When you were young how many times were you told by your parents to eat your greens because they are good for you? And how many either didn’t take them at all or took them but grudgingly and always made funny and grossed out faces with every bite? Well it turns out that once again the grown-ups were right, in more ways than one.
Personally I hated vegetables as a kid; it was constant struggle between my parents and me. I think the only reason I even started eating vegetables was because of Popeye the sailor man (I’m strong to the finish ‘cause I eats me spinach) and even then it was a minor victory for my parents because spinach was the only vegetable I would accept, every other kind could go to the garbage for all I cared. But it turned out that kid me should have been eating his veggies back then too, but I’ll cut myself some slack since I was a kid.
Green leafy vegetables are not only good for our physical health; they contribute to your mental health as well. According to an excerpt from this article, “12 Superfoods for Stress Relief” written by Lindsay Funston an posted on health.com, green leafy veggies like spinach or seaweed are filled with a mineral called folate (more on folate here [put link to asparagus article here]), which helps the body in the production of dopamine, the feel good hormone. According to the article, a study was performed back in 2012 on 2,800 middle-aged and elderly people and it was found that those people who ate folate rich food were less likely to develop symptoms of depression than those who didn’t. The article also mentions another study conducted in 2013 in the University of Otago; in that study they found that college students were calmer, more energetic and happier on days that they ate more fruits and vegetables than on days they didn’t.
Then we have this article called, “5 Health Ailments That Can be Treated by Eating More Greens” written by Heather McClees and posted on onegreenplanet.org. Like the name suggests it tells us five reasons why eating green leafy vegetables is good, and if you scroll down to point number 3 you’ll find the part where they talk about how the stuff helps against stress. It talks about how greens are filled with magnesium, calcium and B vitamins which lower cortisol, blood pressure and blood sugar, all things which contribute to stress.
To sum up, eating green leafy vegetables helps you physically, mentally and emotionally; so try introducing more of them into your daily diet, it won’t do you any harm, but a lot of good.
Alternative Yoga 