Kale as a super food has made the headlines in Sacramento by the looks of the February 27, 2013 Sacramento Bee front page of the Living Here Food and Wine section with the online article by Debbie Arrington, "In Season: Kale moves into a starring role." The print newspaper version of the article is "As powerful as it is pretty." The idea behind the kale as a popular Sacramento super food is that kale has moved from the usual salad bar leafy garnish to a starring role in popular as sales have climbed. It's also the peak season for kale, the time the green leafy vegetable is at its sweetest taste.
The point is kale now is being touted as a super food rather than a cousin to cabbage. In the past, ruffled, purple kale contrasted with dark green varieties had been used for ornamental purposes to decorate winter gardens or to decorate salad bars because kale leaves looked prettier than parsley.
High antioxidant value of kale, the super food
The names applied to kale that helped to skyrocket its popularity were words such as 'powerhouse', antioxidant-whacked, 'nutrient-dense,' 'high-ORAC value, miracle food, and 'super food'. In numerous Sacramento food markets, kale has been given a high score on nutrition by being assigned a number such as 1,000 or 100, depending on the food score. The point is the score is at the highest level above spinach and broccoli.
In studies, kale has been emphasized as having a high level of antioxidants and also has been linked to fighting everything from high blood pressure to cancer and heart disease. Even the fast-food buffs have been buying kale chips. But after being baked in an oven at high heat, bathed in oils, and salted heavily, the health value of raw kale and kale juice is questionable regarding what's left in the nutrition department when turned into crispy chips as compared to a raw, finely chopped kale salad that's not drenched in oils and salt.
Kale is called a culinary miracle in popular cook books
You have advertising and book authors touting kale chips as a culinary miracle. But few consumers get to read scientific analysis of what happens to a living leaf of kale after it's heated to crispy or sprayed with fats or salted and how chips affect the body compared to raw kale.
Everything touting kale focuses on how to make it taste less bitter by baking the leaf into a snack. If you're going to turn a kale leaf into a chip, at least dehydrate it slowly at relatively low heat instead of heating it in an over drenched in oil and sprayed with salt to cover up the natural taste of what vegetables really are so you get used to liking natural foods. Whatever the taste, kale sales in Sacramento are soaring.
People are buying the darker green leaf such as Lacinato kale (Tuscan kale). There's a very dark green variety and what's known as "Tuscan black." These dark leaves attract attention for nutrition-related reasons as well as looking exotic. Sales are up in Sacramento from the organic growers on relatively small farms.
February and March are peak sales months for kale, which is at its best in winter just before spring arrives. The colder the weather, the sweeter the taste of this seasonal crop.
Healthy nutrients in kale
Kale has more vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, and phytonutrients than spinach. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef and more calcium than milk. Although grown year-round, kale is popular this month and next. Sacramento supermarkets have a variety of kale types. Usually you see either Russian red kale or very dark green Tuscan kale called Lacinato kale with long, straight leaves. The lighter green curly kale is abundant and tastes more neutral and less bitter than the Lacinato kale which is a much darker green leaf that is not as curly. Kale, whatever type, is low in calories with almost no fat.
You only get 33 calories in an eight-ounce cup of chopped raw kale. But in that little salad, without anything else added, you eat twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A along with more than a full day's supply of vitamin C and almost seven times the daily dose of vitamin K. Kale also is rich in vitamin B6, calcium, potassium, copper and manganese. Many people eat a cup of chopped kale to get the high fiber in so few calories, to help with constipation issues. The cup of kale is called a super food because of the high density of its nutrients.
One of the reasons why some Sacramento supermarkets mark kale with a nutrient score of 1,000, among the highest on foods marked for their nutrition value, is that kale usually is scored as the best of all the vegan super foods. The reason why is because kale contains 45 different flavonoids. A flavonoid refers to any of a large group of water-soluble plant pigments, including the anthocyanins, that are beneficial to health. Plant flavonoids also are called bioflavonoids.
A flavonoid contains antioxidants. And antioxidants are supposed to lower the risk of stroke. Check out the article, "Not all antioxidants reduce risk of stroke and dementia." Not all antioxidants are created equal when it comes to preventing different health problems. According to studies, as the article on antioxidants notes, there’s a large body of research showing that vitamin C, and a diet high in fruits and vegetables, reduce the risk of stroke. Similarly, a number of studies have found that a high intake of vitamin E lowers the risk of dementia. The adults in this study had a higher intake of vitamin E-rich nut oils and seed oils, but vitamin E is also prevalent in dark leafy greens and other fruits and vegetables.
Other studies show how the antioxidants in kale can help fight cancers of the bladder, breast, colon, ovary and prostate. Steamed kale also may help lower cholesterol levels, according to the February 27, 2013 Sacramento Bee article, "In Season: Kale moves into a starring role." But people worried about gall stones should know that like spinach, kale also contains high concentrates of oxalates. People with kidney or gallbladder problems should avoid kale.
Don't buy wilted, dry kale leavesWithout exposure to light, photosynthesis, kale, like other green, leafy vegetables soon lose their nutritious value. How long have your vegetables been kept in the dark, in trucks, in any Sacramento market, or in your refrigerator? Did you know vegetables lose their nutrients when not exposed to light? Certain fresh vegetables such as kale, spinach, mustard greens, and collards need to stay in the refrigerator, but onions and potatoes or apples and hard, uncut pumpkins or melons can remain on the table.
Leafy green processors, rather than the growers, dictate the market cost of produce. But these same processors leave the cost of meeting the regulations at the farmer’s doorstep. In the 2006 mass recall of spinach across the country, the real culprit is industrial cattle feedlots that are fountains of dangerous pathogens. But who has really addressed animal agriculture as a source of contamination?
Today, as you pore over the organic kale or spinach selections in a variety of Sacramento supermarkets, you'll notice that there's one layer of kale or spinach on top, facing bright lights. Above, some bunched spinach is pushed a bit under an overhang that keeps the vegetable from being exposed to the steady bright light above it.
What the consumer's problem is, aside from safety, is the loss of nutrients of the green vegetables from being shipped in the dark and stored in the dark on supermarket shelves. The result is the top row of spinach or any other leafy, green vegetable gets the light and keeps its nutrition.
The bundles of kale or spinach underneath the first row are not exposed to the light unless somebody rotates each bundle of leafy, green vegetable every few hours or at least daily. Unless staff of supermarkets are told this, the same bundle of vegetables remains on top unless somebody buys it, and only then is the bundle underneath left to face the light and keep its nutrition.
In any given Sacramento supermarket, underneath the first row of kale, or other leafy green vegetables such as spinach or mustard greens and collards are several other rows buried in the dark under the first layer of bunched spinach. But how do you keep them in the light and keep them chilled and fresh?
That's why the spinach picked from your garden and eaten within hours has the most nutrients. But few can or want to take the time to grow green leafy vegetables outdoors in their yard nowadays. The same applies to organic or any other type of vegetable that loses nutrition when kept in the dark. Some vegetables also dry out when not sprayed with water mist or watered with supermarket sprinklers every few minutes.
Which kale bundle has the most nutrients?
Which kale or spinach bundle is going to have the most nutrients at the end of the time period allowed for that shipment of spinach to be displayed to customers? The answer is the spinach bundles facing the light. But does anyone ever turn the spinach or rotate them every few hours or each day? And what about other green, leafy organic vegetables such as kale, various greens, parsley, cilantro, mint, or lettuce?
Do you really think staff has the time to rotate the kale or spinach so that all get a certain number of hours exposed to light? And when you bring home the spinach and put the bundle in your refrigerator for days, no light will be inside your cooler anyway. So what happens? The spinach not exposed to the light loses its nutrients the quickest. The same can be said for other green, leafy vegetables. They lose their vitamins and nutrients when kept in the dark.
The organic produce section of several Sacramento supermarkets visited recently had several rows of Lacinato kale, curly lighter green kale, or organic spinach with the top layer of bundled spinach under a bright light. But underneath all the spinach, open, not in packages, but tied in the center with the labeling organic farm, were underneath with rows of organic spinach piled on top of one another.
The kale or spinach that's placed under the spinach bundle exposed to the bright light wasn't getting any light at all. Do supermarkets rotate the spinach so that the produce underneath get some exposure to light? Without exposure to the bright light, that is, without photosynthesis, the vegetables lose their vitamins and nutrients quickly.
Most green, leafy vegetables stored on top exposed to light in markets have more vitamins than the packages underneath kept in the dark in stores or in your refrigerator. See the study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published March 10, 2010, "Effect of Different Cooking Methods on Color, Phytochemical Concentration, and Antioxidant Capacity of Raw and Frozen Brassica Vegetables." Imagine how much vitamins green leafy vegetables lose in your dark refrigerator if they're kept there for a few days, after laying under a pile of other vegetables in the dark for more days in the supermarket.
Photosynthesis happens in continuous light whether your vegetables are wrapped and on a supermarket shelf, in your house, or still in the ground
Without photosynthesis, the vegetables lose their vitamins and other nutrients--fast. When you walk down the aisles of a supermarket (or farmer's market) look for the green vegetables such as spinach, kale, or collards that are exposed to the light on the shelf (or the sun) because those vegetables will have more vitamins than the vegetables beneath the top layer that are not exposed to light.
Check out the March 5, 2010 New York Times article by Henry Fountain, "Greens Get a Boost Under the Glow of the Supermarket," having supermarket light shining on the top layer of spinach is going to preserve the vitamins in the vegetables. The spinach or any other green vegetable lying under the top package or bunch not exposed to light is going to lose its nutrients and vitamins.
Check out the site of the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. For example, what's in spinach that's exposed to light? You'll find in green vegetables such as spinach or lettuce and other green leafy vegetables--collards, kale, chard, arugula and other greens, vitamins A, B9, C and others are all related to photosynthesis.
Green, leafy vegetables turn yellow and lose nutrients when not exposed to bright lights
Those vitamins and nutrients are synthesized in the plant when exposed to light, whether the plant is already picked and wrapped or in the ground. The top layer of green vegetable produce in the store is under continuous light.
When scientists tested for vitamin content two varieties of spinach, flat- and crinkle-leaf with simulated supermarket conditions — stored in clear sealed plastic at 39 degrees Fahrenheit under continuous fluorescent light — for up to nine days and compared those vegetables to similar produce leaves that had been kept in darkness, the vegetable leaves exposed to light had higher levels of all the vitamins except some from the vitamin A group.
If you try the experiment, you'll see some wilting of the green leaves because water is broken down in photosynthesis. Retailers of vegetables should realize that the leaves on the bottom won't be exposed to light and will lose vitamins faster. The way to fix the problem is to package leafy green vegetables in a way so that all the leaves would be exposed to light, perhaps in a shallow bag that's transparent.
According to the abstract of the study, it evaluated the effect of common cooking practices (for example, boiling, microwaving, and basket and oven steaming) on the phytochemical content (carotenoids, chlorophylls, glucosinolates, polyphenols, and ascorbic acid), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and color changes of three generally consumed green, leafy vegetables, known as "Brassica" vegetables. The type of produce analyzed included fresh and frozen.
The study didn't only look at vegetables kept in the light or in the dark. It also looked at cooking procedures, which is good information for chefs and parents. Among cooking procedures, the study found that boiling determined an increase of fresh broccoli carotenoids and fresh Brussels sprout polyphenols, whereas a decrease of almost all other phytochemicals in fresh and frozen samples was observed.
Steaming procedures determined a release of polyphenols in both fresh and frozen samples
Microwaving was the best cooking method for maintaining the color of both fresh and frozen vegetables and obtaining a good retention of glucosinolates. During all cooking procedures, ascorbic acid was lost in great amount from all vegetables. Chlorophylls were more stable in frozen samples than in fresh ones, even though steaming methods were able to better preserve these compounds in fresh samples than other cooking methods applied. The overall results of the study demonstrated that fresh Brassica vegetables retain phytochemicals and TAC better than frozen samples.
Fresh compared to frozen kale and other dark green leafy vegetables
So when you buy or grow your next batch of vegetables, be aware of how fresh vegetables compare to frozen ones, according to that study. Then make your own choice. Or read more studies comparing vegetables as to which has the most nutrition in what state--steamed, raw, or cooked in other ways. It's notable that cholorophylls were more stable in the frozen samples than the fresh ones.
Steaming the vegetables preserved the compounds better in the fresh vegetables. With all these comparisons, perhaps, it's time to juice the vegetables with their fiber in a powerful blender. Drink the emulsion, and try some of the green leafy vegetables fresh and raw. From a nutrition standpoint, maybe you'd like to try the juicing--with fiber.
Puree vegetables with fruits to add more nutrition to sweet smoothies and fruit shakes
You can hide Lacinato kale or curly kale, spinach, and carrots in a smoothie made of bananas, carob powder, or unsweetened chocolate cocoa, and almond milk. Kids will never taste the spinach and carrots that are hidden in the fruit shake or chocolate (or carob) smoothie. Add fruit such as mango chunks or strawberries to sweeten or a banana or a pinch of stevia, if desired, and only if your child won't drink any smoothie unless it tastes very sweet.
You don't have to sweeten with sugar or dried fruit high in sugar. You can use a pinch of stevia, if sweetness is an issue. If not, there's no reason to addict anyone to having to crave sweeter tastes to get the same taste satisfaction. Learn to like the taste of natural foods early in life, when it comes to feeding small children. It helps curb the sweet tooth addiction later.
Vegetable emulsifier blenders and processors
You've seen the infomercials on fruit and vegetable emulsifiers, but when you're at your wit's end to find ways to coax children to eat more vegetables and fruits, one of the best ways to get them to eat more plant foods is to juice certain vegetables and fruits together. Did you every wonder why some Sacramento and other area supermarket shelves in the past few years have begun to offer bottles of combined fruit and vegetable juices? It's because they sell very successfully and are popular. The fruit juice flavor is what you taste, and the veggies are hidden in there.
When you make a smoothie of spinach, carrots, bananas, and other fruits such as cherries or grapes or add cocoa powder, a pinch of stevia, or carob powder, most people, especially kids, just taste the sweet fruit juice and don't realize you've put in a handful of spinach and carrots. The sweeter fruits overpower the taste of the liquefied carrots or spinach when you also add various berries or bananas. Also see the site," Product Review: Fruit and Vegetable Blends Better Than Just Juice."
What you want in home-made juices is fiber
Make your own purees mixing green and orange vegetables with dark purple and red fruits. Check out the food science department's publications and sites, for example, at UC Davis, Department of Food Sciences. Check out the current UC Davis Food Science Seminar Series.Take advantage of the cooking classes with raw vegetables and fruits, for example, offered around Sacramento at various natural food markets. See Fruit and Vegetable Processing (UC, Davis).
Only you don't want to use a juicer that removes most of the fiber. A simple blender may work on most fruits and the softer vegetables, but some blenders aren't powerful enough to emulsify, they just swirl around chunks of veggies too large for small kids.
Besides, the usual infomercials that you see in TV for a variety of brands, what you need to look for is the power to combine both vegetables and fruits into an emulsion, not a juice that removes fiber, and not a less powerful blender that leaves big chunks.
Kids usually refuse to eat vegetables because they have that special gene that makes vegetables taste bitter on the backs of their tongues. By emulsifying vegetables such as clean, organic spinach, celery, oranges, blueberries, dark purple grapes, bananas, or a combination, ideally of the child's favorite fruits, you get the type of nutrition you'd wish your child ate daily.
Juice vegetables and fruits together in moderation. Too much of certain fruits, such as strawberries, do stimulate the thyroid. So you don't want to eat large quantities daily of the same fruit. Mix the fruits and vegetables in small amounts. Taste the juice result to find out what the child prefers as far as what get mixed in which quantities.
What to look for when selecting kale leaves
You want dark, firm leaves that are not tinged with yellow. The leaf needs to be moist, and the stems sturdy. Don't buy kale bunches with wilted leaves or full of holes from insect or rat bites. Smaller leaves tend to be milder and more tender than large leaves. Kale loses water in cooking and becomes much smaller so that one cup of raw kale turns into only 1/4 cup cooked in kale soup. You can allow a half-pound raw kale for each per person if you're cooking the kale in a stew or soup or steaming it as a side dish.
Store kale in the refrigerator in a plastic bag with the air pressed out of the bag. Usually, it lasts for five days in the refrigerator, but gradually loses its nutrition value in the dark. What happens to the taste each day is that it gradually becomes more bitter as the nutrients are lost. Don't wash the kale before you store it because it will rot quicker. Wash just before preparing. Keep it stored dry. But you can freeze the kale if you blanch it first in boiling water for a minute or less before you freeze it.
The issue with curly kale is that usually it's full of dirt, sand, or other grit. Some natural food stores clean the kale more than others. Rinse the kale at least three times in water, one curly leaf at a time. You never know what insect or snail laid eggs inside the curly leaf. Be sure you rinse all crevices and curves of each leaf. If you pour lemon juice over the kale leaves, wait five minutes, and then prepare the kale, the lemon juice helps to hold the phytonutrients and make the flavor less bitter.
Prepare a raw kale salad to get the most nutrients. Steamed kale loses some vitamins in the water. But if you're tired of spinach, change to kale or put both in a blender with parsley and process the food, save the water, and use the chopped mixture in a salad mixed with other vegetables or fresh fruits.
If you steam kale, use only a little water, about two inches in a double boiler. Use the leaves. And steam only until it's chewy, not overcooked and limp. You don't have to add salt, fats, or oils if you're on a reversal diet. Kale mixed with celery, jicama, apples, and chopped bell peppers makes a tasty salad with many flavors. Use mashed avocado as a salad dressing if you need fats instead of drenching in oil or melted whipped fat such as butter.
Kale chips and advanced glycation end products (AGEs)
You don't need to bake the kale to 'stomach' it. You can dehydrate it or eat it raw in salads or juice and smoothies. But if you want to use dry kale leaves to make your own chips, pull the washed, but now dry kale leaves into two-inch pieces. Put either in a dehydrator and dehydrate the kale until crispy. Or use an oven heated to 400 degrees with the kale on a lined cookie sheet.
Any vegetable heated above 350 degrees F really destroys most of the nutrients and produces AGEs, that aren't healthy. See the article, "Foods that accelerate your aging process via advanced glycation end products -AGEs." Advanced glycation end products, also known as AGEs are what some researchers sometimes use as useful markers and parameters to measure for the aging process. What happens is that cellular debris builds up. And age markers incorporate a measure of cumulative oxidative injury inside your body. That's what happens to foods heated above 350 degrees F.
So you would benefit by eating a raw kale salad or even lightly steamed kale rather than kale chips baked at high heat. You could dehydrate the kale leaves into chips slowly at 105 degrees F for several hours rather than heating them quickly at high heat in your oven. You don't want to eat too many AGEs.
As you age hormones diminish and physiology changes. Sometimes there is accelerated aging. And research has linked high blood glucose that happens after a person eats lots of certain types of carbohydrates with hastening the aging process, cataracts, and other degenerative diseases of old age--premature old age. Check out the new book, Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, M.D. (Rodale Books.com).
Advanced glycation end products (AGE) is the name given to foods that cause high blood sugar spikes and contribute to the formation of cataracts, dementia, hardened arteries, and other degenerative diseases of aging. But the problem is these may happen before you're old enough to expect it to happen when you have constant high blood sugar spikes from eating the wrong type of carbohydrates for you.
The older you get, the more AGEs can be found in your kidneys, eyes, liver, skin, and other organs. The issue is whether two or more decades of eating the wrong foods has aged you faster than you might be genetically programmed to age had you eaten other foods. You don't want to end up with a bunch of glucose-protein molecules collectively called AGEs.
They disrupt your body from the organs to the bloodstream and arteries. AGEs accumulate, forming clumps of debris of the type that the body can't get rid of by digestion or cleansing. So why choose the domino effect? There are other ways to eat kale rather than baking, oiling, and salting the leaves. But if you want to bake those chips in your oven, you put pieces of leaves, cut to about two inches on a cookie sheet. You could line it with foil, but why would you want the aluminum from the foil to leach off into your chips.
Aluminum in the brain isn't healthy, and studies show too much aluminum build up over the years from processed foods or leached from aluminum cans and pots might play a role in memory loss or dementia issues. Check out the research. In the meantime, if you still want chips and don't want to use a dehydrator at relatively low temperatures, then bake the chips for 5 to 7 minutes or until crisp, but not starting to brown at the edges. What you put on them is up to you. If you don't want salt, don't use it. And if you don't want oil on your chips, eat them as they are.
Kale's origin
Kale grew wild in more of a cabbage-related state in Neolithic times, coming from what today is Turkey. The Celts and their relatives, the Galatians (Galic-speaking) peoples of central Turkey in ancient times eventually traveled to Europe, especially to what eventually became Rome and then traveled to northern Italy and Gaul, and introduced kale to other Celtic tribes before 600 B.C.E. until the vegetable became popular in Scotland in modern times.
Kale popularity in ancient Rome appealed to its diverse population. But the curly variety was known then as kale was farmed all over Italy. Kale also was farmed in Greece and in Egypt. By the middle ages, kale became popular in England and Scotland. And by the 1600s, the English coming to the New World brought kale to the colonies, which became the USA. But kale is popular in Scotland. Many Scots have their kale garden (kale yard). And kale as a word in Scotland is used to mean dinner, whether or not it's on the menu, according to the Sacramento Bee article, "In Season: Kale moves into a starring role."
Kale T-shirts emphasize eating more kale
Why do increasing numbers of children in Sacramento and their parents want to eat more kale? The Eat More Kale movement is about being part of a worldwide movement, a t-shirt revolution. Customers come from all around the globe. When you buy a shirt send a picture of you wearing it somewhere, and let the artist know so he can add it to his wall. If you want to check out his collection of photos you can see them here. Can it be a different New Year's Resolution? It's also about shaping the world with super foods and healthy produce. Also see the December 2011 news article, "'Eat More Kale' T-Shirts Challenged by Chick-fil-A - NYTimes.com."
In Sacramento last year was marked by sharply rising food prices and an emphasis on eating the super foods, such as kale as well as heirloom vegetables, organic produce, and locally-grown foods. This year will emphasize wearing what you enjoy eating on your favorite t-shirt or windbreaker. That don't refer to food stains.
Eat what you enjoy
It means a slogan about how locally-grown super foods can shape the health of Sacramentans for 2012. No matter how wry a face your child makes at the thought of eating a vegetable, especially a leafy green one, more kids and grown-ups really want to be about eating locally, organic, and growing their own veggies, even in community and school gardens.
Yes, more kids at least in Sacramento really want super foods now to show off to friends. It's a backlash against unhealthy foods pushed by fast-foods. Can you believe children actually showing off their t-sheets on "Eat More Kale" and other super-food oriented slogans on t-shirts and other objects, varying from gluten-free to actually naming which foods are healthiest? Can it develop into a science or art project for some kids?
Does kale stand for the vitamin K in it?
Kale is a super food full of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin K. It's an ancestor of the cabbage plant, kale is primarily a cold-weather crop with a taste similar to collard greens. It grows in climates that are inhospitable to other vegetables and can get tastier with a hard freeze.
Eat More Kale is about supporting small business, business that actually cares and hasn't been swallowed up by the profit-hungry, corporate mentality. In the name of children's nutrition, it's a great idea to give your child an Eat More Kale t-shirt to wear at play or when traveling.
The shirts are distinctive, offbeat, one-of-a-kind works of art. The shirts are printed by a man with one squeegee. When you see someone wearing one of the Eat More Kale t-shirts you will instantly recognize it's personal style, character and the care the artist took to craft it.
Eat More Kale t-shirts also is about eating locally, supporting local farmers, bakers, farmers markets, farm stands, CSA's, community gardens and restaurants, sustainable lifestyles, social commentary and community. Most importantly, the idea is about printing Vermont's one-at-a-time original design t-shirts. Have fun and remember: eat more kale.
In the past the "Eat More Kale" slogan on T-shirts (the business) had been slapped with a lawsuit for just using the "Eat More" slogan. Can you believe, you can't tell your kids to eat more vegetables, kale, or any other healthy food any more without somebody saying the words "eat more" are trademarked or registered and not simply a general idea applicable to any given class of food? See the site, Chick-fil-A Says 'Eat More Kale' Slogan Infringes On Its 'Eat More Chicken.
What if a t-shirt said eat lots of kale or eat kale or eat more of anything healthy? See the sites, 'Eat More Kale' T-Shirts Challenged by Chick-fil-A - NYTimes.com. Also see, Chicken Vs. Kale: Artist Fights Chick-Fil-A Suit : NPR. And check out the video, Video: The RidicuList: Chick-fil-A battles T-shirt guy – Anderson Cooper. How can a t-shirt saying eat more of any given food muddle the image of Chick-Fil-A's "Eat more chicken" slogan? See the site, Chick-fil-A's Response Is Boon To Eat More Kale T-shirt Maker.
Can a business tell people not to say "eat more" in public anymore on their t-shirts? And then there are the sites, Chick-fil-A's Response Is Boon To Eat More Kale T-shirt Maker, and Chick-Fil-A Says Artist Bo Muller-Moore's 'Eat More Kale' Slogan. Well, it would be worse if a t-shirt said "eat less" of any given food as in "eat less transfats" or "eat lower portion sizes." So what's with the generality words so familiar as "eat more?"
Maybe you can say it in another language as "eat more" in Italian is translated as: mangiare di più. So check out the sites, Eat More Kale Gifts, T-Shirts, Stickers, & More - CafePress, Chick-fil-A Says 'Eat More Kale' Shirt Confuses Public, Christian News, Eat More Kale T-Shirt.
Besides kale, what are some of the other super foods?
What Super Foods are Healthiest?
Besides many supermarkets noting kale as first on the list of superfoods, many studies discuss what happens when you eat a handful not a can full of walnuts. These nuts can thin your blood. You can look up the study where 20 men and women ate 8 to 13 walnuts a day to improve blood flow by making your arteries more elastic. This information appears on page 139 of the book, Super Foods for Seniors, by the editors of FC&A Medical Publishing. Unfortunately, the chapters on super foods mention the results of studies but never include footnotes giving the name of the study or where it can be read.
Other studies included in the book of super foods, Super Foods for Seniors, include wild-caught salmon, oranges, asparagus as a way to get folate (one of the B vitamins), and other foods such as avocados, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, bananas, blueberries, brown rice, carrots, cranberries, pomegranate juice, and olive oil--all as super foods. The book also lists the vitamin C content of sweet red peppers, which are high in vitamin C with 226 mg for one medium sweet red bell pepper. But if you feel arthritis pain after eating nightshade vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes, you can get your vitamin C from other fruits or vegetables.
Papaya is second highest on the list of super foods
Next highest on the list is the papaya, with 188 mg of vitamin C. Other foods mentioned that you'd eat for their vitamin C content include cranberry juice, broccoli, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, green pepper, orange juice, kiwi fruit, or a whole orange. Orange juice, one cup contains 82 mg of vitamin C, but eating the whole orange for the fiber gives you only 70 mg of vitamin C, assuming the one orange is medium size and the orange juice is one eight-ounce cup.
Why olive oil is particularly healthy above many other oils is that extra virgin olive oil has a compound called oleocanthal. This chemical in olive oil is similar to ibuprofen. The compound, oleocanthal gives the same pungent sensation in your throat as ibuprofen and also has the same ability to reduce inflammation in your body as ibuprofen. The reason to drink a bit of olive oil is to cut inflammation in your body.
In some countries, people use extra virgin olive oil as a mouthwash after flossing their teeth. They rinse and swish with olive oil, spit it out (not in the sink) and then after a half hour of letting the olive oil get rid of some of the inflammation on their gums and teeth, finally brush their teeth at the end of the day. You can swish with olive oil, coconut oil, or sesame seed oil. The idea is to cut inflammation. Extra virgin olive oil has a robust, fruity flavor to drizzle over salads or eggs.
Green tea containing theanine, an amino acid is third on the list of super foods
Other super foods used for their ability to cut inflammation or in some cases to thin the blood, include decaf green tea. It's the theanine, an amino acid in green tea that makes blood less sticky or viscous. People who consume the most vegetables, fruits, and green tea have a good chance of avoiding blood clots, unless they have a genetic variation that perhaps makes them throw clots as a possible reaction to adaptation to cereal grains. That is open to further study and between you and your health care team.
As for dried fruits which are high in sugar, figs have a lot of fiber, potassium, and magnesium and in moderation are considered a healthy super food. What may be helpful is to emphasize nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits for their antioxidant values. But please eat portions in moderation so you don't get too many high blood sugar/glucose spikes from eating too much fruit at one sitting. As far as folate, spinach helps, and spinach also contains magnesium.
Spinach is fourth on the list of super foods
One cup of spinach supplies you with a healthy amount of magnesium. And pomegranate juice helps improve blood flow in some people, according to a University of California study. According another study, in this case a University of California, Davis study, "Antioxidant Activity of Pomegranate Juice and Its Relationship with Phenolic Composition and Processing," epidemiological studies at UC Davis show that consumption of fruits and vegetables with high phenolic content correlate with reduced cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer mortality (Hertog et al., 1997a,b).
Phenolic compounds may produce their beneficial effects by scavenging free radicals. In the past few years there has been an increasing interest in determining relevant dietary sources of antioxidant phenolics. Thus, red fruit juices such as grape and different berry juices have received attention due to their antioxidant activity.
Pomegranate is fifth on the list of super foods
Pomegranate juice has become more popular because of the attribution of important biological actions (Lansky et al., 1998). Thus, the antioxidant and antitumoral activity of pomegranate bark tannins (punicacortein) (Kashiwada et al., 1992; Su et al., 1988) and the antioxidant activity of the fermented pomegranate juice (Schubert et al., 1999) have been reported. However, detailed investigations of the phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of the juice have not yet been carried out.
Pomegranate bark tannins (punicacortein) (Kashiwada et al., 1992; Su et al., 1988) and the antioxidant activity of the fermented pomegranate juice (Schubert et al., 1999) have been reported. However, detailed investigations of the phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of the juice have not yet been carried out. Pomegranate juice is an important source of anthocyanins, and the 3-glucosides and 3,5-diglucosides of delphinidin, cyanidin, and pelargonidin have been reported (Du et al., 1975). So along with other fruits and vegetables, pomegranate eaten in moderation, is also called by many, a super food.
Fiber from oat bran or whole oat groats and unhulled barley are six and seventh on the list of super foods
Some people can't eat grains containing gluten, but people need a balanced amount of fiber in foods. The point is for health most people need enough fiber, about 15-35 grams of fiber daily. Men need more fiber than women. So perhaps some women need around 25 grams of fiber compared to 35 for some men to maintain weight and stay healthy.
Fiber, in moderation, is also called a super food. But eat the fiber as part of the food. For example, red raspberries are high in fiber than strawberries. And apples provide good fiber, but are also high in fructose. So choose what you eat for fiber in moderation. The amount of fiber you eat is an individual issue.
Other studies report you might be able to slash your colon cancer risk by 40 percent by eating some barley. Your daily fiber intake may vary from 15 to 35 grams of fiber daily. Soluble fiber found in oat bran or barley may react with the organisms in your large intestine to prevent constipation and perhaps protect against colon cancer. Don't use the white, pearled barley. Use the tan-colored lightly pearled barley that's similar in color to brown rice.
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