Health

The Importance of Five-a-day

Did your mother ever tell you to eat your greens? Well she was right!

Vegetables are an important part of any balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. In fact they are so important that is it recommended that we all eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. While this may sound like a lot, when there are so many tasty ways to enjoy cavolo nero, kale, leeks and spinach it's much easier than you think.

Read on to find out the benefits of enjoying our great veg...

Health Benefits of Cavolo Nero

A Super Green

Cavolo nero can play an important part in a healthy balanced diet, and is a tasty and easy way to enjoy one of your five-a-day.

Like kale, it is a good source of lutein which can help with eye health, as well as vitamins K,which plays a role in maintaining normal bones, and A and C, which help the immune system to function normally.

Cavolo nero is a significant source of the B vitamins like folic acid, which is important during pregnancy.

It is also a source of fibre and calcium, as well as containing manganese, copper, iron and many other elements.

Health Benefits of Leeks

Just Half a Leek Counts as One of your Five-a-day

Here are just a few of the reasons why it makes sense to include leeks in your weekly diet.

Leeks are a source of the B vitamin folate which is needed for the production of red blood cells and the release of energy from food.

Leeks are also a source of vitamin C which helps to keep our bones and teeth healthy and as an antioxidant which helps to protect cells in the body and keep them healthy.

Leeks contain vitamin K which is needed for blood clotting and so helping wounds to heal. In addition, leeks contain Frucooligosaccharides (FOS) – a type of fibre which can encourage the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut.

Health Benefits of Kale

Portion for Portion Kale is Hard to Beat

In every handful of kale there are lots of nutrients that play an important part in a healthy balanced diet.

Kale is an excellent source of vitamins K, A and C, as well as containing useful amounts of manganese, copper and phytochemicals, which are believed to help against certain types of cancer. It is also rich in lutein, an antioxidant that can help keep eyes healthy.

In addition, in a portion of cooked kale (80g) there is 120mg of calcium; 69µg of folate and 2.2g of fibre. It is of course virtually fat free too and in every portion, there is just 19kcals.

Health Benefits of Spinach

Why Exactly did Popeye Choose Spinach?

It’s easy to see why health experts rate spinach so highly when you see just how much a portion of this tasty green delivers

Whatever your age, you can help protect yourself against numerous illnesses and diseases by eating a portion of spinach every day.

Spinach is rich in folate as well as being a source of vitamins A, which promotes healthy and clear skin and vision, and vitamin C which aids the growth of healthy connective tissue to support the organs and also wound healing.

In fact it is actually Vitamin A that Popeye ate spinach for - and not iron!

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