Hey you guys, Erin Dusty and Max here and welcome back to Eat Move Rass. Today we're going to talk to you guys about how to get more leafy greens into your diet on a daily basis. Yes, so we've got a handful of tips to kind of get you guys working in the greens yourselves, how to grow them yourself, how to cook with them, how to blend them, and juice them. We're going to get into it now. Being in my second pregnancy, I'm having the same a version that I did last time, which is green leafy vegetables. So, score for me. Unfortunately, I haven't been eating as many salads. I'm just trying to get through this phase of pregnancy. And for toddlers as well, who are picky and very apprehensive of eating almost anything green, we're going to come up with all kinds of tips, tricks, and secrets that we use to get our greens in daily multiple times a day. So greens are some of the most alkalizing foods on the entire planet. They are loaded with vitamins and they're mineral rich. They also contain a surprising amount of protein, even more protein by weight than some animal products. Most importantly, they are loaded with fiber. So fiber is going to keep your digestion in check. It's going to keep your gut flora healthy and thriving. Sunscreens are loaded with fiber. They serve as a prebiotic, which feeds the probiotic bacteria in our gut, which causes them to proliferate, which equals better health to help you glow from the inside out. While there is a hierarchy of how best to consume your greens for maximum potency and effectiveness, there's also a hierarchy of nutrient density in different varieties of leafy greens going from the lighter colored to the darker colored. So the more saturation that you're seeing, the more nutrient density. So iceberg lettuce is virtually calorie-less and is very low in nutrition compared to romaine. And then from romaine, we've got our green leaf lettuce and then our spinach and other green leafies. All the way up to our dino kale and curly kale, which are the darkest and most vibrant green and the most nutrient dense. They have a lot of iron, tons of vitamin K, all kinds of other phytonutrients as well. And don't forget about your herbs. So herbs are super nutrient dense and dark leafy greens as well. Tip number one, grow your own greens. This one is kind of a precursor. So the first thing Aaron and I did when we bought our house and moved in years and years ago was I built a tiny raised garden bed. Now this honestly really didn't hold very much. So we had some herbs and greens. That's really all we can grow. Fortunately, those are the easiest things to grow. A few summers back, I put in these two large garden beds, which again, we're basically full of greens, which made it super easy for us to blend them, juice them, eat them and chop them in cells without them going bad. Because when the weather's nice, we just go out and pick what we want. That being said, like Aaron mentioned, we live in Nebraska, cold climate, mixed gardening season last just a few months unfortunately. So for us, the garden grottoer has been like the most exciting thing. So it actually came to us while we were in California and we loved it. So we used it in California in our kitchen and now we still have it growing downstairs. Let's go have a look. So this is our garden. This has been like our priding joy since when did we get to October, I think. So yeah, we've had it for a few months now. And as you guys can see, it's like absolutely thriving. Super simple. It's got a water tank down here. These seed pods come like already to go. All you got to do is plug them in. It's self-watering. It connects to a Wi-Fi. These are two grow lights and cameras so like you can check everything from your phone. This is something that has been an absolute life saver again. For winter time, we can come down here, plug our salad greens. We've got basil, oregano, spinach, char, green leaf lettuce, kale, dandelion greens. Like seriously, we have everything done here. You guys can be absolutely love it. We actually wanted to use this thing for a while before we promoted it. We only want to promote products that we actually love and believe in. And the proof is here. This thing is actually rocking it. So if you guys are interested in this, we teamed up with Garden. They've agreed to sponsor this video and offer you guys our followers $100 off your purchase. We're going to link everything below so you guys can get that discount and check it out for yourself. Again, we highly highly recommend. We love growing our own greens inside in the winter with our garden. So we came into this lifestyle through Dr. Esselston who is a cardiologist that deals with heart patients of all varieties, all age ranges and has actually helped them to prevent an even reverse heart disease. And he says that there is a hierarchy of how we should eat our greens, going from chewing them to blending them to juicing them being at the bottom of the run. So when you chew your green leafy vegetables, they actually release nitric oxide into the bloodstream, which serves as almost a scrub or a detergent to help remove plaque buildup. So if we've got clean arteries, our blood flows smoothly, which equals better heart health, which equals higher longevity. So that being said, don't be afraid to blend in juice. If it's going to help you get your greens in and help you to develop a taste for them in other recipes. Blending like Aaron just said is a good way to introduce these greens into your diet and introduce the microbiome living inside your gut to these healthy vegetables, which in turn will help you crave them. And then you can maybe get to the point where you chew them. So blend daily. Throw as much green leafy stuff as you can in your smoothies. Hyde them for not just people like me, hydam for your kids, and it will make all the difference in their health. So while chewing and blending your greens keeps the fiber intact, juicing eliminates the fiber. And while this may have a negative connotation associated with it, there is a time and place when we don't want fibers, say if you're trying to heal your gut or detox. So juicing definitely has its time and place. It is extremely concentrated nutrition. So Dusty and I tend to look at juicing as more of something you use for medicinal purposes. So you don't have to juice every single day, but if you're feeling like you need to detox or maybe boost your immune system, a good healthy green juice is the way to go. And if you're trying to get used to that green flavor, simply adding something like pineapple or green apple or lemon or lime can help. But eventually you'll get to the point and trust me on this where you actually love the fresh, clean green taste. Like I said earlier, you guys know that typically I love my rainbow salads, but sometimes they get old on a day-to-day basis. So change it up by using collards. So you can use these giant collard leafy greens then actually make wraps out of them. So you don't have to use wheat tortillas. You can actually make a collard green wrap. That's something I love to do from time to time as well as making romaine leaf taco boats. On that note, if you want to keep it even simpler, take a head of romaine, chop the bottom off, rinse the leaves, and then use them as dipsticks and scoop your guacamole or your hummus to your heart's desire. And while we are talking about dips, sauces, and spreads, you can also sneak your greens into those as well. So there are green powders which we sometimes sneak into smoothies or sauces and dips, but you can also incorporate chopped greens as well. So we have a super food variety of our guacamole. That's super green and delicious and it stretches your guacamole. So much further makes it a little bit lower in fat. You can add greens to your hummus. You can make dressings that incorporate cilantro and parsley and other herbs that are super concentrated sources of antioxidants. So besides smoothies, my second favorite way to include more greens would be to cook them or steam them. You can simply steam kale alone and to me it makes it like 20 times better. So some of my favorite cooked recipes to include greens in are probably number one my tofu scramble. So this is super easy. All you do is chop a little spinach, add it in towards the end and you've got an amazing recipe full of greens that you probably aren't even going to notice. Number two would be to include greens in your soups and stews. Again, this is super simple. All you have to do is like maybe shred the stem off the kale, chop it up or pull it apart and drop it in your soup or stew at the very end and it steams up again. It adds all of that fiber, those vitamin's nutrients minerals, and all that green health into your soups stews. One of Aaron's most popular recipes are our chickpea patties that she actually puts greens into as well. This is our probably only way that we actually get max to eat his greens is by sneaking him into these patties. And last but not least, one of our favorite snacks to munch on is kale chips. So we've got a delicious nacho cheese, kale chip recipe. We use a dehydrator but you can also use an oven at its lowest setting. These are amazing. They're oil-free, they're guilt-free, and again, getting that kale in, which is the king of green. The kale chips are another favorite from our recipe e-book. So again, check that out in the link below. It's on sale right now. And if you guys are interested, we might also be able to share our sneaky green pesto pasta recipe. We haven't put that on YouTube, but something that Dusty has always loved is a good pasta dish. So we're due to make it soon. Anyways, so let us know if you want to see that video. So we hope you guys enjoyed this video. We hope you found it helpful. You guys know the drill. Follow us on all forms of social media. At Aaron Stamzik, at D.V. Stamzik on Instagram, we're their daily chopping, blending, juicing our greens. And be sure to leave us some love in the comments below so we can get to know you guys. Share this with a friend or family member who may like to know what to do with their daily greens as well. Until next time, what else? Eat, move rest, you're a mess. Bye, guys. We're Dusty, Aaron, Max, and Vogue. And we're the Stamziks. We aspire to live a plant-centric, faith-forward, healthy lifestyle and welcome all of the adventures that accompany it. Join us every week as we blend chopped juice, run, lift, ride, and master our minds in between. On the ultimate quest to find better balance, deeper connection, and true happiness within.