Leafy greens like spinach and kale have major health benefits and are easier to prepare than you might think!

The Secret to Healthy Eating: Eat More Greens!

Adding greens to your daily diet can reduce your risk of many serious diseases and health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. For example,  did you know that a serving of nitrate- and potassium-rich spinach improves the function of your arteries starting almost immediately after you eat it?

Increasingly, doctors are prescribing food as medicine lifestyle interventions like eating more greens and other vegetables as a first-line method to control and prevent these conditions.

But for many people, eating more leafy vegetables is one of those things that sounds like a great idea that’s easier said than done. Often the problem is time; we don’t know how to shop for and cook greens, or we think it’s harder and more time-consuming than it is. There are actually many fast and easy ways to incorporate leafy greens into your daily diet.

To find out more, join us at the Thrive Kitchen at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco for our class on March 11, Eat Your Greens! Learn how to incorporate the delicious and varied flavor and nutritional power of leafy greens and herbs into your meals.

We’ll cover a variety of cooking methods and flavors from around the world to help you love your greens! Here’s the menu:

  • Crispy, Crunchy Quinoa, Kale and Cauliflower Rice Salad with Pickled Currants
  • Korean Kale and Tofu Saute with Seared Mushrooms
  • Spicy Coconut Braised Greens
  • Kuku Sabzi (Persian Herb Frittata) with fresh herb, cheese and lavash plate
  • Piña Kaleada, the new healthy juice drink

To find out more or sign up, call  415-833-3450 or email SFHealthEd@kp.org. The fee, which is $30 for Kaiser Permanente members and $40 for non-members, includes a hands-on cooking lesson, recipes, a nutrition discussion, and a delicious meal that we’ll prepare and enjoy together.

For more information about me and my approach to healthy eating, see my Facebook page, The Doctor’s Spicebox or follow me on Twitter @spiceboxtravels.

More healthy eating tips and recipes are available at Kaiser Permanente’s Food for Health blog, which features lots of great recipes like my  Good Luck Steamed Fish with Ginger Soy Sauce.

Linda Shiue, MD, is a primary care doctor and professionally trained chef who believes that the best medicine is prevention, based upon a healthy lifestyle. As Director of Culinary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, she is developing a teaching kitchen to empower patients with a new set of skills and knowledge to improve their health and wellness--nutrition applied through cooking skills. Classes are offered through the Health Education Department at (415) 833-3450. In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Shiue offers cooking demonstrations and hands-on workshops in which students learn to prepare seasonal produce lavishly flavored with spices and fresh herbs. Her food writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Remedy Quarterly, Salon, Culinate, and online editions of The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine. She also has her own website, Spiceboxtravels.com.

Facebook

Related articles