How to Get Your Greens,

Without a Salad

Hello, friends. I keep hearing a commercial for those vegetables in capsule form where the guy says, “I’ve never been a salad guy. That’s just not who I am.” As if those two sentences are proof positive he can’t possibly get his nutrients from food and must, therefore, take these little capsules. Nature-in-a-Bottle. (Not its real name.)

So I wanted to share how super easy it is to get our nutrients from food without ever having to eat a salad, unless we want to. And I thought I’d start with the green leafies. These are the veggies most frequently associated with salads.

What are green leafies?

The green leafy group is generally combined with the cruciferous veggie group. Both are high nitrate vegetables, and consuming them produces nitric oxide in the blood. Nitric oxide in the blood reverses coronary artery disease, clearing existing plaque and repairing the damaged epithelial system, something no stent, bypass, or statin can do. (“The Esselstyn Heart Disease Program”)

This veggie group includes:

• Arugula

• Asparagus

• Beet Greens

• Bok Choy

• Broccoli

• Broccolini

• Brussels Sprouts

• Cauliflower

• Cilantro

• Collard Greens

• Dandelion Greens

• Kale

• Lettuces

• Mustard Greens

• Napa Cabbage

• Romaine Lettuce

• Spinach

• Swiss Chard

• Turnip Greens

• Watercress

Chances are you’ve already tried some of these. Lance and I consider it a challenge to try to use them all as often as possible. We’ve only recently discovered mustard and turnip greens available locally, and added them to our repertoire. So far the only ones I haven’t loved are the mustard greens, which are a little spicy for me. Hubs likes them, though. Oh, and cilantro, because we both have that gene that makes it taste like soap.

What if I don’t have any plaque in my arteries?

During autopsies, the bodies of 17-year-old Vietnam era soldiers had who’d been raised on the standard American Diet, were found to have plaque already forming in their arteries, which is the early stage of coronary artery disease. (McNamara) So chances are pretty good we all have some plaque.

But even if you’ve been raised on whole plant foods since birth, you still need plenty of this food group because of all the other great things they do. They’re high in vitamins, phytonutrients, and fiber.

B, D, & Beta Carotene: They are full of B vitamins, which are excellent for our brain function, and hard to get D vitamins, which they synthesize from sunshine. They’re high in beta-carotene, which acts as a kind of natural sunblock from the inside out. (We still need to cover up or put on sunblock after 20 minutes of sun exposure.)

Calcium & K: This group is also chock full of calcium and vitamin K, and since plant-based eaters don’t drink milk, we need other calcium sources.

Anti-Aging: One study indicates eating an abundance of leafy greens delays the shortening of the telomeres (Shammas) — the shoelace caps at the ends of our cells that keep them from fraying. Telomeres shorten as we age.If they don’t shorten, we’re not aging. How about that for a reason to eat your greens?

Anti-Inflammatory: Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables are anti-inflammatory. Moreover, they help support a healthy gut biome.

I don’t like ranking vegetables, but as you live this way for a time I’m starting to really understand how to ensure I’m getting my nutrients. There are certain things I get every single day—whole grains, legumes, berries, and green leafies. And when it comes to the greens, there’s no such thing as too many.

To actually achieve the reversal of coronary artery disease, Dr. Esselstyn’s patients must eat 5 to 6 servings of these veggies per day, raw or steamed for about five minutes, always sprinkled with some balsamic vinegar, which activates the chemical reactions and healing.

To me, a meal without a vegetable from this group always feels nutritionally incomplete.

Here are some of the many ways I get the greens in.

Swiss Chard in Soups & Stews

Every soup can benefit from the addition of some green leafies. I love adding Swiss chard, which is a wonderful, rich, almost buttery green, not at all bitter.

To Use: Wash each large leaf individually. You don’t need to remove the stems from Swiss chard, other than to trim where it extends beyond the leaf. Trim any brown or black spots. Then roll the leaves together lengthways on a cutting board and slice. Turn the other way, slice again.

Add two cups shredded chard to any big pot or crockpot full of soup or stew

Spinach in Goulash

Take a block of frozen spinach, thaw in the microwave, and then add to the tomato mixture you’re simmering for your goulash. Let it cook until thoroughly done, and then mix with your whole grain macaroni.

Broccoli & Cauliflower in Stir fries

Fresh or frozen, chop these two siblings into the size you want for your stir fry, and cook with peppers, onions carrots, snap peas, watercress, mushrooms, sweet potato. Sauté without oil, adding veggie broth as needed until vegetables are done. Add small can of pineapple chunks, juice and all. Simmer to blend flavors. Serve with or over rice, quinoa, or soba noodles.

Broccoli, Cauliflower & Carrot Roast

My husband goes ape shit every time I make this. Cut raw broccoli & cauliflower into bite-size. Peel and cut carrots into finger lengths. Lay them out on a baking sheet atop a silicone mat. Sprinkle liberally with garlic, powdered ginger, and smoked black pepper. Cover with tin foil and bake at 400º for 20 minutes.

In a bowl whisk together 1/4 cup reduced sodium tamari, 1/4 cup vegan Worcester, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar..

After the veggies have baked 20 minutes, remove the tinfoil and brush them liberally with the above mixture. Really soak them. Bake 10 more minutes uncovered.

I like to serve these in a grain bowl with Peanut Sauce.

Korean Barbecue Brussels Sprouts

This is very easy. Just cut raw Brussels sprouts in half, and lay them cut-side-down on a silicone mat on a baking sheet. Bake at 400º until just as tender as you want to eat. Fork tender with a little bite. Remove from oven, pour into a pyrex bowl or rectangular cake pan. Cover with Korean barbecue sauce. Stir to soak every sprout. Return to oven for seven minutes or so, just to heat through. Serve.

Every Sandwich, Burger, Taco, and Wrap

I never make a sandwich without a layer of green leafies. Most of us just reach for a little lettuce, and call it good, but that is so five percent (as we used to say.) This year, I have several hanging baskets of greens growing outside, and I intend to add more. So far I have kale, Swiss chard, spinach and arugula. I’ve been trimming them for salads and sandwiches, and I hope I can keep them growing all summer.

So, whenever we’re having sandwiches, burgers, tacos, burritos, or wraps, we always start with a thick bed of mixed greens. Here’s how.

How to Use Raw Greens

I wash a few leaves of every green I have on hand. Usually this include arugula, spinach, swiss chard, kale, and some kind of lettuce. Right now I also have turnip and mustard greens. The lettuce is the smallest portion, as it’s the least nutrient-dense.

I put the greens into a colander, rinse thoroughly, roll and chop on a cutting board.

The only green from which I ever remove the stem is large leaves of kale. I slice up either side of the stem to remove it from the leaf. It’s too tough to eat.

I roll the greens together once the kale has been stemmed, and chop them one way, then the other, until they’re fine shreds.

Then I sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. You won’t even taste it. Just sprinkle. And then massage the greens. This is especially important if you’re using kale. If there’s no kale in the mix, you should still use the vinegar, but you can skip the massage. Anyway, with kale in the mix, massage. Gather, squeeze, release, gather, squeeze, release. You’ll feel the texture of the greens change. They soften, almost like they do when they begin to cook.

Fluff them apart a little and let them sit on the cutting board for 10 minutes before using.

Then, go ahead and line them thickly on your sandwich. Make them the base of your taco. Create a wrap with tomatoes and beans or tofu. Let them add texture to your burrito. Use them beneath and on top of your burger.

Spinach in Tofu

Spinach makes an excellent addition to a Tofu Scramble.

Kale in Chili

When your chili is in the crockpot, do the whole process outlined above with several big leaves of kale. That is: wash it, stem it, chop it, sprinkle it with vinegar, massage it, let it stand for ten, then throw it right into the crockpot with your chili and let it cook all day.

Options

There are a lot more ways to get more green leafies and cruciferous veggies into your meals. I didn’t even get to the cabbage—you could do a vegan cabbage salad or coleslaw, or slather sauerkraut onto your carrot dogs, or make vegan cabbage stew.

What are your favorite ways to get your greens in? Share with everyone in the comments section!

Sited:

McNamara, J. Judson. “Coronary Artery Disease in Combat Casualties in Vietnam.” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 216, no. 7, 17 May 1971, p. 1185, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1971.03180330061012. Accessed 14 Apr. 2020.

Shammas, Masood A. “Telomeres, Lifestyle, Cancer, and Aging.” Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, vol. 14, no. 1, 14 Jan. 2011, pp. 28–34, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370421/, https://doi.org/10.1097/mco.0b013e32834121b1.

“The Esselstyn Heart Disease Program.” Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/wellness/integrative/esselstyn-program.

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