6 Revitalizing Leafy Greens That Will Keep You Healthy All Winter Long

Escarole is a delicious way to whittle your waist. The leafy green is rich in folic acid and vitamin K — nutrients that boost your lymphatic system’s ability to shuttle trapped fluids to your liver for disposal. No wonder Belgian scientists say eating 1 cup daily can help you shed 4 pounds of belly bloat in a month! Tip: Escarole’s mild inner leaves are tasty raw; the tough outer leaves are yummy sliced and added to stews.

Adding 1/2 cup of broccoli rabe to a meal could sharpen your focus by 46 percent for three hours. That’s the word from Canadian researchers, who say this superfood brims with polyphenols — plant compounds that switch on the enzymes your brain needs to soak up and burn blood glucose for fuel. Simply sauté broccoli rabe in olive oil, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Radicchio’s spicy, slightly bitter taste makes a flavorful addition to salads, or you can mellow it out by adding it to creamy pasta sauces. And you’ll be glad you did! Yale researchers say this often-overlooked veggie has compounds (phenolic flavonoids) that switch on the genes that release mood-elevating oxytocin, helping you feel 33 percent calmer and more content if you include 1 cup in a meal every day.

Eating 5 cups of raw spinach — or 21⁄2 cups cooked — weekly could significantly heighten your ability to see and drive in dim light, Swiss researchers say. Thanks goes to this tender vegetable’s rich stores of antioxidants (lutein, zeaxanthin and betacarotene), which soak into delicate eye tissues to heal and rejuvenate aging cells.

This story originally appeared in our print magazine.