Dana Jacobi - The Power Greens Cookbook: 140 Delicious Superfood Recipes

As a dietitian who has worked with patients for over a decade to use food to improve and maintain their health, too often I hear patients say they are either intimidated or frustrated by greens. They say, I know I should eat (more) greens but I dont know how to cook them so that they will taste good. It is not just knowledge of the health benefits of greens that provides power. We need to know how to prepare them easily and make them taste so great that we get excited enough to buy them and prepare them. Thus, it is the combined knowledge of the health power of greens and easy great-tasting ways to prepare them that provides true power. So thats why I am thrilled that one of my favorite cookbook authors, Dana Jacobi, created this book that does both, beautifully and simply.

A word about health: These fifteen leafy dark greens deliver nutrients that will actually improve the health of every part of your body. At your core, greens improve digestion by helping to remove toxins from the body as well as helping promote a healthy pH level that in turn creates a more suitable environment for good bacteria (probiotics). As we age, our bodies need nutrient support to protect all our cells and maintain the health of organs large (skin) and small (eyes). Dark greens do all of this, especially because of their high concentration of certain nutrients. Leafy Power Greens are one of the most important sources of different antioxidantsvitamins and minerals as well as plant nutrients (phytonutrients). These antioxidants play a critical role as our bodys cleanup team. They seek out the dirt (free radicals) that lifes stresses, food, environmental toxins, and the general workload in the body produce. Thus, consuming Power Greens regularly helps maintain a clean, healthy body from the inside out.

A word about taste: From our first bite, taste dictates whether or not we like something, and very few people will continue to eat foods they dont like, even if they know how good they are for them. Over the years, I have counseled plenty of clients who suffer through eating foods that they dont like the taste of by rewarding themselves with foods and beverages that they do find tasty or by making every effort to disguise or alter the taste of the food ingredient they dislike. Unfortunately, these efforts havent helped them get healthier; in fact, typically its the opposite. I dont believe we should ever eat something we dont like the taste of in the name of enabling health. So the key is to learn to make healthy food taste great, and to have choices, as we all arent going to like the same foods as others, nor will we necessarily like the same foods throughout our own life stages.

A word about quality: As a Qualitarian (someone who knows that better quality choices enable better health), I would be remiss to not say a word about the role of quality in the health power of foods, especially greens. The power of the dark, leafy greens described in this book comes from both what they contain and what they dont have on or in them. Many greens are on the Environmental Working Groups Dirty Dozen list, which means that their levels of pesticides tested among the highest in produce. That means that bite for bite and sip for sip they could contain greater amounts of pesticides than other produce, unless grown according to organic practices. Thats not a reason to skip greens, but its certainly a reason to choose organic greens as a way to reduce exposure to pesticides. After all, if a reason to eat Power Greens is to get their cleanup power, why would we eat greens with added toxins sprayed on them or on the soil in which they grow? Thats like wearing dirty shoes while mopping the floor! So make an effort to buy organic produce grown with fewer or no pesticides. Purchasing organic can seem to present challenges from availability to cost, so its good to know that many organic greens today cost close to or the same as chemically farmed versions. Additionally, one can save money and have year-round access by purchasing frozen organic (just as acceptable as ready to eat), which also prevents spoilage concerns.