If there’s one thing that nutrition science agrees upon, it’s that vegetables and fruits are unequivocally good for our health. Yet most of us still don’t eat enough of them each day. And that’s why I chose to encourage you to gobble your greens for the March page of my 12 Healthy Habits Calendar.
Cooking with dark, leafy greens is one of my fave, fast ways to boost my daily veggie intake. I use them in everything and anything (from salads and smoothies to soups, stir-fries, curries and more) and I’ll happily gobble them at every meal of the day. If I’m short on time, pre-washed organic greens make things super-speedy.
Each recipe in this menu serves two and calls for the equivalent of a 142 gram /5 ounce container of pre-washed organic leafy greens (kale at breakfast, arugula at lunch and spinach at dinner). Along with the other veggies in the recipes and adding in two fruits, you’ll consume roughly eight servings of fruits and veggies for the day.
Why gobble your greens?
Because greens are good for:
- blood sugar balance,
- digestion,
- brain health and mood,
- stress relief,
- strong bones,
- detoxification,
- reducing inflammation,
- your immune system,
- glowing skin and
- healthy aging!
Ten terrific reasons to gobble your greens, I’d say. Scroll on down for more about a few of the phytonutrients responsible for some of these health-promoting effects. And I hope this gives you the green light to go ahead and gobble your greens!
Sign up here to receive the recipes for my Gobble Your Greens Menu.
Gobble Your Greens Menu
Breakfast: Kale & Kimchi Scrambled Eggs (this protein, probiotic and plant filled breakfast will power up your morning)
Lunch: Warm Carrot, Sweet Potato & Arugula Salad (warm salads are a tasty way to transition from winter to spring eating)
Dinner: Seared Cod, Lemony Spinach & White Beans (this dish is simple, flavourful and satisfying; if you don’t have fresh cherry tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes work well too)
Join The Nutritional Reset community here to receive this month’s recipe collection today (as well as each month to come)!
You may be wondering why I chose to focus on fermented foods to kick off my 2021 menus and for the January page of my 
My Holly Jolly Brain Candy collection of confections is unapologetically chocolate-centric. I’m a card-carrying chocoholic and, hey, if ever there was a time when we could use more chocolate, this is it!! It’s natural to turn to sweet treats to cheer ourselves up in times of stress and holidays are often focused around feasting. But as you know from my 
November is the month we remember those who fought and died to preserve our freedom. In their honour, this month’s menu harkens back to the Victory Garden or War Garden. Folks were encouraged to grow their own food to allay shortages and support the war effort. More produce grown in front yards meant more transport freed up to move food, soldiers and munitions to Canada’s allies overseas. A secondary benefit was how victory gardening boosted morale and brought communities together.
The title of this month’s menu is a riff off the song 
Sometimes I am just too hot to cook. And I don’t mean sexy. I mean hot as in temperature hot. When the mercury rises like this and I’m feeling hot, hot, hot, that song of the same name runs through my head and I’d rather be dancing around my kitchen than cooking in it.
I don’t know about you but lately I have been feeling a bit blue and rather nostalgic for happier times. It is tempting when you feel this way to turn to junk food to “treat” yourself, especially foods you munched on as a kid. But in my experience, no matter how much I might enjoy it at the time, I generally feel pretty sluggish after I eat these highly processed foods. Healthy food, however, has the power to heal both body and mind. So instead I prepare delicious yet more nutritious versions of these fun treats. These do wonders for my mood and they energize me.