141: 3 Reasons To Eat More Greens For Your Health, And How To Make It Doable

Jarrod: 0:58

The health benefits of greens are numerous. But how do you get them in a way that's both easy and delicious. We share why you need them and a few of our favorite ways to get them on your plate, or in your bowl.

Anita: 1:10

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the power on plants podcast. We're your host, Jared and Anita Roussel, and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods, and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness, we used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few. And even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned. And now we both have our lives back. And that's what we want for you too. The truth is, you can do this, and it's not hard, you just need a way that will bring real and lasting change. And that path, it has to be simple and enjoyable. And it's got to be delicious, too. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place, because Living without limits. That's what power on plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started. I love days like this, I just got into the kitchen and started whipping up a new recipe I am so excited about this one y'all is amazing. It's green bean casserole. And who doesn't love a warm comfy dish, especially when it's cold outside. So I'm thrilled to get this out to our members. So if you're a member, keep an eye out for that it is coming out to you soon. If you're not a member get on the waitlist power on plants.com forward slash membership. And if you just need a simple place to get started with some easy recipes that actually tastes great, and will make you feel good to go to power on plants.com forward slash cookbook and pick up your copy of the cookbook that already has over 50 great recipes waiting for you right there. But I just love these days, it's so much fun to get in there and get creative. And we are sharing with you today. Ways that you can get creative in your kitchen and get more of the good stuff into your life. So today we're talking about the three reasons you should eat more leafy greens for your health. And also we're going to share some ways to make it doable, and really delicious, too. So number one, we're going to jump right in what is the first reason you should be getting leafy greens on a regular basis, not just a little side of them one time a day, but throughout the day, why should you be doing that for your help? Well, number one is it actually decreases depression.

Jarrod: 3:37

Now that's not something you would normally think of with leafy greens, that's gonna make me happier, but they actually show that three servings not a day, but per week has been shown to decrease depression by 50 to 60%. That's unbelievable. That's three servings a week, a week. So imagine if you got greens every day, what that would do for your health,

Anita: 3:59

and what medication is there that can lift your mood 50 to 60% with no side effects, except for beneficial ones, right. And that's the big thing is the side effects. We'd all be lining up for that. Just give me a pill and I'll feel better. But the great thing is, is this tastes so much better than a pill and it's going to make you feel so much more amazing. Because you're not going to have any of the side effects that go with the medications. Now you

Jarrod: 4:23

may be thinking how in the world can greens help me that way. And that much. There is a Phyto nutrient found within apples, berries, kale, I mean numerous plant products that help the nerves, the neurons in your brain communicate better. And it's very similar to how some of the older medications used to work. But like you said before, they don't have the side effects because some of those older medications actually could have been very dangerous if mixed with even some of the wrong food items. And other aspects seen in other studies, they had people reduce the amount of animal products, there is a fad found in eggs animal products called arachidonic acid. And what this does is it creates inflammation. And they found that it specifically causes inflammation in your brain. So that within a couple of weeks of stopping all the animal products, that inflammation goes down, and their symptoms get better.

Anita: 5:17

So what I heard you say is not only is getting the leafy greens gonna make a difference, but now what if you stop eating the things that are causing the damage. So now you it's not just about what you remove, it's also about what you put back into its place because when you remove something again, you don't want to leave a hole there. You want to fill it with something great. So now you've removed the damaging things you're putting in the healing produce, it's going to make you feel amazing, and in this case, it is leafy greens.

Jarrod: 5:47

And so I think with inflammation, just fire I mean it's a great analogy. So not only are you not adding fuel onto the fire, but you're also dousing it with a ton of water. So you're putting it out, you're letting things heal. And it makes a difference.

Anita: 6:01

That's a great example. Okay. Now the second reason you want to have a lot of leafy greens throughout the day is for your vascular health. This is a biggie, because we're going to talk about with you today, why it matters because it affects everything. Think about blood flow. Alright, if you don't have enough blood flow to an area, what's going to happen to that area, it's going to slowly die away, it's not going to be getting the nutrients it needs. Not only that the waste products won't be removed from the area. So over time, sometimes quickly, sometimes it takes a few years, sometimes it takes many years. But it can happen rather quickly, where you start having trouble. What are some areas you're going to have trouble with if you don't have blood flow, your heart, your brain, your skin, your extremities, your digestive system, your immune system, all these different things are affected by blood flow. Now, this is only scratching the surface of the things that are affected by blood flow. So you want your blood to be getting where it needs to go without having a fight against a tight vessel. And this is where leafy greens come in.

Jarrod: 7:11

Now you may be thinking, Okay, what do Greens have to do with my vessels? Well, it turns out that greens are high in nitrates, which your body turns into nitric oxide. Now, when there's nitric oxide in your vessels, it causes them to relax, which allows them to open up which allows for greater blood flow. In addition to that, it helps the vessel walls to be more slick. I've heard Dr. Esselstyn even refer to it as it makes the walls become like Teflon, so that the blood flows through more easily,

Anita: 7:41

right, so you're not getting blood clots, you're not getting plaques on your arteries. But what if those things have already built up? Well, what we know from scientific research is if they're already there, they can start to resolve, they can start to dissolve, and over time, your interior of your arteries can heal, the plaques can disappear, your vessels can open up again. But we don't think about this with our arteries, we think it's just this chronic condition that if you start getting the blood flow decrease, you start getting the plaques, you start getting blood clots, and then ultimately, you're going to have a heart attack, or you're going to get high blood pressure. Why? Because those vessels are hardened, they they're not elastic, they're not wide, because we're not getting the nutrients that we need. So we think, Oh, well, high blood pressure, that's just normal. That's just what happens. It's a normal part of aging. But what we know, by studying different tribes, different people groups that actually eat well don't eat the standard American diet of animal products and oils, you know, meat and dairy oils, and then the, like, the refined sugars and the things like that, that cause the inflammation in the first place, that cause the vascular damage. When they're not eating those, their blood pressure actually goes down as they age, they don't get this kind of disease process going on in their arteries in their heart in their bodies. And this is why this is so very important. We're not hearing that these things can be reversed. You know, if something happens to your ankle, it's a whole different story, right?

Jarrod: 9:09

Well, that's a great analogy. And I was thinking, why should we care that there's inflammation in our vessels? Well, because inflammation, if it goes on and on can lead to damage. Now you don't feel your arteries or your vessels that mean you just don't it's something that goes on underneath the surface. The what I like about the analogy of the ankle sprain is that when you twist your ankle, you go from it being normal to there being an injury, you feel it, there's this sudden change. Now, let's say that it heals 80%, and you sprained it again, in an hour. I mean, you've got this other injury that happens. Well think about whenever you're eating the standard American diet, and you have these oils and this constant assault meal after a meal, you've got this long term inflammatory process, where the lining of the blood vessels damage, you get these oxidated cholesterol that build up and the vessels don't relax. And then you've got a recipe for heart attack, stroke mean all kinds of vascular diseases, and that's what's going on underneath the surface. You just may not feel it until it's too late until you have that chest pain like oh no, where did that come from? Right and so the gestion No, it's not indigestion.

Anita: 10:56

And so whole plant fades. Leafy greens can help you to not only prevent this from happening, it can help you actually reverse reverse it. And one other thing we didn't mention with a nitric oxide is when you get the nitrates in there converted into the nitric oxide. What we also know is that helps with sleep disturbance sleep problems. So a lot of us busy moms are busy professionals, we have difficulty sleeping. Now there are various reasons for that and cheered and I also teach about that. But one thing I want you to know is it can be nutritional, you may not be getting a nap Have the nutrients you need for your body to go into REM sleep, and things like that. And we know that getting enough nitric oxide, and that comes from nitrates that come from your leafy greens can actually improve your sleep. So do this for yourself, just find a couple of new ways. And we're going to share some today to get more of those leaf ease said that you can start resting better to then number three is they are filled with fiber, like all plant foods, leafy greens, especially have a ton of fiber in them, this is going to improve your digestion, this is going to reduce cancer risk as things are going to keep moving through like they're supposed to. Right. You know, some of us have problems for years and don't realize it, then we started eating whole plant foods or going good night, you know, I have been messed up for a long time, but it was normal was not normal was not normal. And so you definitely want to get the leafy greens to help heal digestive issues. You know, we have a client who had IBS, and she's starting to now be able to eat things she couldn't eat before she couldn't eat citrus because it gave her heartburn so severe every time she had it, she couldn't eat it. And she just told us a couple of days ago, I ate an orange. And I didn't get any heartburn. I mean, this happens all the time, we have another client, her name is Brenda and Brenda actually was having trouble just keeping her food down. She was having a hard time with that with her digestion. And it just really affected her life. But now she doesn't have that problem because she started getting these plant foods that keep things moving through that help us grow the good bacteria that we need to be able to break down our foods the way they need to be broken down. So this is going to help with your digestive issues. It absolutely works. So get those leafy greens. But how exactly do you get those easily in a way that you're going to enjoy. And if you've known me for long, you know that this is what I'm all about. It has got to be doable with the busy life, it has got to taste great. Otherwise, it's never going to last. You know, it's my song. I sing it all the time, our pricing it till eternity. So, but it works. This is the simple solution you're looking for. And it's actually enjoyable step one to get more leafy greens, I want you to start loading up your pasta sauces, homemade ones, ones that you're just reheating from somewhere. If you buy it in a jar, I don't care, you're going to try to get more leafy greens into those sauces. It is not hard to do, I'm going to give you the easy way to do it right now. Take kale, for example, I'm just going to use one leafy green as an example. When you get it home from the store. If it's fresh, you don't even have to strip it off the stem to do this that way, there's less waste and more nutrients for you. You're going to wash it well. You can spin it dry with your salad spinner, have your kids doing it. They love doing this. It's so much fun for some reason to play with the salad spinner. Okay, and then or buy pre washed, get it into a bag, take all the air out as best she can and get it into a freezer. Can you buy kale, pre frozen, fresh kale frozen? Absolutely, you can go ahead and buy it price and skip that step if you're in a hurry. Once it's frozen, it's going to become one of your greatest friends. Okay? All you have to do is take it out of the freezer, when you're ready to add it to your pasta sauce right away before it thaws. And I'm telling you kale is going to thaw in a matter of a minute or two, it'll start thawing, so right away and get it into your hands and just short squeeze and like crazy, it's going to break it up. Okay, that's one easy way you can do it. Now it may leave a few chunks of the stem. If you do that. If you just think you know what, I just want to all crushed up in there. So I won't even hardly know it's there. And actually, if you do it this way, you're probably going to get even more kale because you're chopping it up really fine. And so how do you do that? You drop it while it's frozen immediately from the freezer into your Nutribullet or high speed blender or into your precise food processor. Yeah, that's one of the easiest ways you can use a mini food processor or a regular one dependent on how much you're using. Now I always make an add a lot of caled our dishes. So I usually use just a regular fade processor thrown in there frozen, and I'll just blend it. I mean, I don't even pull it. I'll let it blend until it makes a frozen kale powder.

Jarrod: 15:53

Yes. I was surprised that how powdery it God.

Anita: 15:56

It's unbelievable, isn't it? Right? Well, he never Why do people never tell us this? I know No. You've got to get in the kitchen and figure this stuff out or find somebody who's figured it out for you, which is what we love doing. Okay, so you're going to take that kale powder, you can add it to so many things. I'm going to give you a resource at the very end. You want to get your hands on it and look at it and use it because it is going to start moving you from where you are to where you want to be. You know there was a time when I was so tired of just saying I don't think Feel like it when great opportunities came my way? That was my answer all the time. No, I don't feel like it. I might, I had opportunity, Scott with friends to go on trips, to build a business, all these things I wanted to do, I just didn't feel like it. This is how I got myself out of that place one step at a time, it doesn't have to be some big grand plan that seems overwhelming and difficult. So getting these leafy greens in this powdered form is going to be a big game changer for you. Because you're going to eat a lot more because they're chopped in these fine particles, put them into your pasta sauces, you can use that sauce then just to pop the top a dish, or you can put it in your lasagna, you know, instead of just putting one or two leaves of spinach, if you do greens in your lasagna, how about packing it full of kale powder into your pasta sauce. It is amazing. The taste is great, it works wonders for your body, it's going to make you feel fantastic. That's simple way number one, way number two, you're gonna take that same frozen kale powder, can you still use fresh? Absolutely, if you want to stand and chop up fresh with an eye for tear with your hands. That's great, but I'm all about saving time and I feel like the kale powder allows you to get more and also to save time. So take that kale powder or you're fresh greens, load up pots of beans. What if you're just heating up some beans from a can. Same thing, put them into a pot, put your kale powder in there, you're good to go cook it until it's a little you know it's warmed up and the kale will wilt pretty quickly. But especially when it's chopped that finally right and then you go ahead and just serve it on whatever you know I've even cooked beans like this it shot cheered so badly because he didn't even know I had it in there. And I probably had in that pot of beans, which How Much Does our Instant Pot hold isn't an eight quart, I think it's eight quarts I had six quarts of beans in there. And I had put to actually about four cups of packed frozen kale powder in there. And he didn't even know had greens in it.

Jarrod: 18:31

I also made a dip out of and I look to see because I know that it's typically your habit to put greens in the beans like that. But I looked to see what it changed the color didn't change the color didn't change the taste. Didn't even know now I didn't look in the Instant Pot because we still had part of the cooked beans. And there

Anita: 18:47

you can see little pieces, probably an instant potlucks I added so much that time. Start off with less I mean start off with a cat or two cats especially if you're making smaller volume and just increase it as you go. Once you get used to it, your body gets used to it. You can do that rather quickly. And it really tastes amazing. It gives an extra depth of flavor to your beans. Put that pot of beans in your instant pot, cover it over to the fill line with water cover your beans with water. Cook them for about 55 minutes. I mean you don't even have to pre soak them. They taste amazing. So that is a great way to get them added to your beans. Now, step number three, when you're making your salads, chop them up. Finally, you can use a mezzaluna to do this, you know it can This is another way to get more volume more bulk into your bowl.

Jarrod: 19:38

Now what's a mezzaluna?

Anita: 19:40

A mezzaluna is a blade it has two handles on the end and it's curved. And so you hold the handles and rock it back and forth

Jarrod: 19:46

and it chops up your grains when you set mezzaluna I thought it was a like in an opera house where you have this certain part of the auditorium. The mezzanine. Okay. I just want to clarify

Anita: 20:01

it, isn't it? I love it. Okay, so get more of them by chopping them more finely. Why is this important? Because with plant for number one just like I said you're going to get more volume of greens number two, you are going to actually start busting up the cell walls This is so very important. You know some people in this walk or against May these journal tell you get us maybe a day at least this made the day and pack it full of green Start upping your green amount start decreasing your Berry and fruit amount still get your berries and fruit. But more greens, it's a great way to do that you can sip on it throughout the day and you're getting that influx of greens to your vascular walls to bathe your cells. It's very very important to get them chopping them up bus, the cell wall now animals, animal products, things like that when you're eating those things. Those cells do not have cell walls, though there's no fiber around them, right so in order to free the nutrients from plant foods, you have to break the cell walls. So chopping them up, grinding them in a smoothie or chewing well slow down you know from the time were young, we were trying to rush through your meals you know you've got to get here you got to get there fast paced society. But if you slow down and mix the digestion starts in your mouth. So you're going to not only crush the cell walls, you're going to start mixing that digestive juices with your food and that's going to start breaking it down as well. So this is another great way To get the most out of your grains, and to get more volume, chop those salads. Now, those are just three of the really simple ways that you can get more of these delicious powerhouses of nutrition into your life. So you can start to heal. So you no longer have to say, I just don't feel like it, you can live your life to the fullest. Okay, so to recap today, we talked about, why do you want to get more greens. And just three of the ways there are so many more reasons why the I mean, we're just scratching the surface here. So the first reason was to elevate your mood, they'll decrease depression. Second reason for your vascular health, this affects everything. Number three, they are filled with fiber, they're going to improve your digestion, they're going to decrease your heartburn and the difficulty that you have with digestive issues, they're also going to improve your sleep that was an extra when we threw in there. Now, the three easy ways to get more into your life, pack them into your pasta sauces, load up your beans with them. And the third way was to I'm gonna test Jared, what was the third way? You said to chop them up to put them in your salad with a mezzaluna Aha. Okay, you're all set. The most important thing to do right now is go to power on plants.com forward slash leafy greens secrets, I have a jam packed guide for you that I've spent time creating that pulls together the 25 most doable and really tasty ways to get more greens into your day, every single day so you can start living the life you want to live because that's what this is all about. Now if you've downloaded for we didn't have quite as many reasons in there, I have updated this resource new and improved version. It's absolutely amazing. And don't worry if you've downloaded it before look in your inbox, you're going to be getting a fresh new copy hot off the presses that we've created just for you. So if you haven't ever downloaded it go right now to power plants.com forward slash leafy greens secrets. And then I want you to just pick a few of the ways you know it's a simple guide I packed it full of pictures, simple words and just steps for you to take pick the ones you want to try. First try the three we talked about today I went into a little bit more detail about exactly how to do that. That's the kind of thing we do with our members inside the membership but you already have in your hands. Once you download this guide 25 Easy ways that you can start today. Just choose one. I cannot wait to hear from you. Jared and I are both excited to hear your amazing testimonials. So make sure to tag us on Instagram at power plants official we cannot wait to celebrate with you. All of your amazing wins. We know there are some big ones coming because this way of living is a huge game changer. We hope you're having a great start to your week sunshine and we look forward to spending time with you again on power on plants.