The healthiest prize for all vegetables goes to swiss chard. Chard is the 'king' of all vegetables. It is also widely available, cheap and very easy to cook.
One cup of cooked chard is only 35 calories. But the wealth of nutrition you can get from this one cup is quite incredible.
Vitamin ATypically we think of carrots when we think of foods high in Vitamin A. But one cup of cooked chard will give you 109 percent of the daily recommended intake of Vitamin A.
Vitamin CNormally we think of citrus fruits to get our vitamin C quota. But one cup of chard will supply us with 52% of our daily needs for Vitamin C.
Dietary FiberBran comes to mind when we think of meeting our daily dietary needs for fiber. But one cup of chard provides us with 15 percent of our daily needs for dietary fiber. That's about the same amount as in one heavy-duty bran muffin.
PotassiumPotassium is very important for the nerves. You'd have to eat two bananas (the highest concentrated fruit for potassium) to equal one cup of cooked chard and get 27 percent of your daily requirement for potassium.
Vitamin EVitamin E is very important for a healthy sex drive and anti-aging benefits. Chard is one of the few vegetables with significant Vitamin E. It provides 16 percent of our daily requirement.
CalciumWe usually think of milk when we're concerned about getting adequate calcium. But swiss chard makes a good substitute. One cup of chard has about 35% of the calcium (and only one quarter of the calories) as one cup of 2% milk.
To see more about the outstanding health benefits of chard, check out the best source of non-profit nutritional information online;
the WHFoods site. They provide an impressive wealth of information about the world's healthiest foods.
The photos shown here are by
rappy and
Mom the Barbarian at Flickr.
Chard is part of a group of vegetables known as 'greens'. Greens include chard, kale and collard greens and these three vegetables are almost equal in their tremendous health benefits.
Forget about counting calories and see more about
how eating vegetables is a great way to lose weight by actually eating more food instead of less.
Chard is also really easy to cook. See
a quick recipe here.
This eight ounce bag of Tofu Shirataki Fettucini
is a great weight loss helper. It has only 40 calories and is high in protein. The noodles are highly nutritious, have no sugar added and are easy to cook. They make an excellent pasta substitute for anyone who is diabetic.
One cup of cooked chard is only 35 calories. But the wealth of nutrition you can get from this one cup is quite incredible.
There are at least a couple of hundred people who are writing about their personal weight loss efforts online. Here are some of the most authentic and interesting examples (in alphabetical order). Please let me know if you know of other sites that should be included here;
