by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
co-author - The Fat Burning Kitchen program
I
just started doing this recently, and it's been a great way to "sneak"
more nutrition into certain types of dinners. This can also help you get
leaner, because higher nutrient density in your meals means lower
appetite and controlled cravings for you later.Here's what I've been trying out...
As you've probably heard a dozen times before, specific greens such as kale, mustard greens, bok choy, swiss chard, etc are the absolute most nutrient dense vegetables on earth.
However, even though I've always known what superstars these are in the nutrition world, I never really thought of ways to use them in cooking meals. Sure, I always get plenty of lettuce and spinach in salads, but the greens like kale, bok choy, mustard greens, and swiss chard are WAY more nutrient-dense than lettuce and spinach.
So I finally figured out how to sneak these into my meals (and this works even if you don't like the taste of those greens separately)...
There are probably other recipes you can use this for, but I've used it for soups and italian tomato sauces so far, and it works great.
What I do is take a good amount of bok choy, kale, mustard greens, and/or swiss chard and throw them whole (not chopped up) into my tomato sauce or my large batch of soup broth. I'll also throw some large chunks of onion and maybe a zucchini into the simmering pot also.
Then, after they've simmered for a while and have softened up, I'll take out the whole portions of the greens and the onion/zucchini and throw everything into a big blender. Then I blend the greens smooth with the onion and pour the mixture back into the simmering tomato sauce or soup. Of course, my tomato sauce meals usually involve some grass-fed bison sausage, but that's just one of my personal favorites for an actual healthy meat.
I'm not a huge fan of the taste of these types of greens separately (kale, bok choy, mustard greens, etc)... however, pureed and blended into the sauce or soup actually makes a pretty delicious mixture and also adds TONS of nutrient density to your meals to satisfy your appetite and help you get leaner.
Another benefit is that since the greens are pureed in the blender after being softened, you actually absorb more vitamins and minerals, as the pureed greens are easier for your body to fully digest compared to just chewing them normally.
And this idea is a home run if you have kids... as this is truly a way for you to "sneak" more greens into your kids meals without them even knowing you added them to the soup or sauce (as long as you did a good job with seasonings and recipe).
I hope you enjoyed this little tip today to help you and your family eat healthier and get leaner this year!
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