10 Nutritious Salad Greens For Your Plate

Wednesday, May 29, 2013, 18:34 [IST]

Salads are incomplete without green vegetables. Often it is the green salads that are most nutritious and low in calories. So keeping your health in view, salad greens are very important part of your meal.

Usually we think of only one leafy vegetable whenever salad greens are mentioned. It is the famous ice berg lettuce. However, ice berg lettuce has been labelled as the least nutritious green vegetable for salads. There are other types of lettuce that are much more suitable as salad greens. In fact, there are many other green vegetables apart from lettuce that can be eaten raw and at the same time tastes delicious.

If you are planning a meal of green salads for yourself, then you must have a list of healthy leafy vegetables that can be added to salads. These green vegetables are packed with nutrients and extremely low in calorie content. That is why a diet of salad greens is ideal for you to lose weight quickly. Moreover, these green leafy vegetables are rich sources of dietary fibre that gives you ample roughage to keep bowel movements regular.

Here are the top 10 vegetables that make excellent salad greens.

Ice Berg Lettuce

It is true that iceberg lettuce is probably the least nutritious salad green. However, it still packs a punch of Vitamin K and A. And to its credit, it is truly the crunchiest green vegetable.

Spinach

It is a common misconception that spinach cannot be eaten raw. It may not taste very good in the raw state but you can still have the maximum amount of Vitamin K and folate from eating spinach.

Romaine

Romaine is a special type of lettuce that is much healthier than iceberg lettuce. It contains more Vitamin A than most other green vegetables; even more than spinach or broccoli.

Arugula

Arugula is a dieter's dream meal. It contains only 8 calories per serving and gives you substantial amounts of Vitamin A, K and folate.

Dandelion Greens

Dandelion greens are actually a weed. But this healthy weed has large iron and calcium reserves that can be particularly helpful for women.

Chicory Greens

These bitter wild leaves are very low in calories and very widely used in Italian salads.

Cabbage

Cabbage leaves are a common replacement for lettuce. Young cabbage leaves taste crunchy and rich in Vitamin C. However, eating too much cabbage can make you gassy.

Mache

Mache is variety of lettuce that is colloquially called lamb lettuce. Mache is particularly rich in folic acid and omega-3 fatty acids.

Parsley

Parsley is basically a herb, not a vegetable. However, it can be considered as a salad green as when added gives an aromatic flavour. Parsley helps to clean the kidneys.