Green salads are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and fiber, but people do not generally include salads in their diet. This is because they do not realize the benefits which they can derive from them. Arugula, lettuce, romaine and other greens, along with the carrots, onions, beets that you add in your typical salad, have great nutritional value and several health benefits.
The health benefits of green salads depend on the ingredients in it. Almost all of the ingredients of a salad do wonders for your body, except the high fat dressing. When you add dressing that is high in fat to your salad, you might satisfy your taste buds, but you also end up thwarting the health gains.
What Does a Salad Give You?
A salad generally contains ingredients which provide the following nutrients:
* Iron
* Folic acid
* Potassium
* Magnesium
* Beta-carotene
* Vitamin C
* Vitamin K
How Do The Nutrients Help You?
Just knowing the minerals and vitamins that a salad contains is not enough, in order to understand the importance of green salads, you should know how these nutrients benefit you.
Iron
* Its main function is formation of hemoglobin.
* It helps treat insomnia.
* It boosts immunity.
* It helps in providing adequate supply of oxygen to the brain and muscles.
Folic Acid
* It helps in maintaining good mental health.
* It helps prevent spina bifida.
*It can help in the prevention and treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia.
Potassium
* It is necessary for good heart and kidney health.
* It helps in maintaining optimum blood pressure.
* It aids in the growth of muscles.
* It plays a key role in prevention of stroke.
Magnesium
* It aids in the prevention of heart attacks.
* It can be used to treat high blood pressure.
* It provides relief for chest pains.
* It has a major role in treatment of fibromyalgia.
Beta-carotene
* It can help prevent diseases of the heart.
* It helps in minimizing the cholesterol levels.
* It is good for your eyes and skin (when converted to vitamin A).
Vitamin C
* It can help prevent premature aging.
* It aids in the treatment of asthma.
* It can boost your immunity.
* It assists in the treatment of throat infections.
* It helps in fighting common cold.
Vitamin K
* It regulates blood clotting.
* It helps in reducing the menstrual pain.
* It can be used to treat osteoporosis.
* It also helps in regulating the sugar levels in the blood.
The Greener Side.
Green salad helps you lose weight. Yes, it is true, in addition to the innumerable nutritional gains, eating green salads (obviously low fat) before your meals can help you reduce your body weight. How does this happen? Well, the answer is simple, when you have a salad before your meal, you tend to eat less after that, as the salad has already given relief from your hunger. A salad makes you feel fuller, as the green salads are fiber-rich. They are also low in calories. Thus, having a salad before each meal, will make you reduce the intake of calories from your meals. If you have salads every day, prior to every meal, you will eventually end up losing weight.
One thing that most of the people who eat salads do not realize is that, almost all the salads that you get in a hotel, have fats and calories hidden in them. The dressing on the salad can be blamed for those extra calories. When you add a high fat dressing to your "healthy" green salad, it no longer remains "healthy", and consuming it may simply end up adding a few pounds to your body. So, always go for salads with low fat dressing.
The advantages of green salads are often preached by experts. I believe that the importance of green salads is not understated, it’s underestimated. So, people should be educated about the benefits of green salads. Do make salads a part of your daily diet, and enjoy the health gains.
