Many individuals seek out leafy greens like spinach and kale for their multiple health advantages, including vitamins, energy, and overall well-being. These nutrient-dense greens are becoming increasingly popular and may be found in salads, breakfast bowls, smoothies, “Buddha Bowls,” omelettes, and other dishes. It is important to remember, however, that ingesting these leafy greens alone may not supply you with the whole variety of nourishment you want. It is critical to combine them with a healthy fat at the same meal for maximum nutritional absorption. Let’s look at why and how you should do it.
Understanding Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Fat-soluble vitamins are chemical substances that your body can only absorb in the presence of fat. Certain vitamins, especially A, D, E, and K, may only be dissolved and absorbed by the body if a lipid is present during their absorption. When you consume spinach, kale, or other leafy greens, you are adding these critical fat-soluble vitamins into your system.
The Challenge: Lack of Fat
When these vitamins are eaten without a lipid in the small intestine, they are not efficiently absorbed and used by the body. Just eating a fat-free spinach salad for dinner followed by a high-fat dessert will not address the problem. Since spinach enters the gut first, the vitamins will not be efficiently utilised until fat is present to help in the breakdown and absorption process.
Conventional dressings such as oil and vinegar were employed to remedy this issue. Modern salad dressings, on the other hand, sometimes fall into two extremes: low-fat or non-fat variants lacking necessary fats, or restaurant-style dressings filled with extra fats, sugars, and chemicals that negate the salad’s health advantages. Smoothies, bowls, and morning greens all have the same issue. Unless you include fats, such as eggs in an omelette, there is generally a dearth of fat in these meals. A regular smoothie, for example, may have kale, banana, pineapple, and rice milk, but it lacks the crucial healthy fat component.
The Synergy of Healthy Fats and Vitamins
Now that you know how fat-soluble vitamins operate, it’s critical to incorporate healthy fats in your diet to guarantee adequate absorption. Not all fats are made equal, and it is critical to select the proper type of fat for absorption as well as general health. Trans fats should be avoided in favour of monounsaturated fats, animal fats, unsaturated oils, plant fats, omega-3s, omega-6s, medium-chain triglycerides, and fish oils. Plant-based lipids, such as nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, cacao nibs, and tahini, are a fantastic place to start.
Delicious and Easy Solutions
Consider creating your own salad dressing while cooking a salad. It’s frequently as simple as putting all of the ingredients in a closed container and shaking to combine. In addition, instead of croutons, you may add crunch and healthy fats to your salad by using sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or almonds. These seeds and nuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, plus they provide a delicious flavour and texture to your salad. A delectable and nutritious approach to improve your dinner is to drizzle an olive oil-based dressing with healthful seeds like chia over a baby spinach salad and top it with crunchy almonds.
Interested in making your own dressing? Here’s a super simple recipe to get you started:
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dry chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
In a closed container, combine all of the ingredients, shake to combine, and you’re ready to dress your salad. When you make your own dressings, you eliminate preservatives, artificial colours, and tastes, and you can personalise the taste to your preferences. A fast Google search can yield a plethora of simple dressing recipes.
What About Breakfast Bowls?
If you don’t like salads, there’s a fun and delicious way to get your greens without ever tasting them: the smoothie or breakfast bowl. The flavour of kale is concealed when it is blended with pineapple and banana, for example. Using olive oil in the blender, on the other hand, would be unpleasant, and coconut oil may make it too oily.
One option is to include nut butter. With chocolate or berry smoothies, a swirl of natural peanut butter or a dollop of almond butter works great. You can also top any smoothie or bowl with nuts to provide crunch and the beneficial fats you require. But what if your bowl isn’t nut butter compatible?
The Solution: Chia Seeds
Chia seeds may offer nutrients and omega-3 beneficial oils to any cuisine without changing the flavour. These small seeds have no discernible taste and may be blended or mixed into nearly anything. Chia seeds, despite their bland flavour, are high in calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, omega-3 healthful oils, antioxidants, complete plant protein, and two forms of fibre. Because they are easy to include into dishes, they are ideal for adding to smoothies, bowls, salad dressings, soups, and sandwiches. You don’t have to worry about putting healthy fats into any kind of green smoothie or bowl when you use chia seeds.
You can optimise the nutrients you get from leafy greens like spinach and kale by knowing the value of matching healthy fats with them. Adding the correct fats and experimenting with other taste combinations will allow you to enjoy these greens in ways other than standard salads while ensuring adequate nutritional absorption. Eating healthier every day doesn’t have to be difficult, and once you see the benefits, you’ll be driven to stay on the path to greater health. Search for combinations you enjoy and simple sources of omega-3s to help you on your way to better health.
If you’re interested in introducing chia seeds into your diet, go to http://www.mychiaseeds.com for additional information, including photographs, recipes, videos, and more. MyChiaSeeds is the first chia seed company that provides quick additional recipe books to improve your cooking experience.