Best Green Foods to Add to Your Diet

Why Are Green Foods Healthy?

What are the benefits of healthy greens? Illinois-based registered dietician Christine M. Palumbo, RDN explains, “The color green is associated with vitamins and a host of health-promoting phytochemicals. Green vegetables, particularly leafy greens, supply vitamin C, folate, calcium, iron, and other nutrients, although the amounts vary by the type of green ^[1].”

The potent blend of antioxidants in greens helps lower oxidative stress in the body, promoting body-wide repair and supporting organs like the heart, eyes, and brain. Rich in fiber, these foods support healthy digestion, and nutrients like calcium and vitamin K promote strong bones.

Green veggies and fruits are also low in fat and have few calories per serving, making them ideal for managing your weight. The recommended daily intake of vegetables for adult women is 2.5-3 cups daily and 2.5-4 cups for men, and 1.5-2 cups weekly should be green leafy vegetables^[2]. What green foods should you add to your diet, and how should you eat them?

What Are the Best Green Foods to Add to Your Diet?

If you are aiming to enrich your diet with more healthy green vegetables and fruits, these are some of the top, most nutrient-packed foods to incorporate into your meals and snacks and some of the best ways to prepare them.

Kale

This nutrient-packed superfood contains only 20 calories per raw cup, and it is enriched with Vitamins A, C, and K, folate, lutein and beta-carotene, and heart-healthy alpha-linolenic acid.

Among the best green leafy vegetables to add to your diet, kale helps improve vision, support the immune system, lower inflammation, and strengthen the bones. It's also high in fiber which helps optimize digestion and metabolic health.

How to Eat Kale: You can add raw kale leaves to a salad for a delicious earthy, bittersweetness, or blend it in a smoothie. There are also multiple options for cooking kale, including boiling, steaming, baking, or sautéeing with olive oil and added spices like garlic and cumin.

Spinach

Delicious and nutritious either raw or cooked, your parents encouraged you to eat your spinach for good reason. One cup raw is rich in vitamins A, E, lutein, and manganese, and it tops the list of green vegetables with 121% of the daily vitamin K requirement. Ideal for helping to enhance vision, strengthen bones, and support the immune system, spinach also includes fiber for benefits to digestion.

These leafy greens also include folate, which is important for red blood cell production as well as fetal growth during pregnancy. Some evidence indicates that incorporating spinach into your diet may support cognitive function, and it could help lower anxiety and depression^[3].

How to Eat Spinach: You can add spinach to a salad raw, or add it to a smoothie. This leafy green is also delicious when cooked and can add a huge nutrient boost to soups, stir-fried dishes, or stews. Blending spinach with scrambled eggs is also an ideal, tasty combination.

Collard Greens

Collard greens are in the same family as kale and cabbage, and they top of the list of healthy green leafy vegetables. Slightly bitter in flavor but with a lingering sweetness, they pack vitamins A, C, folate, potassium, and calcium.

They are also extremely rich in vitamin K, which offers optimal bone support when combined with calcium. Adding collard greens to your diet also helps support blood clotting, smooth muscle contractions, enrich the skin, and promote a regular, strong heartbeat.

How to Eat Collard Greens: You can add this versatile green veggie raw to salad or sandwich, or blend it into a smoothie. You can also incorporate it into soup or other cooked recipes. Collared greens are delicious boiled, sautéed, or braised.

Read more: Superfood Greens Powder Uses & Recipes

Bok Choy

Among the tastiest leafy greens, bok choy is a form of cabbage included in many traditional Asian dishes. This crunchy vegetable is packed with powerful immune-boosting antioxidants that support the immune system and is especially high in vitamins A, B9 (folate), C, and K. In addition, this veg leaf has calcium for healthy bones and fiber which supports digestion..

How to Eat Bok Choy: Before eating bok choy, remove the ends and throw away any wilted leaves. You can add it to salads or soups, but these leafy greens work best blended into a stir-fry, grilled, steamed, or baked.

Celery

Celery is rich in potassium and calcium, making it the ideal green veg for supporting heart health, and it has bioactive agents that relax the blood vessel walls, boost circulation, and help lower your blood pressure^[1].

These tasty green veggies also contain vitamins A, C, and K, folate, manganese, and fiber, for benefits to immunity, blood clotting, and bone health. Low in calories and great for boosting hydration, celery is made up of about 95% water.

How to Eat Celery: Before you eat celery, remove the tough outer stalks and strings and wash carefully. Celery is great raw and chopped, and you can eat it with hummus or peanut butter for added flavor. In addition, cooked celery adds flavor and color to soups, stir-fries, or stews.

Romaine Lettuce

One of the most popular green leafy vegetables, romaine lettuce with its crunchy dark leaves contains powerful, immune-boosting antioxidants. It is especially high in vitamins A and K and also includes potassium, folate, magnesium, and fiber.

Adding more romaine lettuce to your diet supports the eyes, skin, digestive tract, and bones, and promotes healthy blood clotting. In addition, it helps boost heart health and nerve function and regulate muscle contractions.

How to Eat Romaine Lettuce: Make sure to wash romaine well before eating. This is one of the best green leafy foods to include in sandwiches, and it is a favorite for salads like Caesar. In addition, you can grill, sautee, or braise it, or add it to dishes like soups or stir-fries.

Also Read: Greens Powder for Gut Health

Avocado

While many people think avocado is a vegetable, it is classed as a fruit and is one of the healthiest and most nutrient-packed green foods you can eat. While higher in calories than some of the other greens, avocados are rich in healthy fats and contain high levels of A, C, E, and K, multiple B vitamins, folate, magnesium, copper, manganese, and fiber.

Adding avocados to your diet helps boost immunity, digestion, bone strength, blood clotting, and heart health, and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease according to the Journal of the American Heart Association^[1].

How to Eat Avocado: You can slice avocados and eat them alone, or toss them into a salad. This fruit is also great mashed as guacamole or used as a dip for vegetables or other snacks. For another delicious idea, look for recipes for rich, tasty avocado sauce.

Kiwi Fruit

Healthy green foods include more than leafy green vegetables, and another fruit that heads our list is sweet kiwi. This berry is rich in powerful, highly bioavailable antioxidants, and vitamins A and C in particular. Kiwis are immune-boosting powerhouses, and they also have digestion-enhancing fiber and other potent nutrients like potassium, folate, and vitamin E.

How to Eat Kiwi: Remove the skin with a vegetable peeler and wash the kiwi before eating it sliced as a snack, tossed into a fruit salad, or blended into a smoothie for maximum flavor and nutrition.