Crouching Garnish, Hidden SuperFood: The Secret Life of KaleSayer Ji, Contributor Few foods commonly available at the produce stand are as beneficial to your health as kale. And yet, sadly, it is more commonly found dressing up something not as healthy in a display case as a decoration than on someones plate where it belongs. Kale is actually a form of cabbage that evaded domestication, sharing many of the same traits as wilder plant relatives unafraid of holding on to their bitter principle, and relatively unruly appearance. Kale is perfectly content letting its luscious green leafy hair down, being the hippie member of a family that includes the more tightly wound broccoli, cauliflower and the Brussel sprout, whose greater respectability as far as most restaurant menus go means kale is more likely to be found forgotten, shriveling up somewhere on the bottom shelf of someones refrigerator, no doubt possessed by someone with every intention (but not the time and appetite enough) to eat it. But please do not underestimate this formidable plant, which grows as high as six to seven feet in the right conditions, casting a shadow as long as the impressive list of beneficial nutritional components it contains. Its nutritional density, in fact, is virtually unparalleled among green leafy vegetables. So, lets get a better sense of all that kale has to offer by looking at the nutrition facts basics of only one cup of raw kale. Kale Contains ALL The Essential Amino Acids and 9 Non-Essential Ones Indeed, like meat, kale contains all 9 essential amino acids needed to form the proteins within the human body: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine plus, 9 other non-essential ones for a total of 18: Consider too that compared to meat, the amino acids in kale are easier to extract. When consuming a steak, for instance, the body has to expend great metabolic resources to break down the massive, highly complex, and intricately folded protein structures within mammalian flesh back down into their constituent amino acids; and then, later, these extracted amino acids must be reassembled back into the same, highly complex, intricately folded and refolded human proteins from which our body is made. This is a time-consuming, energy-intensive process, with many metabolic waste products released in the process. Kale is an Omega-3 Diamond In the Rough While it is considered a fat free vegetable, it does contain biologically significant quantities of essential fatty acids you know, the ones your body is not designed to create and must get from the things we eat or suffer dire consequences. In fact, you will notice it contains more omega-3 than omega-6, which is almost unheard of in nature. It is a general rule that you will find a 40:1 or higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 found in most grains, seeds, nuts and beans. Peanuts, for instance, have 1,800 times higher omega-6 fat levels than omega-3, which (taken in isolation) is a pro-inflammatory and unhealthy ratio. Kale, therefore, is a superstar as far as essential fatty acids go, and especially considering that all of its naturally occurring fat-soluble antioxidants protect these fragile unsaturated fats from oxidizing. Kales Vitamin Content More Pays For Itself Many Times Over Now to the vitamins. Kale is a king of carotenoids. Its vitamin A activity is astounding. One cup contains over 10,000 IUs, or the equivalent of over 200% the daily value. Also, consider that most of this vitamin A (retinol) is delivered the form of beta-carotene, which in its natural form is the perfect delivery system for retinol (two retinol molecules attached to one another), as it is exceedingly difficult to get too much. If you compare it to the synthetic vitamin A used in many mass market foods and vitamins, it is an order of magnitude or higher safer. Kale Is An Eye-Saving Super Food Rich In Vitamins Kale has a few more surprises left in the vitamin department. It turns out that it is loaded with both lutein and zeaxanthin at over 26 mg combined, per serving. Lutein comes from the Latin word luteus meaning yellow, and is one of the best known carotenoids in a family containing at least 600. In the human eye it is concentrated in the retina in an oval-shaped yellow spot near its center known as the macula (from Latin macula, spot + lutea, yellow). This yellow spot acts as a natural sunblock, which is why adequate consumption of lutein and zeaxanthin may prevent macular degeneration and other retinal diseases associated with ultraviolet light-induced oxidative stress. Keep in mind that a 26 mg dose of lutein+zeaxanthin can easily cost a $1 per dose. In effect, one could calculate the cost reduction of this added bonus into kales sticker price, which incidentally, is insultingly low considering all it has to offer. How, after all, does one price the preservation of your vision? Next, the vitamin C content, at over 80 mg per serving, is impressive. Consider, this is not ascorbic acid (which is semi-synthetic, and divorced from the food factors that help confer its amazing vitamin activity). Food vitamin C is a rare and precious element in the modern diet that is an absolute requirement for us to maintain our health. It can be likened to condensed sunlight frozen within the plant and released into our bodies after we eat it. Those who know kale well, can feel a happy little glow form within them after consuming it. And, I imagine, if we had the proper measuring device, we might see a slight uptick in intensity of the biophotons that are continually emitted from our body. Kale: The New Vegetable Cow? Now, just when you thought kale was just too good to be true, there is the matter of its remarkable mineral composition. Of course, the quality and mineral and microbial density of the soil within which it is grown is a factor, but kale generally has the ability to provide an excellent source of minerals, in what is known as food-state. Unlike inorganic minerals, e.g. limestone, bone meal, oyster shell, the calcium in kale is vibrating with life-sustaining energy and intelligence. At 90 milligrams per cup, this highly bioavailable calcium actually contains more calcium per gram than whole milk! Also, a calcium bioavailability study from 1990, comparing milk and care in human subjects, found that kale calcium was 25% better absorbed, proving that the propaganda in support of milk as the ultimate source of calcium isnt as mooo-ving as commonly believed. Just to be a bit exact about how much calcium there is in kale, for every gram of kale there is 1.35 mg of calcium. For every gram of whole milk, there is 1.13 mg. The difference, also, is that milk calcium is complexed with a sticky protein known as casein. This is why Elmers glue was once made of milk protein. It is exceedingly hard for one-stomached (monogastric) mammals (thats us) to digest, and so, the calcium is difficult, if not impossible (in some) to liberate. Also, casein proteins require a large amount of hydrochloric acid to break down with our protein-digesting pancreatic enzymes.Over time, this can lead to some metabolic acidosis which may further leach calcium from our mineral stores, e.g. bones, teeth, causing a net loss in calcium following the consumption of cows milk products heavy in casein, especially cheese. Kale, like most vegetables, on the other hand, are alkalinizing and therefore actually reduce the bodys requirements for acid-neutralizing minerals (e.g. calcium, magnesium, sodium, silica, potassium) and therefore reducing the total amount of calcium we need to stay in pH and mineral balance. Kale, therefore, not only contains more of the right form of calcium, but may actually reduce your daily bodily requirements for it. Move over moo juice, theres a new vegetable cow on the block! Kale is also an excellent source of magnesium, which is why it is green. That deep, dark chlorophyll within its leaves contains one atom of magnesium per molecule. And considering how many of us aredying from excess elemental calcium, adding additional sources of magnesium (which acts to balance out calcium) can have live-saving health benefits. Finally, kale is more than just a nutritional superfood. It comes from a long line of plant healers, and could very well be considered and (given future FDA drug approval) used as a medicine. Newly emergent biomedical literature now shows it may be of value in the treatment of cancer, elevated blood lipids, glaucoma, and various forms of chemical poisoning. We have made available the first-hand abstracts on our Kale Health Benefits research page, for those who, like us, enjoy geeking out to the science. Also, kale, like most Cruciferous vegetables, is exceedingly high in several other extensively research anticancer compounds, such as sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol. The data set on these are even more impressive than on kale itself, with over 140 disease states potentially remedies for sulforaphane alone: sulforaphane health benefits. So, some of you are thinking: sure, sounds good, but who is their right mind is going to eat Kale? Here is a great tip worth trying. Instead of eating an egg for breakfast with toast, try chopping up half a bunch of kale, a quarter of an onion, and stir fry it in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes till it is tender. Make sure to add in a pinch of sea salt (I prefer Braggs liquid aminos), a pinch of pepper, a teaspoon of lemon or if you are like me, use Ume Plum Vinegar. Also, go to your local health food store and get dulse flakes. Note: Dulse flakes can be found in a pepper shaker like container. Kale, like most Cruciferous vegetables, contain naturally occurring goitrogens (or unnatural ones that have accumulated in them, such as perchlorate and various agrichemicals, especially in non-organically farmed vegetables) which can block the ability of the thyroid to utilize the iodine required to produce thyroid hormones (T4, T3). Since so many folks are already completely deficient in iodine, it really cant hurt (excepting rare cases of hyperthyroidism). Therefore it is a good practice to use it as a kale-specific antidote seasoning. Do all this and I promise you, there is a good chance but it will taste great, and leave you feeling deeply and completely nourished! Post your experiences to the comments section of this article, if you will, so everyone can benefit. RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLE: 