Beyond the Salad: Make Leafy Greens Part of Your Healthy Diet
Not long ago someone asked me what I thought would be a good first step toward a healthy diet. I suggested adding more leafy greens, and right away, she said, “Oh, I can’t eat that much rabbit food.” I laughed, but I get it. Knowing you need to make a change and being ready to do it are not the same thing. After some consideration, here’s what I have to say about that—it’s time to expand your healthy eating horizons. There is more to a healthy diet than the aforementioned “rabbit food” and there is more to leafy greens than tossed salads and steamed side dishes.
Start Your Day Green and Healthy…
If you’re like a lot of folks, you probably start thinking about getting in your recommended daily servings of vegetables somewhere between trying to decide what’s for supper and wondering if that lone piece of iceberg lettuce on your lunchtime sandwich counts. Why wait until the middle or the end of the day? Invite leafy greens to a healthy breakfast! Oven-roasted kale is great with any meal and breakfast is no exception. For a healthy start to your day, add a hearty helping as a side to a poached egg. Or add fresh baby spinach (or left-over oven-roasted asparagus!) to a quick easy omelet. Being conscious of eating healthy early in your day has a positive effect on your healthy eating habits later on.
Eating Healthy Doesn’t Mean Eating Boring…
So you’ve started eating healthy and those salads and steamed broccoli are healthy diet staples. But it’s easy to get stuck in a rut—and consequently, bored—so now go out and try something new. C’mon! Be brave! Take an old favorite and prepare it a new way. Stop steaming and start oven-roasting. Be braver still! Pick a green vegetable you’ve never tried, find a recipe and go for it! Adventure is part of a healthy diet, too. And be sure to write and let me know how it all turned out. I love to about new food discoveries! New favorites are always a pleasure and even disaster stories can result in laughter and camaraderie, which are also essential for good overall health.
Super Fluffy Breakfast Omelet
Ingredients:
Oil for cooking;
2 egg whites, 1 egg yolk;
½ small onion, diced;
½ c (or so) fresh baby spinach;
Fresh parmesan cheese;
Salt and pepper to taste.
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (trust me—I know what I’m doing).
Drizzle a little olive oil in a medium skillet. Heat on high for one minute, then turn down to medium to low heat.
Lightly beat egg yolk together with salt and pepper. Beat egg whites until fluffy. Fold in the egg yolk and add to skillet. Cook just long enough to set. Add diced onions, baby spinach and freshly grated or thinly sliced parmesan cheese. Place in oven and bake until the eggs are fluffy. Remove from oven. Using a spatula, fold in half before serving.
Category: Healthy Eating
April 17th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
This is so true, we all need to eat more leafy greens.
Love this recipe, fresh parmesan is soooo much better than the gritty stuff out of the can.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:47 am
You have changed my thinking. I realized yesterday that I was out of leafy greens til the next shopping trip. It felt like a minor catastrophe and I mentally moved the next shopping trip ahead. Thanks to you, these treats have become necessities of life. Thanks.