People have always known that vegetables are an important component of healthy eating but now, due to scientific studies, we know exactly why they're so important.

Why Greens Are Important For Maintaining Health

You can't beat eating greens if you want to stay healthy. An easy way to consume enough greens to keep you in perfect nutritional shape is by using a green superfood powder. The harder and more expensive it is to get all of the nutrition you need, the less likely you are to actually do it. Since consuming greens has been proved by science to be incredibly important, finding a way to do it is essential for your health. The beta carotene and Vitamin A found in dark leafy greens include antioxidants which keep the immune system strong and help prevent more serious illnesses like cancer. They do this by fighting free radicals, which are molecules without the proper number of electrons. For this reason, they attack healthy molecules in humans, steal electrons, and damage the cells.

Whatever molecules they attack, become unhealthy and stop doing their jobs correctly. In skin, wrinkles are caused and within the body, the immune system cannot work properly. There are also many compounds in greens that protect vision. They can prevent such diseases as macular degeneration and cataract damage in both children and adults.

Why Greens Are Important For Weight Loss

For those concerned with maintaining a healthy weight, greens are essential. They are high in fiber, but low in calories (assuming you don't load them with sauces or dressings). You can basically eat as much of them as you want and never gain weight from them. If you currently enjoy raw broccoli by dipping it into Ranch dressing, for example, start experimenting with herbs and different methods of preparation for a lower calorie healthy snack.

Why Greens Are Important For Healthy Aging

Think about some of the things that cause elderly people to start on a sharp decline in health, leading to a quick death. You have probably known an independent elderly relative who fell, broke a hip or other bone, and was never the same again. Bones can become thinner and more fragile in old age. When bones are broken and the patient is bedridden for an extended period of time, they miss out on the exercise they formally had, and general depression and a health decline can set in.

Even if someone had an extremely healthy diet in middle age, nutrition can suffer in old age for various reasons. Elderly people who live alone are not likely to cook well-balanced meals just for themselves. Additionally, the sense of smell declines with age and food in general can become unappetizing. Dark green leafy vegetables contain high levels of magnesium, calcium and vitamin K, which are the building blocks of strong bones. Heart disease is also quite often the cause of death in older adults.The vitamin K in greens contributes to heart health by lowering high blood pressure and keeping veins and blood vessels healthy.

How to Encourage Children, College Students and the Elderly to Eat More Greens

College students have the lowest consumption rates of vegetables of any age group. For the first time, they are on their own to make nutritional decisions and college cafeterias are full of comfort foods like macaroni and cheese and fried chicken. This is part of the reason for the traditional "Freshman 15", which refers to the average pounds gained during the first year of college. A Stanford University study from October 2019 showed that when vegetables on the cafeteria menu were given attractive names, consumption of them went up. This approach may also work for children and older people. Attractive presentation of vegetables is more appetizing as well.

The key to greater vegetable consumption is to make it more attractive and easy. Vegetables can be disguised and renamed and be consumed in a drink like green superfood powder. However they are consumed, the most important thing for good lifelong health and maintaining proper weight is to eat them.