Top Nutrient Dense Veggies

Apr 22, 2011 by Tatianna

 

A little while ago I saw an eye opening documentary,  actually  two eye opening documentaries. Which inspired me to take care of my nutrition even further. It really made me think about the condition of nutritional education and the lack of it, all over the world. It’s not only in America anymore that people are less and less aware of what they are eating.  It’s spreading around the world.

People in general don’t really know how much nutrients they are consuming on a regular basis, or what vitamins and minerals they even need. I did some research on the most nutrition dense  veggies, and after my digging around I found out,  most people don’t even know about these vegetables. Everyone just assumes if they eat spinach and broccoli, and maybe some fruit on occasion, it should be enough.  But you will be surprised to find out, ether spinach or broccoli is not the most nutrient dense vegetables.
There is a scale called the ANDI Scores, which measures vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidant capacities in the food on the scale from  1 – 1000. One being the least and of course one thousand being the most amount of nutrients.
ANDI stands for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, it was created by Eat Right America together with Dr. Joel Fuhrman. The scores are based on equation Health = Nutrients/Calories.  I don’t want to make it too complicated for you, so I just picked the top 3 veggies, you should definitely include in your daily diet.

I present you with 🙂

 

Kale – 1000 ANDI score

One cup of chopped Kale contains – 206% of daily intake of Vitamin A, 134% of Vitamin C, 684% of Vitamin K, it also has a good amount of manganese, dietary fiber, copper, calcium, vitamin B6, iron and potassium. This is an insane amount of nutrients, and it’s from just one cup of kale. I am not going to list  every incredible thing Kale will do for your health, but I am going to make the most important point – it will become an iron shield for your immune system. Because your health is in the hands of your immune system, if it fails you fail.

 

Collards – 1000 ANDI score

Collard is very similar in nutrition density as Kale. It’s a bit higher in Vitamin A which is 308%, 1045% of Vitamin K, 58% of Vitamin C, 27% of Calcium, 41% of Manganese and a good source of folate, calcium dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, Vitamin E. This is also for only one cup of Collard. Another Iron Shield for your immune system.

 

Bok Choy – 824 ANDI scores

Bok Choy has a bunch of every nutrient you can think of mixed inn together, such as phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  It also has 9g of fat per serving. You would think – What?! Fat in a vegetable? Yes, but it’s the good fat and it will fight the bad fat off you body. It provides 149% of Vitamin A, 75% of Vitamin C, 38 % of Vitamin K and of course all the other essential vitamins and minerals needed by your body on a regular daily basis.

After these three veggies, comes the spinach with ANDI score of 739, then the Broccoli Rabe standing at 715 ANDI score, Brussels Sprouts are 672. Broccoli itself  falls under a score of 376, when compared to Kale or Collards is pretty low. But the price is exactly the same.
I got these veggies at Whole Foods, and what I found surprising – they weren’t expensive. I paid 10 dollars for those 3, the amount will last me all week. Most people spend more money on soda drinks then veggies.
I always hear a lot of people complaining that vegetables are expensive, well so is junk food, if you buy it every day it’s expensive, and then it becomes even more expensive when you have to go to the doctor with heart problems.
Try to include these veggies into your diet as much as possible, don’t let your body break before you start thinking about your health.  Give your self a month of challenge, where you include these 3 veggies inn your diet.  I promise you will notice the difference in your energy, mood, sleep and over all well being.
Another really good advice is stop cooking your veggies, make salads, smoothies just don’t cook them. To get the benefits of your vegetables you have to eat them raw.
As I always say – love and take care of your body, in return your body will love and take care of you.

Always love to hear your feedback 🙂

Tatianna

PS – Check out my archives on all the Nutrition Facts I posted