Eat Your Garnish for Health Benefits!
Parsley. It’s often used as a garnish or decoration on plates of food – and it certainly does add a little natural colour to a dish.
But did you know parsley also has many health benefits?
Here are 4 of the main health benefits of this often-overlooked herb.
- High in antioxidants, which help to prevent disease and slow the aging process slightly. (The antioxidants are luteolin, vitamin A, and vitamin C). Vitamin C also helps your body to repair connective tissue, and heal more quickly from cuts and scratches.
- The vitamin K found in parsley helps to protect your body from hardened arteries and heart disease. It keeps calcium from building up in your blood vessels and collecting as plaque. Vitamin K also strengthens your central nervous system.
- The natural oils in parsley are also known to fight cancer – specifically, colon cancer and prostate cancer. You can even get some protection from the carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) in cigarette smoke, though this herb won’t make it a good idea to start smoking.
- Parsley helps to fight inflammation when you eat it regularly. Arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and autoimmune diseases can all be helped by adding this nutrient to your diet.
How Much Parsley Do You Need?
How much do you need to eat in order to get the benefit? It turns out that you only need about two tablespoons of this fresh hrb each day to get the vitamins and antioxidants it provides in high levels.
Cooked or Raw Parsley?
Parsley is delicious in its own right. It adds a lovely fresh flavour to many dishes, either raw or cooked. However, when it’s raw you’ll get the greatest benefits from it.
Green and EcoFriendly
Of course parsley is a lovely shade of green, but it’s also environmentally friendly – it’s easy to grow, doesn’t need much water or pest control, and it’s light to transport. Even better, it’s an easy plant to grow yourself at home.
Fresh Breath
Finally, another great benefit of parsley is that its oils and texture help to clean your teeth and freshen your breath after a meal. (It’s also good for offsetting the smell of garlic). This is great when you don’t have time to brush your teeth between meals.
Eat Your Garnish!
So, instead of leaving the parsley on the plate, actually eat it next time and get all the health benefits.
And make sure you have plenty at home, to add to all your meals too.
You’ll walk away with fresh breath and an army of nutrients to help keep your body healthy and feeling younger.
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Do you enjoy parsley? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your free green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here.
Related:
- 5 simple ways to make sure you really enjoy eating more fresh vegetables
- How to avoid the pesticide residues in fresh produce
- Get rid of all the toxic products in your life (you’ll be shocked at where they hide!). It’s easy – see how here!
[…] In particular, parsley. It’s so commonplace now that we tend to just ignore it. But it has some great health benefits – and you don’t need to eat much of it to reap the rewards. Here’s what you need to know. […]
I did not know that!! Thank you. I’ll grow some next year.
I never buy parsley, but I will now. Thanks Clare.