The late inventor Thomas Edison once stated, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” While such a prognosis has yet to fully materialize in today’s world, evidence is building that it just might be on the verge of going mainstream.
More and more people − many of them with the full support of their doctor − are now looking beyond just reacting to health problems with drugs and surgery. Instead, they’re proactively looking to adopt the type of healthy lifestyle that helps them avoid getting sick in the first place. For most people, this approach includes trying to eat better and exercise regularly.
But what does it mean to “eat better?” A good first step is to avoid consuming processed and fast foods that create disease, and instead eat more “green” foods that help keep disease at bay. The good news is there are all sorts of fruits, vegetables, and herbs to choose from in this green category. Each one with its own unique set of health benefits that have been validated both through science and historical account.
10 Top Healthy Greens
Many people find the easiest way to get their daily dose of healthy greens in is through juicing or blending them into smoothies. Here are 10 of my favorite healthy, nutrient-dense green foods that are top-notch additions to your green drinks, juice, or smoothies.
(A reminder that in order to receive the most cancer-fighting potential, you want your healthy greens to be organic/non-spray.)
#1 – Kiwifruit
With more vitamin C than an orange, the succulent, green flesh of the kiwifruit is brimming with disease-fighting vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that help prevent aging, improve skin health, boost respiratory function, protect vision, and improve cardiovascular health, among many other functions. Studies show that the kiwifruit helps keep the organ where most of our immune system lives − the gut − in tip-top shape.
The only thing that’s better than eating the flesh of a kiwifruit it also eating its skin and seeds (from organic kiwifruit, of course) which is where you’ll find high levels of digestion-friendly fiber, protein, and other additional health-protecting compounds. This fuzzy flesh-protector is where much of the fiber and vitamin C in the kiwifruit is found. In fact, you can triple your fiber intake when eating kiwifruit by consuming it with the skin!
#2 – Kale
These stalks of leafy green goodness are a powerhouse of vitamins A, C, and K. Being a cruciferous vegetable, kale is naturally a powerful cancer-fighting food that studies have shown can help improve detoxification, support heart health, and inhibit the formation and spread of malignant cancer cells. Technically a wild form of cabbage, kale is also notably anti-inflammatory, helping to protect the body against harmful bacteria and viruses.
#3 – Spinach
It kept Popeye strong and it can do the same for you! Once known as the “Spanish vegetable” in Great Britain, spinach has a rich history of use all throughout the world, and for good reason. It’s packed with B vitamins, vitamins A, C, E, and K, trace minerals like copper and magnesium, and so much more. Spinach is also a powerful antioxidant food that helps to keep cholesterol from oxidizing in your blood vessels, helping to improve circulation while promoting a healthy heart.
#4 – Watercress
Another varietal of leafy green, watercress is a culinary delight that tastes great in soups, salads, and sandwiches. It’s technically a healing herb that contains 15 essential vitamins and minerals (at least!), and many other compounds at quantities much higher than that of a typical vegetable. For instance, watercress contains more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, and more vitamin C than an orange. It also contains a treasure trove of phytonutrients, antioxidants, and other “super” nutrients that help protect the body against chronic disease, including cancer.
Watercress is perhaps most known in the “superfood” world for its high levels of vitamin K, which helps protect the brain against neurodegeneration, as well as strengthen bones and prevent heart disease. Studies suggest that watercress is a powerful anti-aging food that can help people live longer lives with improved quality of life. Many people have never tried watercress, so give it a try and add it to your healthy greens shopping list!
#5 – Parsley
This popular food garnish is, in many ways, healthier than many of the dinner plates upon which it’s presented. A powerful chelating herb, parsley is recognized for its ability to draw out toxic heavy metals and expel them from the body. It’s also an incredible anti-cancer food, rich in flavonoids like myricetin and apigenin that research show help deter cancer cells and tumors. Parsley has also been scientifically shown to help strength the cellular matrices of bones, as well as balance blood sugar levels to prevent the deadly “D” disease known as diabetes.
#6 – Broccoli
Another fiber-rich cruciferous vegetable in the same family of greens as kale, broccoli is an incredible anti-cancer superfood of the highest order. It contains high levels of a chemoprotective substance known as sulforaphane that’s been the focus of extensive cancer research as of late. A famous study out of Johns Hopkins University, for instance, found that broccoli, and broccoli sprouts in particular, contain such high levels of sulforaphane that consuming this delicious green food regularly can help significantly reduce your cancer risk.
Sulforaphane has likewise been shown to inhibit an enzyme known as histone deacetylase, or HDAC, that’s directly involved in promoting the spread of cancer cells. By eating broccoli as part of a routine diet, you can help prevent the risk of prostate, pancreatic, esophageal, and many other types of cancer. Not only that, broccoli contains many other anti-cancer nutrients like folate, phosphorus, choline, potassium, and copper that further ward off many forms of this harrowing disease.
#7 – Collard Greens
This favorite of southern cuisine is another cruciferous wonder. It’s chock full of protein, fiber, and other key nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids that help lubricate joints and shore up brain function. Collard greens also contain sulfur-containing compounds known as glucosinolates that not only help detoxify the body, but also protect it against pathogenic invaders. Indole-3-carbinol is another healing compound in collard greens that further helps to fortify the body’s defenses against cancer.
#8 – Kelp
A popular ingredient in Asian cuisine, this seaweed varietal is a rich source of vitamins and trace minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, amino acids, omega-3s, fiber, and perhaps most significant of all − iodine. I say this because iodine is tough to find in substantial quantities in most common foods, but it’s abundant in plants from the sea. This is good news not only for your thyroid gland, which regulates hormone production, but also your central nervous system at large.
Iodine is also essential for brain development and proper functionality of the pituitary, as well as the body’s other important glandular systems. Iodine also plays a critical role in cancer prevention, as a cohort of scientific evidence suggests that iodine deficiency is directly correlated with increased cancer progression, and particularly cancers of the breast.
#9 – Celery
Crunchy and mostly made of water, celery might not seem like anything out of the ordinary − but don’t be fooled! Besides its rich fiber content, which is really good for the gut, celery is packed with electrolyte compounds that help keep the body hydrated, as well as enzymes that help keep it nourished and clean. Then there are the antioxidants, phytonutrients, and other nutrient compounds that help protect vital organs, vision, and virility, among other things.
Everything from clearing the arteries to quelling inflammation to protecting against cancer is on celery’s resume of health benefits. Truth be told, there’s very little that celery can’t do when it comes to promoting health, it turns out, which is why it ranks on this list of healthy greens.
#10 – Aloe Vera
This spiny desert plant is known for its ability to soothe the skin that’s been overexposed to the sun. But aloe vera is good for so much more than just a sunburn salve, as it serves as a powerful remedy for upset stomach, constipation, and various gastrointestinal disorders. This due to its soothing anti-inflammatory and gentle laxative properties. Aloe vera also contains significant quantities of enzymes that help to improve food digestion, boost immunity, and create homeostatic balance throughout the body.
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Article Summary
People are proactively looking to adopt a healthy lifestyle that helps them avoid getting sick rather than react with medicine and surgery.
It is important to avoid consuming processed and fast foods that create disease, and instead eat more “green” foods that help keep disease at bay.
10 top healthy greens:
- Kiwifruit
- Kale
- Spinach
- Watercress
- Parsley
- Broccoli
- Collard greens
- Kelp
- Celery
- Aloe vera
Patti Thies says
I was surprised to see celery on the list. I have read recently that products without nitrites often use celery instead and that the celery actually has as many nitrites as if they would have just added them in the first place instead of the celery.
I’m guessing the nitrites found in whole foods is completely different from what’s normally added.
make sure the celery (and all veggies) you consume are “orgainc”….to ensure optimal goodness and minimal poison…
The internet is a sea of information…which is why we cansurvivors got together as an international group helping anyone diagnosed with cancer to heal body, mind and spirit…lots about green juices on the site and much more, worth a look we hope- do join us…see you there?
How does one join the group?
Celery has a ‘happy’ end product in this vegetable.. One is not eating a total bunch… A handful (or a portion) of each of these green vegetable(s) to make up to a grand dish of 5/6 healthy giving greens.. Trust you find useful… eat celery especially during the winter, when we wish to have a happy ‘lift’.
What if people have a sellery-allergy?
God Bless you Ty Bollinger.xx
In light of the Fukushima situation, shouldn’t we be a bit more aware and cautious about products coming from Japan and the North Pacific like Kelp? I for one am steering clear of any edible product imported from that part of the globe. This applys to parts of the United States also.
Cancer… can the cure be in the cause…??? And a whole array of cancer fighting recipes on the site… IdealHealth4Life.info
Unfortunately, I have to watch my intake of the cruciferous vegies due to hypothyroidism. I can cook them until they’re mush and eat more, but I don’t think that’s much help, let alone it’s not appealing.
Sharon, me too! I wonder if we can cook them first, let them cool in the fridge and blend them cold?
Hi Sharon, can you explain a little more about the relationship between the cruciferous and hypothyroidism? I would like to know because I suffer from hypothyroidism too. I’m currently having issues eating them because they fall into the Fructo-olygosacharides list and I’m intolerant to them. Thanks in advance, Sally
Sharon, I’m guessing that’s because cruciferous vegies are goitrogenic–they deplete one’s iodine. Perhaps focus on getting more iodine, especially through kelp or other seaweeds. Selenium and other factors are also involved. Avoiding chlorine, fluorine, & bromine also helps. See The Iodine Crisis book or Dr Brownstein’s iodine book. Then maybe you can enjoy more kale. I haven’t seen it yet, but Dr Amy Myers has a new book out on thyroid issues.
This is great! Thank you!
My only concern is the higher level of oxalates and the risk of kidney stones. How can that be deterred? Maybe adding lemon juice and eating with an organic yogurt? Some of these, I have to cook first because of the goitrogens.
I eat kiwis every day including the skin and I put celery in my salad. I use parsley a lot in cooking. I made a vegetable soup which consists of collard greens, cabbage, green beans, peas, borlotti beans, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, pancetta, basil, sage, chicken broth, pesto, Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, tomato paste, and a tin can of tomatoes.
I like turnip greens. There are also many green wild plants that are perfectly edible and healthy, like lamb’s quarters, dandelions, purslane, burdock, or wild grapes. Of course one has to be able to positively identify wild plants before eating them, but learning to is well worth it!
I would also like to mention that one must be careful about sourcing kelp and other seaweeds. Because of the Fukushima disaster 5 years ago, the Pacific Ocean is not the best place to get kelp from anymore. Unfortunately, that’s where most seaweed found in stores comes from. If possible, source kelp/seaweed from the North Atlantic.
Thank you! One additional piece of information regarding the benefits of Aloe Vera: it has three (3) of the essential 8 sugars.
How does using the frozen version of these greens impact their benefits?
Patti, I think that the nitrates (nitrites?) come from the celery seeds, not the stalks. Also, what we call celery seeds is a different variety of celery from the one whose stalks we eat. Also, aren’t there some health benefits in the arteries to natural forms of nitrates (somebody help me out here).
Tom is a smart guy. Fukashima has pretty much devastated the entire ocean. I am sad to say that we have given up fish and sea vegetables. Being near the coast in Calif, I know firsthand that the Pacific Rim has become very toxic from Hawaii to Alaska and probably coming to an ocean near you. The statistics are frightening. Research it on line. There are some really good maps of where all this radiation is going, and the articles go into great detail as to the danger. As a cancer survivor, done the natural way, I take a bioimmune test every six months or so, and my radiation measurement was high this last time. The operator of the computer told me that 65% of the people she tested that week showed up high in radiation. So I am assuming that all the people that tested high were coastal Californians just like me. Please do your research, and be very careful.
Am surprised you did not include moringa in your list of 10 best smoothies. I think moringa leaves should possibly be number one on that list and it should also include moringa seeds.
What concerns me is I don’t really know what %, or amount, of these super-foods I am getting each day. How does one know what is in that scoop on that day. Knowing, when I consumed the entire canister, that I got all that stuff is the only consolation I get, however, itt is better than the lousy job I am doing, trying to get all those greens in each day. 🙂
How about spirulina? How does it rate against these other greens?
Hi Ty, I am following since a quest about cancer most of your news. I am Dutch and it is sometimes difficult to find the names in Dutch. Now it is so nice that you did make these drawings of the 10 greens and Herbs & spices. I want to try top print them and hang them in my kitchenet. I will let you know whether I suceeded. But of course in Europe we do not have all these vegies and herbs in our garden. That is a big different. We must get them in pils or capsules!
But Thy thanks for all you tell me. An dI try to forward in my surrounding. I find that so important. Good luck for you and your wife Sharlane and the four kids
Marina Irene Pool (mi.pool@online.nl)
Thank you very much Alan for such a great response!!
hi Ty im sorry for my english is soso im from montreal quebec canada in 2016 my doctor told me i have prostate cancer and i said to me we need to operation to put out my prosatate or radiation my psa is 6.4 age 55 but i dont really want so im very confuse in my head and my heart because i know i play whith my life so can you help me here i need very much help at this point of my life is VERY SERIOUS I BELEIVE HERE IN TRUTH ABOUT CANCER AND YOUR TEAM TO HELP ME I DONT WANT THE OPERATION THANK YPOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP- IS VERY IMPORTANT NON TIME TO LOSE TY FIND ME PLEASE A ANSWER .
Hi Alain,
The best advice we can give you is to consult with one of the doctors/experts that we interviewed in our Global Quest Series. Here is a link to get their information: https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/experts-info-sheet/
Oral cancers are becoming more prevalent lately and many who have them are using feeding tubes. I see all sorts of recipes for those who can eat normally, but never any adaptations for those who cannot. It would be a big help to see feed tube nutrition addressed.
Can anyone recommend a good book of raw food recipes?
Need breakfast, lunch, & dinner recipes!
I’m finding it difficult to eat raw, so if you can recommend a couple of books, that would be great. Like someone mentioned, how much of each veggie do you eat at each meal? Or for me, what’s the minimum?