Kale is an absolutely wonderful vegetable with many, many health benefits and the ability to help you look younger and stay healthier for longer in life. This amazing nutritional powerhouse vegetable belongs to the brassica family of vegetables, which also includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.

We covered the brassica family as a whole in our first brassicas blog post, so please do feel free to go back and take a look at that one here.

Kale is a zero fat, low calorie, high fibre super-food and it’s great for a healthy digestive system. It’s also packed to the brim with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, which we will now look at.

kale-varieties

Kale is astoundingly high in calcium, which helps to strengthen the bones and prevent osteoporosis, helps with weight management, keeps your heart health and reduces the risk of certain cancers. Kale has more calcium in it per calorie than milk.

It is also very high in iron, and it has more iron in it per calorie than beef, making it the ideal iron source for vegetarians and vegans, or even if you’re on a detox diet. Iron is essential for healthy blood, specifically the formation of haemoglobin.

It is also important for the formation of enzymes, carrying oxygen around the body, cell division, repair and growth as well as healthy liver function. Then there is the amazing anti-inflammatory action.

A single serving of kale contains a whopping 10% of the recommended daily amount (RDA) of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to many healthy body functions. Omega-3 is also important to help fight against arthritis, asthma and many autoimmune disorders.

As if all this weren’t enough, kale is also high in powerful antioxidants such as carotenoids and flavonoids, which help to protect the body against certain cancers by preventing oxidation of toxins.

Kale is one of the best vegetable sources of vitamins too. It is high in Vitamin K, which helps to reduce the risk of certain cancers and it is also important for many of our bodily functions such as good bone health and preventing the blood from clotting.

Research has also shown that vitamin K can help those who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Kale is also rich in both vitamins A and C. Vitamin A is good for the eyes and aids vision, also helping with many eye diseases. It is also great for your skin and the prevention of lung and oral cavity cancers. Vitamin C is good for a healthy immune system, hydrating the body and stimulating metabolism.

Kale is also a fantastic source of calcium, with more calcium per calorie in kale than milk and calcium is important for preventing bone loss (osteoporosis) and a healthy metabolism. Kale is a fabulous detox food, which is why we use it in many of our juices here at Amchara for juice fasting and also to compliment the detox diet.

It is currently in season along with the other brassica vegetables (June to February), so make sure you get it while it’s nice and fresh. Kale is easy to grow too, and it grows anywhere in almost any conditions so you could easily grow your own for super fresh yummy vegetables!

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