A Healthy Salad - Live Green Salad

This salad is packed with a few superfoods. I never thought I would enjoy a salad without all the olives, hardboiled eggs, cheese, and ranch dressing. Not that those are bad for you (except maybe the bottled ranch dressing) but they do add calories to a salad.

Chickpeas are classified as legumes and they are extremely popular in the Mediterranean, India, and the Middle East. They have a nut-like flavor and are very high in fiber and nutrients and offer 4 grams of fiber for ½ cup. They also are great pureed into hummus.

Spinach is high in Vitamin K and the B vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, B6, and folate. It also has minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc. You must eat your spinach.

I ate this salad all last week and it’s amazing how much better I felt. I had more energy and didn’t have as many aches and pains as usual. Eating fresh healthy unprocessed food is the way to go and this tasty healthy salad is so easy to make.

The recipe below is for one serving. It is enough for a dinner entrée. I prepared the one serving for this hub but also made 3 more servings so I will have it already prepared for lunch all this week (see very last photo).

Tomatoes are botanically classified as a fruit since they are the seed-bearing portions of a flowering plant. In 1893 farmers wanted to know if they should pay fruit or vegetable shipping tariffs on them and the Supreme Court of the United States sided with the vegetable rate. Tomatoes contain antioxidants and anticarcinogenic benefits as well as Lycopene which is rare in foods. Tomato paste is a super ingredient to use when cooking. It has the power of a fresh tomato but it is more concentrated.

One of the most popular vegetables in the world, the tomato, is actually a fruit. Eaten raw, cooked, sun-dried, and canned, tomatoes are used in a variety of ways including juices, soups, sauces, ketchups, chutneys, purees, and pastes. They supply potassium, vitamin C, and fiber, and are among the richest natural food sources of the antioxidant pigment lycopene.

One tomato weighing about 3 ounces supplies 36 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C. Canned tomatoes contain slightly less vitamin C than fresh ones. They are rich in lycopene and if eaten regularly they may reduce the risk of heart disease. Research in the US has looked into the relationship between eating various fruits and vegetables and prostate cancer. Out of the 46 types of fruit and vegetables studied, tomatoes and their derivatives such as tomato sauce, had a significant impact on a reduction in the risk of prostate cancer. It is the powerful antioxidant called lycopene in the tomatoes that is believed to offer protection against prostate cancer. Lycopene is one of the most efficient carotenoids when it comes to “mopping up” cancer-causing free radicals in the body.

Research in Italy has indicated when people eat 7 or more servings of tomatoes a week, a 60 percent lower risk of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, colon, and rectum was observed, since tomatoes contain the substances p-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid, which are thought to prevent cancer causing substances called nitrosamines from forming. Tomatoes are also believed to help with improved mental and physical capacity in old age due to the benefits of lycopene.

Salad Leaves include spinach, endive, chicory, cress, raddichio, arugula, red leaf, Boston or Bibb lettuce, Belgian Endive, Watercress, and Frisee. In Chinese medicine, salad leaves are used as a diuretic and to “dry out” digestive problems. They are given to expectant mothers to increase a mother’s milk production. Spinach strengthens the blood and cleanses it of toxins that can cause skin disease. In China, people believe that spinach helps bowel movements, the flow or urine, and relieves herpes irritations.

There is evidence that regularly eating salad leaves decreases the risk of colonic cancer. This is partly due to their supply of antioxidants which help stop the production of carcinogens, and partly due to the fiber that they provide. Fiber appears to reduce the risk of colonic cancer in several ways.

A good amount of folate is found especially in cress, frisee, spinach, and lettuce. Eating folate-rich foods on a regular basis is believed to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Eating folate and folic acid can also reduce the risk of spina bifida, a defect of the spinal column. Calcium is found in spinach, cress, and frisee which the body needs for the formation of strong bones.