Traditionally speaking, January is a time for healthy eating and re-evaluating your lifestyle. More new gym memberships are taken in January than in any other month of the year and the ‘new year, new you’ mantra is one which is taken up with gusto by many. There is, however, an old saying which goes “muscles are made in the kitchen”, meaning that you need to look at your diet before you start pounding the treadmill, and we thought we’d take a look at kale, one particular food which you should be incorporating into your new eating plan as often as possible.
Nutrients
Kale is absolutely packed with vitamins and minerals, offering per 100g portion up to 199% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin A and a full 200% of your vitamin C! It also contains iron, calcium and vitamin B6…and the best part is that each 100g portion only contains 49 calories. In fact, kale is packed with so many different nutrients that it is credited with improving everything from skin and hair, to reducing inflammation and fighting against some of the major causes of cancer.
Fibre
Kale is a good source of dietary fibre, which is great if you’re trying to avoid grains as it means that you can maintain intestinal motility, keeping you regular and avoiding that bloated feeling which can really put a dampener on things.
Fat
Although we’re coming around to the fact, through the most up-to-date research, that fat isn’t quite as bad as we were once led to believe, it’s good to know that kale actually contains ZERO saturated fat, which means that you can concentrate on getting your fats from other sources, such as nuts and butter from grass-fed cows.
So..How Do I Eat It?
Okay, so we know that “put it in your mouth and chew” is the obvious answer here, but there are some rather more interesting ways to incorporate kale into your diet. Many people add it to their smoothies (leading to a worldwide shortage of the leafy green in the past couple of years!) which helps to disguise the flavour with other fruits and veg. It’s also delicious as a salad, with a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of lemon juice and some seeds and nuts thrown in. Kale chips are also a trendy way of getting kale into your diet, and while we won’t try to pass them off as a decent substitute for a bag of Monster Munch, it’s a great way to add variety.