Stroke: Outcome depends on nutrition - so stay out of hospital
March 10, 2008
by Healthy News Service


A stroke can be catastrophic or it can have minimal impact - and its severity has much to do with your own nutritional status. People who have a good diet are less likely to suffer badly from a stroke - which is why no stroke victim should spend too much time in his or her local hospital afterwards.

The food dished up at most hospitals is so dire that it can worsen the outcome, researchers have discovered.

They checked the nutritional status of 131 stroke victims on arrival at one hospital, and then again a week later, and discovered that 26 were under-nourished by the end of the week. As a result, the patients were nearly five times more likely to suffer complications following the stroke.

(Source: Archives of Neurology, 2008; 65: 39-43).

Is it caulis Or is it borecole?

Either will do! Green food is one of the very best cleansing detoxing foods for the body. In some parts of the world green foods are just about  into season popping their green little wild heads out of the ground waiting to be picked and enjoyed. Those greens are great health foods as well as tasty? Today I'm going to cover only two of those healthy nutritious greens!

Some people use these greens interchangeably and accept them as the same green. Kale and collards are similar in many respects, differing in little more than the forms of their leaves. They are, in effect, primitive cabbages that have been retained through thousands of years. The Greeks grew kale and collards, although they made no such distinction between them as we make today. Well before the Christian era the Romans grew several kinds, including those with large leaves and stalks and a mild flavor; a crisp-leaved form; some with small stalks and small, sharp-tasting leaves; a broad-leaved form like collards; and others with curled leaves and a fine flavor. "Coles" were described also in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 13th centuries by European writers.

Kale and collards have remained minor commercial crops in the United States, although collards are the standard winter greens in home gardens of the South. Neither crop thrives in hot weather as it gives the plants a strong, unattractive flavor. Cool growing weather, fall frosts, and mild winters, however, impart a high sugar content and fine flavor.

Kale and Collards are conquering heros of green foods.

"Kale" is often used to decorate produce cases at the grocery store, but would better serve you as a steamed up batch of health building food for you and your family.  Known for its detoxing properties, which is good for cleaning the body of its winter comfort food goop and preparing it to take on the summer BBQ's and beach parties! Kale is often called "borecole," and in America collards are sometimes called "sprouts." "Kale" is a Scottish word derived from coles or caulis, terms used by the Greeks and Romans in referring to the whole cabbage like group of plants. The German word Kohl has the same origin.

"Collards" is a corruption of coleworts or colewyrts, Anglo-Saxon terms literally meaning "cabbage plants." With much the same nutrients as Kale.
These leafy nonheading cabbages bear the Latin name Brassica oleracea variety acephala, the last term meaning "without a head." They have many names in many languages, as a result of their great antiquity and widespread use. Apparently none of the several principal forms of kale and collards that we know today are new. All have been known for at least two thousand years.

All varieties of collards appear rather similar, but the kales show interesting diversity: tall and short; highly curled and plain leaved; blue-green, yellow-green, and red; erect and flat-growing; in various combinations and gradations of these characters.

Both are full of nutrition;
Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin,Pantothenic acid, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Folic acid, Folate, Vitamin B-12. Vitamin A, Retinol, Vitamin A and Vitamin E along with minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus,Potassium,Sodium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, and Selenium.  Along with important Amino Acids such as; Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Cystine, Phenylalanine , Tyrosine, Valine,  Arginine, Histidine, Alanine, Aspartic acid, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Proline and Serine.
 
Kale and Collards is one of the best vegetables you can eat as preventative medicine. Touted to help prevent several types of cancer, in particular lung cancer. Each contains more carotenoids (anticancer agents) than just about any other green vegetable. (CAUTION: If taking blood thinners too many greens can be dangerous)

Leafy greens are officially "in season" in the winter and spring months, but tend to be available year-round. Choose leaves that are crisp and fresh and have a deep green color, with no yellow tinge. Smaller leaves have a milder flavor, can be cooked whole, and often have stems tender enough to eat. With larger leaves, you'll need to cut out and discard the stems, and then chop the leaves into small pieces.

You don't like one or the other? Well, that is easily changed and flavorful tasty mix! Also some of the carotenoids are destroyed during heat, but when cooking both at the same time makes for more carotene available for your body to use. Collards can be eaten raw but I believe has a better flavor when steamed? Collard greens have a much softer, sweeter taste than kale. When you combine the two greens in the same dish, the mild collard flavor mitigates the sharpness of the kale.
 
An extra half cup a day will give you cancer-blocking benefits.  And smokers, you need to load up on them as it will boost your resistance to developing smoking-related cancers. These are also used as part of cleaning those winter blahs from the body!

Store kale and collard greens in dry plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to three days. You can also cook the greens, and store them in the freezer in sealed plastic bags. They'll keep for months, so you can use them spontaneously in soups or casseroles when you don't have time to get to the store.

I grew up with the term "mess o' greens" (that's southern speech) when we were having them. Greens of all kinds have been staples in the Southern U.S. Diet for as long as the south has existed, which is where a large number of my family resides. In just about every garden there will be an area of all types of greens but kale and collards seem to be the most prolifically grown? I also grew up going out and hunting wild greens for eating?
Here is a suggested Kale recipe;
 
My favorite way of eating Kale or Collards is mixed together Sautéed in Virgin Olive Oil
 
Wash well and dry one bunch of kale (or ? bunch of kale and ?  bunch collards) and chop into bite size pieces. Chop a couple of green onions. Finely chop 2 cloves of garlic. Put one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a sauté pan heated on medium low.  Throw in kale, onion and garlic and sauté until wilted. Cover and simmer until tender.
Season with sea salt and squeeze on a little fresh lemon juice or red wine vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar along with those little green pickled peppers of your choice. Serve with fresh sliced tomatoes, sliced sweet onions, a pot of red beans and rice and hot corn bread! MMMM Good!

According to folklore, collards served with black-eyed peas and hog jowl on New Year's Day promises a year of good luck and financial reward, hanging a fresh leaf over your door will ward off evil spirits, and a fresh leaf placed on the forehead promises to cure a headache. 

Enjoy your green food and expect health!
Lena