The health benefits of kale are numerous. Kale is a member of the cabbage family and has probably been around since the time of the dinosaurs. The tomb of Akhenaton in ancient Egypt was decorated with kale leaves carved out of jade.
Kale is best harvested from November until early March, and its flavor, both strangely sweet and bitter, is intensified after a killing frost. A cup of cooked kale has more than the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C and Vitamin A and it also has plenty of folate, potassium and iron. Kale is mostly water, and a cup has only 43 calories. It also has nearly as much calcium as milk. Kale is also excellent for those interested in an anti-cancer diet, as it contains sulforaphane, a compound with anti-cancer qualities.
There are even more health benefits of kale! According to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, one cup of chopped raw kale contains 2.21. grams of protein, 6.71 grams of carbohydrate and 1.3 grams of total dietary fiber. Kale also contains 23 mg of magnesium, 38 mg of phosphorus, 29 mg of sodium, .29 mg of zinc, .194 mg of copper, .519 mg of manganese and .6 mg of selenium. Vitamins include .074 mg of thiamin, .087 mg of riboflavin and .67 mg of niacin. The high levels of thiamin and magnesium in kale are especially good for cardiovascular support, as deficiencies in these nutrients can lead to heart disease. Kale is also fairly high in amino acids like tryptophan, threonine, leucine, lysine, arginine, alanine and glutamic acid.
Kale is a delicious, inexpensive, low-calorie, easy to prepare source of nutrients that protect against heart disease, inflammation and cancer. So, we should eat more kale, because it has many health benefits.
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