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

By Brenda Kearns Updated: February 5, 2020

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Winter is the best time to stock up on nutrient-rich leafy greens that are fresh and available even when the weather turns cold. You can add a few sprigs to your favorite warming soups or enjoy a mixture in a deliciously healthy salad.

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Feel your best with these in-season picks!

Belly Slimmer: Escarole

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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.
Brain Booster: Broccoli Rabe

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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.
Sickness Stopper: Kale

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Noshing 1/2 cup of kale daily can cut your risk of colds by 55 percent, plus trim three days from your recovery if you’re under the weather, British scientists reveal. How? Kale’s nutrient duo (kaempferol and alpha-linolenic acid) revs the production of virus-fighting white blood cells.

Delicious Ideas: For a sweet side, mix chopped kale, sliced apples, dried cherries, and feta. Or make chips — toss 1 bunch of de-stemmed kale leaves in 3 Tbs. of olive oil, then bake on a baking sheet at 275°F for 20 minutes.
Happiness Hero: Radicchio

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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.
Ache Ender: Rainbow Chard

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Taming your aches and pains — and increasing your flexibility and mobility by 35 percent in one week — could be as easy as adding 1 cup of rainbow chard to your daily diet, report Stanford University researchers. The colorful veggie’s secret? It’s packed with pigments (betaxanthins) that help block the enzyme pathways that lead to chronic tissue inflammation.
Night Vision Enhancer: Spinach

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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.

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