Brassica oleracea

I just wanted to remind you how important it is to be eating a LARGE variety of foods. Back in the day people might eat up to 100 different varieties of plants in a year. Today, I can hardly get people to eat 6 plants a day and chances are even if I could that person would go eat the same 6 plants the next day. Which is really boring, by the way, it’s no wonder you don’t like vegetables. It’s probably not even that you don’t like them but you’re scared to try something different. Stop being scared and stop being boring. Not only is that grounds for my calling you a captain un-fun but by doing this you create huge gaps in your nutrient needs. Each plant has its own nutrient profile and they are not all complete. Which is cool because if you just eat different things you can get all the nutrients you need. This is one time when you can be greedy. Be greedy with your nutrients. I’m picturing gollum rubbing the ring saying “my precioussss!” But don’t be greedy with your beer. That’s just not nice. Sharing is caring. Anyway, by eating a wide variety you ensure you’re not only getting all the vitamins and minerals you need but you’re also getting things like antioxidants and phytonutrients.

But there is one more thing. One more reason why you may still not have as varied of a diet as you think. Over time plants have been cross bred to develop certain desired traits. Take tomatoes for example, they have been bred to stay ripe longer. Corn and wheat have been bred to grow bigger crop sizes. And now everything is being genetically modified but that is a topic for another day. Plants can be bred to develop certain parts of them like the leaves or flowers. Brassica oleracea is one such plant. Brassica oleracea is a species of plant you probably eat. But you may know it as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, savoy, or Chinese kale. Holy vegetables Robin! This is legit. Literally all of those are from the same species of plant. Which means don’t think that just because you had broccoli with dinner yesterday and Brussels sprouts today you’re on your way. Mind you, because each comes from a different part of the plant they will have some nutrient differences but not many. Now I’m not saying don’t eat them because Brassica oleracea is actually one kick ass plant with tons of good stuff in it but just realize how important it is to increase the variety in your diet. Make two vegetable sides with your meals. Eat vegetables in your breakfast like I did this morning.