest-quality fish oils. Because of the antioxidant and omega-3 content, this valuable ocean food brings many potential health benefits to the human body, including:

• a healthier heart,
• improved concentration and memory,
• balanced blood sugar levels,
• reduced inflammation, including in the joints,
• proper brain function,
• a healthy liver,
• a stronger immune system and
• glowing skin.

If you’re looking for a natural supplement that will improve your overall health in a huge way, consider krill oil. It may be just what the health care professional ordered!

Whatever your health goals, whether to simply avoid the cold and flu or to support your body in healing itself from a degenerative disease, the first place to start is in improving your nutrition. The keys are

• Eliminating all processed foods;
• Consuming at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables, including dark leafy greens and brightly colored fruits and vegetables, daily;
• Cutting back or completely eliminating grains from your diet, unless your ancestry consumed a lot of grains with no health problems;
• Eating meats/eggs that come from animals raised on pasture.

Also, find a high-quality whole-food supplement, as the healthiest diet will still not provide everything your body needs for optimum health.

The following is a video of Dr. Terry Wahls, who healed herself of M.S. using nutrition. This is a five-part video series. If you watch the video all the way to the end, then at the end you will be able to choose part 2, and after that part 3, etc. I think the whole series is about an hour long.

Based on what I’ve read and heard over the last couple of years, it sounds like more and more schools are getting on the healthy diet bandwagon. One article that just came out revealed that one school district will be serving more whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and reducing the meat.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Until you dig a little deeper. So, they will be serving hot dogs and hamburgers on whole wheat buns. Based on my previous experience teaching, I can almost guarantee you that those supposedly “whole grain” breads will have plenty of toxic chemicals in them, will still contain bleached flour and white sugar, and most certainly will not be made from soaked or sprouted grains.

That’s not  to mention the fact that most American children, like their parents, have bodies that have not been adapted to grains and would be better off throwing the grains off the menu altogether.

Then again, knowing that the meat comes from cast-offs from industrialized meat processors whose products originate on factory farms, maybe the kids would be better off eating vegetarian – at least during their seven hours at school.

As for adding more fruits and vegetables, this particular school district plans to add a half cup of fruit or vegetables to the breakfast menu.

Whoop-dee-do. And how many kids are going to eat it after filling up on the margarine-and-syrup slathered French toast, or a bowl of pesticide-laden, nutrient-dead cold cereal?

Not that I have any opinions about it or anything.

Now, listen, I did give a big sigh of relief and praised God when my school district quit selling desserts in the cafeteria, and when they added raw fruits and carrot sticks to the menu. But I would not have termed the overall result as “healthy.”

The fact is, if you’re going to send your kids to prison – I mean, school – don’t expect the Powers That Be to do anything that will break their budget on behalf of the children’s health. Get the crappy food out of your own house, brainwash teach your kids what really healthy food looks like by your daily modeling of it, and send them to school with the tastiest health food you can whip up.

If you need ideas on how to prepare healthy meals on a tight schedule, be sure to click the image of Weird Eating in the sidebar to download your free preview of the book.

Think you need to get your kid on a special child nutrition program? They refuse to sit down and eat with the rest of your family. They eat only one thing for days, then switch to something completely different for another several days. Or maybe if the food doesn’t look pretty on the plate, they won’t touch it.

Any one of these situations is perfectly normal. I gave up on trying to make our son sit down with us for a complete meal long ago. I figured it was just because he was so active, but it turns out that the same styles by which a child learns dictates how he eats.

In essence, you can create a child nutrition program for that challenging eater simply by understanding his dominant sense or sense.

The tactile eater

Just as a tactile child learns best by doing and touching, he eats best when he is

1. allowed to go from table to play and back again during meals, and
2. given simple foods after having enough physical activity to make him feel hungry enough to make eating worth his time.

Forcing such a child to sit down and eat a complicated meal will only lead to stress and unhappiness on all sides.

The auditory eater

This child focuses on books, songs and videos to the extent that she eventually is able to recite, for example, an entire chapter of Winnie-The-Pooh by memory. She also tends to want to hear the same story, or watch the same DVD, over and over again.

Just so, she will favor one particular food at a time. Don’t be dismayed if all she wants is cheese one week, and apples the next. She will still get what she needs nutritionally, as long as you don’t let her focus on junk foods!

The visual eater

This is the child who notices a “pretty” garden and an “ugly” monster in toddlerhood. She is usually an early reader and learns best by visual cues. In turn, she tends to refuse to eat a meal that is not arranged in a pretty way on her plate. Making smiley faces or colorful patterns on her plate will result in much greater cooperation in eating.

So if you have picky eaters in your household, take heart! You don’t need a fancy child nutrition program to confuse and frustrate your efforts at good parenting. Simply recognize their dominant sense – or sense – and go from there.

Visit childsense.com for more information.

In the world of superfoods, mushrooms are often left out of the discussion. But shiitake mushrooms are worth a look for anyone who wants to get a superfood in their diet that doesn’t have the same old “green” taste and texture.

Chinese herbalists have been prescribing this mushroom for various ailments for several millennia. Recent studies back up its medicinal value, discovering a compound within it called lentinan. This substance strengthens the immune system, and in test tube studies has been more effective at fighting influenza than prescriptions drugs.

Lentinan has also been found to have anti-cancer properties as well. It encourages the growth of certain immune cells, called reticular cells, that can ingest cancerous cells. It also pulls in an army of T-cells, which also destroy cancer cells.

The health benefits of the shiitake mushroom don’t end there. It also contains a compound known as eritadenine, which lowers the so-called “bad”, or LDL, cholesterol levels. Therefore, regular consumption of this superfood could lead to a healthier heart.

What about the nutritional properties of the shiitake mushroom? Surprisingly, it delivers a decent amount of vitamin C, is high in protein compared to other mushrooms, and whops a good deal of iron into your system.

The only disadvantage to adding the superfood to your menu is its cost. If you want to reap the benefits of the shiitake without paying grocery store prices, and you have a backyard with some space, consider growing it yourself. If you can get hold of an old log, there are several websites that sell the mushroom spores and are happy to give you all the information you need on how to grow your own crop by inoculating the spores into the log and giving it some TLC.

Shiitake mushrooms add a meaty texture to a raw salad, and are delicious when sautéed, either alone or with other vegetables. If you’ve never tried one, I encourage you to splurge! Then, click here for more information on how to improve your health and dramatically reduce your risk of all manner of disease by learning the principles of optimally healthy living.

In their quest of a healthy diet, more and more people are seriously considering those foods that have a high antioxidant value. The pomegranate is one. In fact, the most widely touted of the health benefits of pomegranates is that it has a powerful ability to eradicate those free radicals that so often, if not kept in check, lead to cancer.

Pomegranate juice has been shown to prevent breast, prostate and skin cancer, as well as to help fight existing cancer cells. In addition, regular consumption of the fruit may also help the body respond better to chemotherapy and radiation. This is likely because the properties in the juice help to oxygenate the cells, bringing protection to the healthy ones during the dangerously aggressive conventional cancer treatments.

Cancer is not the only disease the fruit’s antioxidants can help prevent. Studies have shown that these health-bringing chemicals can prevent neurological disease, like Alzheimers, and slow down aging.

While its antioxidant properties are great, the pomegranate’s health benefits extend well beyond that. If you have high LDL cholesterol, drinking the juice regularly may decrease it. The food also contains properties that help improve circulation. Among other things, this benefit can mean healing form impotence.

The Western world may be relatively new to the health benefits of pomegranate; but it has been used medicinally for thousands of years. A few conditions was used for include relief of sore throat, skin blemishes, and reduction of inflammation.

These days, in addition to lowering cholesterol levels, pomegranate is believed to improve overall circulatory health, possibly reducing the risk of heart disease and strokes. Some people also believe there is evidence that regularly ingesting the fruit may reduce the risk of osteoarthritis and diabetes.

One surprising health benefit of the pomegranate is that it contains iron, enough so that it may help prevent symptoms brought on by anemia. If you regularly experience dizziness, fatigue, and/or general weakness, drinking pomegranate juice every day may be of help to you.

Of course, you can sing the praises of this powerful fruit all day long, but if you never exercise, and/or you eat fast food every day, don’t expect any miracles. Learn the principles of health and longevity practiced by the world’s longest-lived people, however, and the pomegranate will help to support in your new lifestyle. Click the image of my e-book, Weird Health, to the right of this article, to download the first few pages for FREE.

This week, our search for a healthy diet brings us to the South Beach Diet.

The South Beach Diet is a creation of an M.D. in—guess where—Miami Beach, Florida. Cardiologist Arthur Agastson came up with the diet as an alternative to low-fat diets, which his patients had difficulty staying on.

Dr. Agastson’s goal was to improve the health of his patients’ hearts. However, when his patients began shedding pounds, word got out and it quickly became one of the hottest weight loss diets around.

The diet consists of three phases. Phase one lasts for two weeks, during which time you cut all starches and fruit out of your menu plan. This is to help you eliminate unhealthy cravings and sugar addictions.

In phase two, you get to gradually add in up to three fruit servings daily, as well as up to three starchy food servings (no refined grains). Phase three allows for pretty much anything you want, unless you begin to gain weight again. Then you are to go back to phase one and two, until your weight goes back down to where you want it.

When I learned about the South Beach Diet, I was good with it (generally speaking) until I read about Phase Three. Humor me, will you, and let me start there as I show you

How the South Beach Diet fails

1. The “anything goes” allowance in Phase 3 goes against what any self-respecting nutritionist or nutrition researcher would advise. You can go back to fettuccine alfredo—as long as you don’t gain weight. A Snicker’s bar every couple days—as long as you don’t gain weight. White flour bagels for breakfast—as long as you don’t gain weight.

The underlying implication in the diet is that you should stick to only whole grains and healthy fats, even when you enter Phase Three. But as it doesn’t explicitly ban refined foods, many people—in the absence of understanding the health risks involved—may return to their old dietary habits once they’ve lost the weight they wanted to lose.

Recent research, and studies of people groups who consume traditional foods, can’t be any more conclusive: eating refined foods is one of the primary causes of modern degenerative diseases. You can be skinny and still be headed for an early grave if you are not discerning about what crosses your lips.

2. The diet allows for artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that the body recognizes as toxins. Aspartame is particularly nasty, having been proven to cause symptoms ranging from headaches to memory loss.

Furthermore, as I stated earlier, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners may be a bigger culprit in weight gain than white sugar itself.

3. The South Beach Diet has no caution against factory-farmed animal products. Like the other diets I discuss above, the South Beach Diet begins with a menu that revolves around meat, cheese, and eggs. And like the other diets, it provides no discussion of health benefits in consuming clean meats, nor the risks in consuming factory meats.

4. The diet does not allow for individual differences in nutritional needs. Some people don’t do well at all on a meat-laden diet. They might actually gain weight in the first couple of weeks of trying to follow it. In addition, some of us have naturally occurring low blood sugar, and to go without any starchy foods or fruits for longer than a couple of days is sheer torture.

5. The diet does not work for everyone. Remember how the South Beach Diet got its start? To help prevent further heart damage for people with heart disease?

I know one couple who started the diet several years ago, mainly because the husband had heart problems.

He still does.

6. The diet makes beef fat the enemy. Although certain types of beef are allowed for the Phases 1 and 2, fatty cuts are forbidden. In a way, that’s good, since the toxins in factory farm animals accumulate mostly in the fat.

However, the saturated fat in grass fed beef is actually healthy, providing brain food and improved immune system function. As a matter of fact, recent studies conclude that a diet that includes grass-fed beef several times a week can actually prevent heart disease, because of its high omega-3 fatty acid content.

If Dr. Agastson were to promote clean meats and read up on the latest research, he would do his diet’s followers a great favor.

Just as The South Beach Diet has fewer problems that some of the afore-mentioned diets in this series, it also has more redeeming qualities.

Where the South Beach Diet Triumphs

• The diet encourages the consumption of healthy fats and whole grains.
• It eliminates sugary and starchy foods for two weeks to help dieters break their sugar addiction.
• It calls for a liberal consumption of vegetables and salads.
• It requires dieters to eat to their satisfaction. No deprivation or calorie counting.
• Dr. Agastson encourages calcium supplementation (a deficiency in calcium has been linked not only to osteoporosis and other bone deficiencies, but also to the development of other degenerative conditions).
• The gradual re-introduction of fruits, starchy vegetables, and whole grains over a period of time aids in changing the dieter’s food preferences, making processed foods less appealing.

In summary, while the South Beach Diet isn’t the best “healthy diet” out there, you could do worse.