Often, every day people are subtly dissuaded from adopting better eating habits simply because they are intimidated and even overwhelmed by the complexity of so much trendy nutritional advice. Much of this counsel not only does not help but it is often rendered nearly unintelligible to the average person by complex biological terms and concepts. Truth be known, healthy foods are very simple to prepare, readily available and not only nutritious, but also delicious, if properly prepared.

People, for example, do not need to know the constituents of nor how leafy greens provide nutrients and replenish the blood while removing toxins from the body. No, not at all, people need to go out and buy and eat more leafy greens! It is widely accepted that they are a missing element in many modern diets and that they are exceedingly good for you.

Leafy greens such as Kale, Swiss chard and Collards are chock packed with nutrients. These vegetable are not only easy to prepare they can be made quite attractive with the addition of other vegetables, such as bell peppers, sesame seeds, or pine nuts to name just a few. Some people find the taste a tad bitter. No problem! This can be overcome with the addition of small amounts of various oils such as sesame, olive or ghee. One of my favorites is to add lemon juice and there are a host of spices one might add such as cayenne, paprika or garlic, for example.

One of the benefits of large supermarket conglomerates is the availability to you and me of a wide variety of fresh vegetables. It is rather ironic that the same conglomerates, in catering to the busyness of many of our lives are a major factor in the growing mal-nutrition prevalent in more industrialized nations. The process of refining grains such as flour, oats and rice to reduce the preparation time robs them of much of the nutrient value. Also, the stripping out of the fiber to accomplish this makes them rapidly break down in our blood stream causing them to act like sugar. This is the number one factor in the modern-day growing problem of people being overweight and obese.

A neat way to avoid refined grains and still be able to prepare them fast is to use a pressure cooker. By cooking the whole grain and doing it rapidly you get the best of both worlds, convenience as well as health. The less time these foods are cooked the more nutrient rich they remain.

In summary, you do not need a PhD in nutrition in order to eat healthy. It really only requires a willingness to try some readily available nutritious foods that are new to your regular fare. Without going into all of the technical jargon surrounding nutrition, whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, especially leafy green vegetables are a good starting place. Another valuable tip is to begin to replace white rice and potatoes with substitutes such as quinoa. Actually, quinoa is a seed rather than a grain, but is considered to be the highest protein grain. Another excellent substitute is whole wheat couscous, which is not really a grain, but rather tiny pasta. It is very high in fiber and its antioxidant properties are beneficial in reducing cancer risk.