Kale has received a lot of press lately as the wonder vegetable, a super food. It really is an interesting vegetable. It has an abundance of vitamin A, potassium and magnesium. It also has iron, calcium and protein. It has an abundance of B vitamins, including folate which has a role in brain development. There is also fiber in kale which is good for bringing out cholesterol. It also has alpha linoleic acid (ALA) which is an omega 3 fatty acid and lutein which is good for macular degeneration.
I tried to eat kale at least three times per week. There are different types of kale: lacinato, green and red kale. Red and green kale are hard to get in the winter. People often say that they don’t like kale. Lacinato kale has a thick stem and if you just chop the kale, it will be rough to chew. So De-stem the kale. Then chop up the leaves. I usually massage in some hummus to soften it, leave them for an hour and then might sprinkle a few sesame seeds on it. So good. You can use the stems in a soup or broth.
Learn to eat all sorts of vegetables but not only one type. For instance, spinach is full of iron but doesn’t have calcium and may even leach calcium that you have just eaten. Turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy and kale among others have lots of calcium. So vary it up, many different types of greens all of the time.
