Just My Opinion by Steve

In my opinion the carrot is the most satisfying vegetable to harvest from the garden. Collards are way up there, because they are so green.  Strawberries, for the sense of victory over slugs.  But carrots…I think it’s in the pulling.  Like working a slot machine.  You don’t really know what you’re going to get until you pull it out.  And it is so sweet. Guiltlessly sweet. Can you tell I’m about to turn over some soil? Time to get on it!  What’s your favorite vegetable to harvest from the garden?

The YOU docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz (more likely their associates), submitted a news piece this week claiming that eating greens will make you smarter.   The article says “Eating three or more servings of spinach and other leafy greens (such as kale and collard greens) slows mental decline because of aging by as much as 40 percent. Spelled out another way: Leafy greens can make your brain function more like the brain of someone who’s five years younger!” They give the credit for this to the brain-friendly nutrients found in dark leafy greens - carotenoids and flavonoids.  Americans are a competitive bunch.  We want to be the smartest, richest, thinnest, most beautiful and famous folks on the planet.  So we are attracted to “news” stories like this.  We eat it up.  I sort of feel like – whatever it takes.  If this angle works, that’s fine by me.  It’s true that simple inexpensive food like flat-leaf Italian parsley is deceptively rich when it comes to nutritional analysis.  Vitamin C, A,  K and folic acid live with those noids too.  Eating leafy greens like collards, nappa cabbage, chard and kale gives you sustained energy, good digestion and pretty skin.  They probably improve your sex life too but if I could prove that I’d have made my fortune and wouldn’t be writing this blog.  How do you eat your greens?  Do you think they make you smarter?  Or was it because you were smart already that you chose to eat greens?