Anna (not her real name) suffered constant headaches. She couldn’t concentrate or work properly. She didn’t sleep well and was very often in pain. She had been at the doctor and been given iron supplements. This helped for a while, but not enough. .
She ate a healthy diet of vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fruit. But after a coaching session or two with me, she realised that she used to snack while she waited for her daughters to be back from school for lunch. And her snacking habits were not so healthy.
Anna decided that, instead of unhealthy snacks, she would make green smoothies with fruit and leafy veg. And rather than waiting for her daughters to eat, this would be her daily lunch.
In a couple of weeks, her headaches had greatly reduced: instead of 3 ibuprofen pills per day, she was only taking about 2 per week. A fortnight later her headaches were almost completely gone. When she ate out, they usually came back, but she was now able to manage it.
Anna’ story is only one example of the power of greens. She was clearly eating something that caused her inflammation, which went away when she switched to green smoothies. Green vegetables such as spinach, kale or broccoli are super foods, with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. They are the healthiest foods and they offer the most nutrition per calorie: they are a great source of fibre and many different vitamins and minerals. They offer great protection against most chronic diseases, including about a 20% risk reduction of suffering a heart attack or stroke for every additional daily serving.
In his book ‘How Not to Die,’ Dr Michael Greger recommends eating 2 daily servings (1) of greens. But you may not want to eat greens every day for dinner. An easy solution: drink them in a smoothie, like Anna did!
Click here for a simple recipe of a green smoothie that you can adapt to your taste. Eat it for breakfast, lunch or as a snack. You may soon notice the difference!