All Hail Kale

Now, I know I write a lot about fat and delicious meats so I figured I should stop ignoring my favorite green because I feel like I have favored my grass-fed beef too much… Dark leafy greens (and greens in general) are some of the most important foods to add to ones diet for not only weight loss but for a stronger mind and body.

- A new craze is around the clean eating world and that is the great… KALE and particularly the kale shake, you know, the green-epic-power shake?!  People like to go up, down, left, right, or in all directions when it comes to kale.  They put it in salads, make shakes, and even try to put it on unhealthy crap to make themselves feel better.  Whatever.  Kale is the shit; and here is why:

- For a green, kale is unusually high in fiber. This helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep you full and fueled for a good amount of time. Kale is also an excellent source of nutrients, particularly vitamin A, K, and calcium. With a combination of vitamins and minerals kale is without a doubt one of the most important foods for healthy well-balanced diet and a strong, alert, optimized body.

My average Kale Shake

·      2-3 leafs of Kale

·      1-3 cups of water

·      Splash of Coconut water and Apple Cider Vinegar

·      1 cup of Spinach

·      1-2 pieces of fruit

·      Handful of hemp seeds

·      2 stalks of celery

·      Half to a whole cucumber

·      Couple pinches of Cinnamon (speeds us metabolism and definitely helps the taste)

·      Couple pinches of Pink Himalayan Salt

·      Tbsp. Coconut Oil or MCT oil (increases bioavailibilty and gives you MCTs)

·      Occasionally I will throw in a clove of garlic (to help kill some gut bacteria). But the lauric acid in coconut oil does that as well and aids in gut health, so use to your liking.

Health Benefits of Kale

Though greens in general are nutritious foods, kale stands a stalk above the rest. Not only is it one of your best sources of beta-carotene, which happens to be one of the antioxidants believed by many nutritionists to be a major factor in the battle against cancer, and heart disease (also found in grass-fed beef cough cough), it also provides other important nutrients. 

One cup of chopped kale contains

·      9% of the daily value of calcium

·      206% of vitamin A

·      134% of vitamin C

·      684% of vitamin K

·      Excellent source of minerals like copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

With this high density of nutrients, here is how and why kale is effective:

·      Can help lower cholesterol levels.
The fiber in kale binds bile acids and helps lower blood cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of heart disease.

·      Kale is a detox food.
It’s filled with fiber and sulfur, which are great for detoxifying your body and keeping your liver healthy and strong.

·      Low in calories
A cup of chopped kale has only 33 calories. Great for weight loss and you won’t be depriving your body of vital nutrients!

·      Great at fighting many cancers
Kale is rich in organosulfur compounds which are known to fight cancer.

·      Supports a healthy immune system.
Kale is full of sulforaphane which helps rejuvenate the immune system.

·      Eye Health Benefits. 
Kale is abundant in two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which act like sunglass filters preventing damage to the eyes from excessive exposure to ultraviolet light.

·      Supports normal blood clotting, antioxidant activity, and bone health. 
Thanks to high amounts of Vitamin K

·      Great for helping digestion.
It’s very high in fiber.

Kale’s health benefits not only rest with its dense nutrients but its strong anti-oxidative traits as well.

- Carotenoids and flavonoids are the specific types of antioxidants associated with many of the anti-cancer health benefits of kale. Kale is also rich in the lutein and zeaxanthin, which helps to promote eye-health; these carotenoids help keep UV rays from damaging the eyes and causing cataracts.

 - Beyond antioxidants, the fiber content of kale binds bile acids (bile acids promote processing of dietary fat) and helps lower cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of heart disease (most beneficial when kale is cooked instead of raw).

- Kale is an incredible source of well-absorbed calcium, which is one of the many factors that help prevent osteoporosis ( pasteurized milk is nothing compared to kale). It also provides good amounts of vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, manganese, and potassium.

- The manganese in kale helps your body's own antioxidant defense system, superoxide dismutase, protecting you from damaging free radicals. Its folate and B6 work together to keep homocysteine levels down, which may help prevent heart disease, dementia and osteoporosis bone fractures. Ok, Ok that was definitely the most “sciencey” sentence I have written. I must admit I do feel semi-intelligent.  

This is something important if you are eating a lot of kale or spinach:

It is quite wise to supplement with calcium if you eat a good amount of kale or spinach. But why?  Kale has all of that calcium already in it! Why would I need to take more calcium? Well, here is why…

·      Kale contains something called Oxalic acid (see terms for more info)

·      Oxalic acid binds vital minerals in the gut, long-term consumption of foods high in oxalic acid can lead to nutrient deficiencies. (But it is still good for you.)

·      When calcium supplements are taken with foods high in oxalic acid, the oxalic acid actually precipitates in the gut and in turn drastically reduces the levels of oxalate absorbed by the body.

·      When calcium is supplemented some cases show as much as a 97% decrease in oxalate levels. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, kale is GREAT for you but I know people who have developed kidney stones due to not taking my advice on supplementing with calcium; I like to use tums or an antacid (it’s like my version of candy).

  

TERMS:

Carotenoids are organic pigments that are found in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms, including some bacteria and some fungi. Carotenoids can be produced from fats and other basic organic metabolic building blocks by all these organisms. Carotenoids generally cannot be manufactured by species in the animal kingdom so animals obtain carotenoids in their diets.

Oxalic acid is an organic compound; it is a colorless crystalline solid that dissolves in water to give colorless solutions. It is classified as a dicarboxylic acid. Oxalic acid is a reducing and its conjugate , known as oxalate is a chelating agent for metal cations. Typically, oxalic acid occurs as the dihydrate . Oral consumption of oxalic acid in excess or prolonged skin contact can be dangerous. Oxalic acid has been linked to gout and sensitive skin and even severe irritation of the vagina (wtf?!)

Homocysteine is a non-protein α-amino acid. It is a homologue of the amino acid cysteine, differing by an additional methylene bridge. It is biosynthesized from methionine by the removal of its terminal methyl group. Homocysteine can be recycled into methionine or converted into cysteine with the aid of B-vitamins. Detection of high levels of homocysteine has been linked to cardiovascular disease.

Superoxide dismutases are enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. Thus, they are an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen.

I am not a doctor or a scientist.  This is all researched based. You can look all of this info and terms up on wikipedia or from medical journals and studies