Raw Kale Smoothie With Powerful Medicinal Health Benefits
Kale is one of the super healthy leafy green vegetables. It is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables you can find on planet earth. It contains lots of vitamins, minerals and cancer-fighting compounds.
This plant-based food is among the most nutritious and healthiest you will find in the plant kingdom for some powerful medicinal health benefits.
One of the best health advice you should never ignore, is to start your day with a Kale Smoothie recipe for breakfast.
There are different types of kale available, and the most common type is called curly kale or Scots kale, which has green and curly leaves and a hard, fibrous stem. You can find them with leaves that are smooth or curly in shape, and they can be green or purple in colour.
Kale is a cruciferous popular vegetable of the cabbage family with other members like broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and Brussels sprouts.
Starting your day with s single cup of Kale Smoothie, you would be nourishing your cells with the following vitamins and minerals: Vitamin A (Retinoids), Vitamin K, Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), Vitamin B1 (thiamin), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (niacin), Manganese, Calcium, Copper, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Phosphorus.
You will find a very minimal amount of fat in kale. However, a large portion of that little fat in it is an omega-3 fatty acid known as alpha linolenic-acid. (More on this fatty acid later.)
Making more kale smoothie recipe for breakfast, is an excellent way to exponentially increase the total nutrient content of your diet because kale is among the most nutrient-dense foods in existence.
Of all the healthy leafy green vegetable, kale is the king and queen of them all.
Kale, like many other green leafy vegetables, has very high antioxidants content. Antioxidants are those substances that help to fight oxidative damage which is believed to be among the leading cause of premature aging and many diseases, including cancer.
These antioxidant substances include beta-carotene and vitamin C, as well as various flavonoids and polyphenols
Oxidative damages are caused by free radicals in our body.
Kale is a tremendously rich source of Vitamin C which is an important water-soluble antioxidant that serves many vital functions in the cells of our body. In fact, kale is actually one of the world’s best sources of vitamin C. To have a cup of raw kale smoothie, you would get more vitamin C than a whole orange.
Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the body, and Vitamin C is essential in our diet for the synthesis of this protein.
Because of the rich contents of vitamins and minerals in this super-food, it can help to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) the bad cholesterol.
Cholesterol has many important functions in the body. One of which is to make bile acids, which are substances that help the body digest fats.
Our liver is one of the hardest working organs in the body, it turns cholesterol into bile acids, which are then released into our digestive system whenever we eat a meal laden with fat.
After all the fat from our meal is absorbed and the bile acids have done their work, they are absorbed back into the bloodstream and available to be used again.
Kale is among the best sources of Vitamin K in the world. A single raw glass of smoothie contains almost 7 times the recommended daily amount.
Vitamin K is a very important nutrient for proper functioning of our body’s cells. One of the most crucial purpose is for blood clotting, and this is done by “activating” certain proteins and providing them the capability to bind calcium.
There are many cancer-fighting substances to be found in kale. This life threatening disease called Cancer is characterized by the uncontrollable growth of cells. Kale is packed full with compounds that are believed to protect the body against the abnormal growth of cancer cells.
Two of these compounds are sulforaphane, a substance that has been shown to help fight the formation of cancer at the molecular level, and indole-3-carbinol, another substance that is believed to help prevent the development of cancer.
Kale is rich in Beta-Carotene which is an antioxidant the body can turn into vitamin A. It is not entirely accurate to say that kale is high in vitamin A.
What will eventually happen when you regularly consume a glass of kale smoothie as the first meal of the day, you are effectively positioning your body to increase the production levels of vitamin A.
Kale has a rich source of minerals that a lot of people are not getting enough in their daily diet. In other words, many individuals are deficient in minerals.
Some of the minerals essential for good health, that are usually missing from a typical western diet are, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, and Iodine.
Only iodine is absent from this plant-based food. It is a good source of calcium, a nutrient essential for bone health and also plays a role in many other cellular functions.
Drinking a glass of kale smoothie will provide you a decent dose of magnesium, which is a most important mineral that most people do not consume enough. The truth is, having plenty of magnesium may protect you against diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Eating kale or drinking a glass of smoothie will also give you quite a bit of potassium, a mineral that helps maintain electrical gradients in the cells of your body. Sufficient amount of potassium intake has been associated with the reduction of blood pressure and a lesser risk of developing heart disease.
Kale smoothie also has very powerful eye protection nutrients. Two of the main ones are lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoid antioxidants that are found in large amounts in smoothie recipe and some other plant foods.
One of the most common consequences of aging is the development of poor eyesight. Fortunately however, there are several nutrients we can include in our diet to help us avoid and overcome this problem.
Many studies have shown that there are eight nutrients that will benefit eye health, and help maintain proper eye function, protect them against harmful light, and reduce the development of age-related degenerative diseases.
people who eat enough lutein and zeaxanthin have a much lower risk of macular degeneration and cataracts, two very common eye disorders. Another nutrient is vitamin A, essential for maintaining your eyes’ light-sensing cells, also known as photo-receptors.
Omega-3 is a long-chain fatty acids with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that are very important for the healthy functioning of our eye. Another nutrient for eye health is Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) an omega-6 fatty acid found in small amounts in the modern diet.
I think we all know about the power of vitamin C. The reality is, our eyes require high amounts of antioxidants, more so than many other organs. And the antioxidant in vitamin C appears to be very essential for our eyes, although there are not enough controlled studies on its role in eye health.
Another eye nutrient is vitamin E, which is a group of fat-soluble antioxidants that protect the fatty acids from harmful oxidation. And because our retina has a high concentration of fatty acids, consuming sufficient amount of vitamin E is essential for optimal eye health.
Last but by no means least is the nutrient Zinc. This mineral is a part of many essential enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, which functions as an antioxidant. Our eyes contain high levels of zinc.
It also appears to be involved in the formation of visual pigments in our retina. As a result, the deficiency of zinc may lead to night blindness.
Smoothie Calories and Weight Loss
Using kale in your daily diet should be able to help your weight management. Because it has several properties that make it friendly food for weight loss. It has a low content of calories but still provides enough bulk that should help you feel satisfied.
Kale has a low energy density due to its low calorie and high water content. Numerous studies have shown that eating plenty of foods with a low energy density has been shown to aid in weight loss.
Two of the most important nutrients in losing weight are protein and fiber, and both, even though in small quantity, can be found in this green leafy vegetable.
Although there is no direct study to test the effects of kale on weight loss, based on the above mentioned statements, it would logically follow that it could be a useful inclusion to a weight loss diet.
You may enjoy this green leafy vegetable several ways. Some even advise the inclusion in your soup. I never recommend cooking vegetables for any reason.
You may enjoy it raw in your salads, or the super-food smoothie especially for breakfast. If you want to really increase the amount of nutrients you take in, consider consuming kale.
The good news is, adding plant-based food to your diet is a relatively easy process. You can simply add it to your raw salads or use it your smoothie recipe.
You become what you eat, so select and combine the best plant-based food for optimal health. Start here: Download this PDF for some amazingly healthy superfoods for boosting immunity.
At the end of the day, kale is definitely one of the healthiest and most nutritious plant based foods on the planet.