Kale is most certainly one of our many favorite leafy greens. When I first started enjoying the raw food approach to eating, I was not all that familiar with kale as a leafy green choice. At that time, I had only tried kale on handful of occasions and was not impressed with its (ahem) perceived bitter flavor 🙂
However, as I began my nutrition education, I found kale to be a fascinating leafy green that is packed with positive nutritional qualities:
| Nutrient | Kale (3 cups chopped, raw) | Adult Daily Values |
| Calories | 101 | |
| Protein | 6.6 | |
| Thiamin (Vitamin B1) | 0.22 | 1.1 – 1.2 mg |
| Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) | 0.26 | 1.1 – 1.3 mg |
| Niacin (Vitamin B3) | 2.01 | 14 – 16 mg |
| Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) | 0.54 | 1.3-1.7 mg |
| Calcium | 271.4 | 1000 – 1200 mg |
| Iron | 3.42 | 8 – 18 mg |
| Magnesium | 68.3 | 310 – 420 mg |
| Potassium | 898.5 | 4700 mg |
| Zinc | 0.88 | 8 – 11 mg |
I found the vitamins B1, B2, B6, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium content of kale to be impressive. Nowadays, Rick and I enjoy kale in smoothies, juices, soups, and many other recipes. Since we like to have a variety of foods in our diet, we rotate our leafy greens to enjoy the diversity of flavors, textures, and nutrients offered by different leafy greens. For example, we might have kale as our main leafy green on one day, dandelion greens the next, frisée greens the next, and so forth.
On a side note, the kale that we grow in our garden is generally more tender and easier for us to digest than the kale we find in supermarkets. When the kale that we purchase has a “tougher” consistency we tend to blend it in a smoothie or even sometimes lightly steam it. We find that more tender kale from our garden is easily consumed raw in salads or other recipes.
There are so many leafy greens from which to choose when designing one’s diet. Do you have favorite leafy green?
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