If you’re looking for a way to get more nutrition in without making big changes, try thinking smaller. Microgreens have the potential to pretty-up your plate and at the same time, add a huge boost of vital nutrients to your daily intake with the need to suffer through big bowls of salad.
This is why I am a huge fan of microgreens. I’m not alone either. According to this article by WebMD, microgreens are superior in nutrition compared to their fully-grown counterparts.
But why is this big news that you should be concerned about? Quite simply, microgreens are plucked while the plant is still young and hasn’t yet had the chance to spread the energy it contains. That means when you eat microgreens, you’re getting those nutrients in bigger doses. In some cases, you might be getting 40 times more from a smaller serving contained in those microgreens.
How can this help you? If you’re trying to make a healthy change in your diet but aren’t used to eating lots of vegetables, you can start incorporating microgreens into your meals. Take a serving of organic whole wheat pasta and toss in a handful of microgreens of your choosing – cilantro, radish, red cabbage, or anything else you like – and you’ll be off to an outstandingly healthy start.
If you have children, the battle of getting them to eat enough vegetables can be exhausting. But the thing about kids is this – they love tiny things. Kid-sized foods mean you have a better chance of getting them to eat it, especially when you pair it with foods you know they’ll eat.
Should they still turn up their cute little button noses at those microgreens though, they’re easy enough to sneak into homemade tomato sauce for pasta or pizza to give an added boost of the nutrients they need in their meals. It doesn’t take much to make an impact, and you’ll be giving them more essentials like vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, lutein, and beta-carotene. Cooking them isn’t advised to keep that nutritional value, so tuck them in just before serving.
I’m a firm believer in making big changes through small steps, and microgreens truly fit that bill. Indeed, they’re pricier at the supermarket, but you can grow your own. Again, if you have kids, this can be a wonderful activity to share together. Not only can you tend your garden together, but you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Even if you don’t have much space, a windowsill will do for growing a few varieties of microgreens. Change your diet in a big way with a small hint of microgreens added to every dish you make!