Kale: Health Benefits, Uses and Side Effects

Kale is a dark green leafy vegetable which can be eaten either in the raw form or you can cook it and eat it.

Usually this vegetable is brought under use as an edible vegetable but some also use it as an ornamental vegetable.

The plant of kale is said to have green or purple leaves and the central leaves are not known to form any kind of head which makes it different from a headed cabbage.

This vegetable, kale, is considered to be more closely related to wild cabbage than to the other forms that are domesticated.

This vegetable is known to be very versatile and possesses an earthy and nutty flavor that is found to be working very well and nicely in a wide range of recipes.

Kale can be considered as a super vegetable because of the high nutritional value that it possesses, the vegetable is known to have varying amounts of vitamin A, K, C and B6, manganese, calcium, copper and potassium in it.

This vegetable is known to be rich in antioxidants and contain beta carotene in it and because of such contents only this is very good for the health of the eyes, health of the heart and certain other things.

When you take a cup of raw kale you will be getting about 33 calories and around 7 grams of carbohydrate and because of this only, this vegetable is considered to be very diabetes friendly and weight friendly as well.

Kale is a vegetable which is considered to be a member of the vegetable family of cruciferous and cauliflower, bok choy, brussels sprouts, turnips, cabbage, rutabaga, broccoli, kohlrabi and collard greens are also members of this family.

This vegetable offers various health benefits which may also include the reduction of the risk of developing various kinds of cancers.

The type of people who need to avoid the intake of this vegetable or limit the intake of kale are those who are prescribed to take a medical blood thinner either warfarin or coumadin and all those people who are known to form kidney stones which are composed of oxalate.

This is very similar to other leafy green vegetables and has a very high quantity of antioxidants in it.

It also has vitamin C, beta carotene, polyphenols and flavonoids as well.

The antioxidants are the substances which are very helpful in counteracting against the oxidative damage which is caused by the neutralizing free radicals present in the body.

The antioxidative properties present in this vegetable have several other benefits as well which are said to be easing up inflammation, inhibiting or slowing down the growth of cancerous cells, improves the health of your heart and also keeps you away from chronic diseases.

The cholesterol has its own importance and has so many functions as well like it helps in the formation of bile juice which is responsible for the digestion of fats.

You will experience that when the complete amount of the fat has been absorbed and the bile acid has served the purpose for which it was used, it gets reabsorbed in the bloodstream and used over and over again.

When you eat a steamed kale then, it is observed that the binding effect of the bile acid increases and it is also a fact that the steamed kale is 13% potent like cholestyramine which is regarded as a cholesterol lowering drug and the steamed kale functions in the same way.

This vitamin, vitamin K is considered to be a very important nutrient as it is very essential for the procedure of blood clotting.

Along with this it also provides activation to certain proteins and enables them to help in binding calcium.

Cancer is a condition in which an uncontrolled growth of cells is observed and this vegetable is found to be filled with substances that are having various protective effects against this condition of cancer.

This vegetable contains a substance named indole 3 carbinol which is helpful in the prevention from cancer and this vegetable lowers the risk for the cause of several types of cancers.

This vegetable is said to be enriched with vitamin A but this is not completely true and is found that it is very rich in beta carotene that is an antioxidant that is responsible for the formation of vitamin A.

So adding kale in your diet will help you to fulfill your demand for vitamin A as well.

As this vegetable is found to be a cold season vegetable, the taste of this vegetable becomes much more delicious when the cold season has frosted for the first time.

This vegetable is known to hold its texture very well even when it is cooked and this vegetable can be eaten raw, stir fried, steamed or roasted.

You can also consume this vegetable in the form of smoothies, mash this along with potatoes, make chips from them, turn this in the form of a pesto or you can simply wilt it into the soup.

You can use this as a salad spinner to run it along with your food.

You can always use this with other seasonings as well like extra virgin olive oil, pepper, salt and lemon juice.

You can also use this vegetable as a pizza topping as well or you just chop it very finely and make a very delicious, healthy and nutritious soup.

According to various surveys, kale was considered to be the third most contaminated food item among raw vegetables and fruits and this contamination was done because of pesticides. So, if you are going to eat kale, you are suggested to wash them thoroughly before eating it.

You are also suggested to avoid eating this if you are suffering from the problems stated below:

• Heart disease: If you are going through any kind of heart problem and you are taking any kind of beta blocker medications which leads to the increase of potassium level in the blood, so as a patient, you are advised to take potassium rich eatables like kale in moderate amounts or quantities.
• Blood thinners: If you are taking any kind of medications which are responsible for blood thinning purposes like coumadin or warfarin, then, in such conditions you should be very careful with the consumption of kale as it is very rich in vitamin K which helps in the clotting of blood.
• Kidney disease: When you are consuming too much potassium, the functionality of your kidney can be affected significantly and apart from this if your kidney is unable to remove the excess amount of potassium then, your kidney may suffer from very serious problems.

This vegetable originated in the eastern Mediterranean region and the region Anatolia and in these regions, it was cultivated for food purposes by 2000 BC (if the latest cultivation is considered).

The curly leaf variety of cabbage is known to be existing since the 4th century BC in Greece while the other various forms of cabbage which are said to be the Romans and Sabellian kale are regarded as the ancestors of this modern kale.

In the western European region the earliest record of cabbages was found to be around in the 13th century and it was about the hard headed cabbage only.

Later, in the 14th century only England started to differentiate between the hard headed cabbage and the loose leaf kale.

The traders from Russia introduced their own Russian kale in Canada and later in the United States and this was done in the 19th century.

David Fairchild, an USDA botanist, is regarded as the person who introduced this kale (along with several other crops) to the Americans and he brought this kale from the region of Croatia and the funny thing was that, he himself did not like the cabbages at all which included kales as well.

The cultivation of this vegetable, kale, is regarded as an annual plant which grows from the seed along with a wide range of germinating temperatures.

This is a very hard vegetable and loves the winter time to thrive and the most amazing thing about the growth of this vegetable is that it can survive up to temperature as low as -15 degree celsius.

This vegetable can become sweet in taste, after it has encountered heavy frost.

You should be considering adding this vegetable in your day to day diet and adding it in your diet is a very simple and easy process and just by adding this you can get yourself a very healthy and nutritious diet.