People have always looked for efficient ways to burn fat and if you’re one of them, then chances are you have stumbled upon super greens. Most know it’s beneficial to your immune system, enhances energy, and detoxifies your body.
There are distinct types of superfood that include a range of vegetables, cereals, grasses, and algae. They are high in vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and phytonutrients.
The benefits do not end there. Incorporating super greens into your diet can be a great contributor if you aim to lose weight. They contain maximum nutritious value while being minimal in calories.
But how do super greens help you lose weight?
Let’s understand what super greens are and how they can benefit you; so you can be motivated to take them in your daily routine.
What Are Super Greens?
The term supergreens refers to a small variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that are nutrient dense superfoods and are also an essential part of a healthy diet.
Most superfoods are plant-based and known for their bright green color. They are rich in several nutrients that support vital bodily functions and are easily absorbed by the body.
Supergreens are loaded with vitamins (A, C, and K), as well as minerals such as magnesium, calcium, and iron. They also contain high amounts of fiber, antioxidants, and other beneficial bioactive plant compounds known as phytonutrients.
Which Greens Are Super Greens?
You can actually grow and make your own superfoods. Green leafy vegetables are an essential component of your daily diet, and there are so many variations that it’s simple to include them on your plate.
Always select crisp leaves with a bright green hue. When the leaves become yellow or brown, they are maturing and losing flavor. You can include ingredients like chard, lettuce and spinach, which are all great foods with their own set of health benefits. Super greens can also be from:
- Common grain plants like oat grass, sorghum, wild rice, millet, barley, rye, spelled, einkorn, and more (varieties like wheatgrass and barley grass include a high level of chlorophyll and protein)
- Micro-algae such as spirulina and chlorella
- Green leafy vegetables like kale, moringa leaves, and parsley
While these are super great for your body, some of them however are not as appealing to consume. Thankfully, these are dried and then grounded into powder.
The green powder may be blended with water, juices, made as a smoothie, or even added to your food.
On top of that, super green powder (more on this later in the article) can be easily found in your local supermarkets which makes a quick and effortless way to boost your body with wholesome green nutrients.
Health Benefits Of Super Greens
Including super greens in your diet will significantly improve your health. From it’s numerous nutrients, there are other benefits besides helping you meet your daily vitamin and mineral requirements and these are:
1. Super Greens Can Balance Your Hormones
You can help regulate your hormone imbalances with garden-variety plants that you’re already familiar with. Super greens can naturally balance out your hormone levels.
They accomplish this by having a favorable impact on your stomach and digestion. Super greens are abundant in fiber, which aids in the clearance of your lower GI tract. It also aids in the detoxification of your body by cleansing your liver.
Not to add, poor gut health is associated with several problems, including:
• Skin irritation and inflammation
• Autoimmune conditions
• Food sensitivities
• Weight changes
• Digestive issues like constipation or diarrhea
When you eat super greens, you are assisting your body’s digestive function, enhancing its efficiency, and increasing the productivity of organs such as the liver and pancreas, which are required to clear up the body.
2. Hefty Source of Antioxidants
Due to their high antioxidant content, most vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli, are called superfoods. Green vegetables include enough vitamins A, C, and E and other vital nutrients like iron and zinc.
Antioxidants are essential to your health because they play a crucial role in protecting your body from illnesses. Eating at least three servings of greens daily can supply your body with enough antioxidants to keep you safe.
3. Healthy Blood Pressure
Super greens are high in minerals like calcium and potassium, which are great for blood pressure control. Furthermore, drinks made from super greens powders have magnesium which is great for protein synthesis and muscle function such as the heart.
High magnesium levels in the body also help to improve blood flow. In this case, the nutritional advantages of spinach come into play. Green powder is high in nitrates, which may help you manage your blood pressure and lower your risk of heart disease.
4. Super Greens Boost Energy Levels Naturally
Another possibility for persistent low energy levels is that you are in the early stages of adrenal exhaustion. If you are constantly worried, your body may experience chronic weariness.
Depending on the composition, certain super greens may also include Maca Root powder and Eleuthero Root green powder, both of which are natural energy herbs.
If you’re running low on energy, it might be caused by several factors, some of which may be related. This might show in your body as:
• Chronic fatigue
• Insomnia
• Mood changes and irritability
• Anxiety and depression
• Trouble concentrating or focusing
• Brain fog
Any or all of these signs in the body may indicate that it’s time to use super greens to fill the energy gap between what you have and what you need.
Super greens are high in essential nutrients that your body needs to function regularly. In particular, mushrooms contain vitamin D. If, for example, you have vitamin D shortage, these can manifest as decreased immunity, depression, poor tooth or bone health, and skin problems. It also influences how the body absorbs calcium. Thus, taking a calcium supplement without vitamin D is pointless.
5. Low in Calories
Green vegetables, particularly dark leafy greens, contain a lot of water, which makes them exceptionally low in calories. This means you may eat as many of them as you want without worrying about gaining weight.
Adding these foods to your favorite meals, such as enchiladas, soups, casseroles, and pasta, will help bulk the meal while keeping the calories in check, allowing you to consume more of your favorite foods without increasing your calorie consumption.
6. Decrease Cardiovascular Health Issues
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is becoming one of the leading causes of death around the world. It is essential to be aware of the risk of unhealthy eating habits and activities in order to avoid it. When you take the right steps, you can live a healthier and more active life to reduce the risk of developing these conditions.
Super green helps to decrease cardiovascular health issues because it can help protect the heart, improve blood pressure and cholesterol, and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
7. Excellent Source of Phytonutrients
Phytonutrients are special chemicals in green foods that have a good effect on the body after they are consumed. These properties help to boost your immune system, and they help protect you against cellular damage. You must switch up the foods you eat daily to get a wide range of these nutrients.
8. Easy on Your Glucose Levels
Many meals consumed nowadays are processed, and as a result, they play a part in elevating blood glucose levels exceptionally high before plummeting back down. This procedure can be highly damaging to your system and may even result in diabetes. Green vegetables, on the other hand, are low in sugars but are high in fiber and water, assisting in controlling your blood sugar levels throughout the day.
Super Greens And Weight Loss
It’s no secret that the most crucial aspect of reducing weight is eating a healthy diet. Exercise provides health advantages and can help you lose weight, but as trainers say, “you can’t out-train a terrible diet.”
It is understood that eating veggies may lead to a healthy body. Most people begin their weight loss journey by eating more leafy greens and vegetables. But it doesn’t mean you have to eat salads all day for the rest of your life.
In addition, most individuals dislike eating veggies, making it difficult to reach their daily requirements. Rather than pushing yourself to eat veggies you dislike, you may resort to super green to do their work.
How Do Super Greens Help You Lose Weight?
The effect of super greens on weight loss is complicated since there are not a lot of studies on the topic. One thing is certain though: super greens, when paired with a steady workout plan, may help you drop pounds, control your appetite levels, and maintain overall well-being.
With it being a better and more sustainable method to enhance energy, improve digestion, and maintain a robust immune system, including super greens may just be what’s missing in your weight loss routine. Here’s how it can accelerate weight loss:
- You may not achieve the health and vitality you desire because you are deficient in essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals). Your body needs the essential components found only in vegetables to function correctly. When your body is weak in certain micronutrients, weight loss slows to a stop. Your energy levels drop, your fat-burning metabolism slows, and your immune system may worsen. This consequently drains your energy and limits weight loss. Vegetables are rich in micronutrients, boosting metabolism and easing fat burning. Green powders can even be used as a meal replacement with protein powder.
- Super greens help in the overall cleansing of your GI tract. Long-term toxic waste buildup without fiber from these vegetable and seaweed sources can induce constipation, water retention, and other problems. The average adult has 4.5 to 19 pounds of digestive waste retained in their digestive tract and is not being eliminated. Super greens eliminate waste from your body, making you feel lighter and more energized. It also helps in the detoxification of the intestines from potentially harmful toxins.
- Additionally, the fiber in super greens contributes to your body’s total fiber intake from fruits and vegetables. This is significant because a fiber-rich diet protects against diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which causes the body to store belly fat, raise the bad cholesterol, and reduce the body’s normal insulin response.
- Don’t underestimate the potential of plant protein. Proteins are great for recharging muscles since they are made up of amino acids, which act like building blocks for your body. When you eat protein after exercise, it gives your muscles the amino acids necessary to repair and rebuild, especially after a challenging workout. Thanks to carefully selected components such as protein-rich spirulina, super greens may be a reliable source of plant protein and the critical amino acids your body requires to recover.
- The digestive enzymes found in super greens might help you stay full longer. These are proteins that break down food into its simplest components. Not only does this improve digestion, but it also helps digest valuable nutrients in your meals, ensuring they are properly absorbed. If your body isn’t stimulating the hunger hormone as often as it should, proper absorption means you’re not continuously hungry. It also handles carbs more effectively, so you’re not constantly seeking sweet, salty, or bread-based foods.
Super greens for weight loss are not a magical cure but are highly beneficial. When you commit to an exercise program, you want to ensure that everything you eat, drink, or do adds to your body’s energy levels, strength, endurance, and healing.
Super greens as a food supplement can assist you in maintaining these priorities.
Super Green Powders
It isn’t often where people consume vegetables or, as mentioned, even favor vegetables for that matter. For this reason, you might lack nutrients and vitamins that are needed in your body.
This is where green powders can support you. They are nutritional supplements that can help you meet your daily vegetable requirements. Not only are they healthy, but they can make a valuable contribution to your weight loss plan.
What Are Green Powders?
Greens powders are nutritional supplements that may be mixed with water or other liquids. It is made up of dehydrated, freeze-dried raw ingredients.
They are generally green in color and have a grassy flavor. Natural sugar alternatives are frequently used to enhance flavor.
The actual health benefits of super greens is highly dependent on what ingredients go into them and how they are made. Product labels usually indicate that it can help your body’s immunity, energy levels, detoxification, and more.
Greens powders often contain 25-40 or more different components, which again, varies depending on the brand. These supplements frequently include:
Extra fiber: Rice bran, inulin, apple fiber
Grasses: Barley grass, wheatgrass, oat grass, alfalfa grass
Herbs: Holy basil, astragalus, echinacea, milk thistle
High-antioxidant fruits: Blueberries, raspberries, goji, and acai berries
Leafy greens: Spinach, kale, collards, parsley
Mushrooms: Maitake mushroom extract, shiitake mushroom extract
Natural sugar substitutes: Stevia leaf extract, monk fruit extract
Nutritional extracts: Green tea extract, grape seed extract, ginkgo Biloba extract
Probiotics: Lactobacillus (L.) rhamnosus, L. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis
Plant-based digestive enzymes: Amylase, cellulase, lipase, papain, protease
Seaweed: Spirulina, chlorella, dulse, kelp
Other vegetables: Broccoli, beets, carrots, tomatoes, green cabbage
Super Green Powder Benefits
Combined with a balanced diet and active lifestyle, greens powders’ minerals and plant components may help overall wellbeing. They are often strong in vitamins A and C, which aid in immunological function. Probiotics added to the best greens powder may help with immune function and digestive health.
Super greens may also improve your body’s ability to detox. Being made from dark leafy greens and other vegetables can cause the urine’s pH to become more alkaline. Increasing urine alkalinity may increase your body’s capacity to get rid of toxins.
Additionally, powdered greens may provide benefits in:
- Higher energy levels
- Faster recovery from your workout
- Improved digestion
- Better mood and less stress
However, some green powder product makers are often funding research, which brings its own set of biases for some products. As a precaution, it’s important to maintain a healthy level of skepticism when buying super green powders.
Something To Consider
Powdered greens are an inventive and quick way to get your daily dose of vitamins. But not everyone needs to take this kind of supplement. In general, eating real fruits and veggies will always be the best way to achieve a balanced diet and/or help you reach your weight loss and wellness goals.
There is one thing worth considering if you add super green powders to your diet:
Not a Substitute for Whole Vegetable
Eating a wide variety of whole vegetables and other products as part of a well-balanced diet is the ideal method to achieve nutritional balance and prevent nutrient excesses. In their complete form, vegetables provide chewing pleasure and are high in water.
Both of these factors increase fullness and may aid in the prevention of overeating. Green powders are less rewarding in this way.
Furthermore, some greens powders are poor in fiber, often delivering only 1-2 grams per serving, though additional fiber is occasionally added.
It is worth noting that greens powders are often strong in vitamin K. Certain drugs, especially blood thinners, interact with this vitamin. As a result, they may restrict therapy.
Finally, certain greens powders indicate that the product should not be used by children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or individuals taking medicines. Supplements frequently include plants and concentrated extracts that may have harmful interactions. It’s always a good idea to consult your doctor before starting any new supplement; greens powders are no exception.
Summary
Super greens are a great and healthy way to help you on your weight loss journey. They are made from greens, vegetables, seaweed, probiotics, digestive enzymes and more.
Super greens powders are also an excellent alternative if you struggle to meet your nutritional needs. Though results may vary based on ingredients, they generally boost your immunity and reduce chronic disease risk.
As nutritious as they are, they should not replace whole foods forever. While not always enjoyable, it is still recommended to consume your vegetables to reap its many benefits.
Ultimately, adding super greens to your diet is a great way to shed those extra weight, but the rest of your body will also be grateful for your decision in getting your daily dose of greens as well.
