Kale and Cabbage Salad With Light and Creamy Poppyseed Dressing

If you haven’t heard of superfoods, they are the highly nutritious foods, those with an unusually high amounts of antioxidants, vitamins or other nutrients that have been proven to reduce the risk of developing certain diseases. It can be helpful to know what foods are good for what, but you don’t need specific foods for a specific ailment. Eating healthy is a preventive approach to overall health. A diet made of a variety of superfoods will help you maintain your weight, blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels to ward off heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

This is a superfood salad. Both kale and cabbage are cruciferous vegetables which have antioxidant nutrients, anti-inflammatory nutrients and anti-cancer nutrients. Without a sufficient intake of antioxidants, our oxygen metabolism can become compromised, and we experience a condition called “oxidative stress” which leads to free radical damage and inflammation. This stress, damage and inflammation can lead to cancer. And if the walls of arteries are inflamed, the body patches the walls with cholesterol to protect them which can build up and put stress on your heart. Kale is one of the worlds healthiest foods. It’s cancer preventive benefits are linked to two types of antioxidants, carotenoids and flavonoids. Kale raises the blood levels of these two carotenoid nutrients protecting the body from oxidative stress.

Kale also provides the body with Omega-3, vitamin K. Its fiber acts to draw cholesterol out of the body and it contains nutrients that support some of the body’s detoxing processes. Pumpkin seeds are rich in vitamin E and zinc. Poppy seeds are rich in oleic and linoleic acids which lower the bad LDL cholesterol and increase the good HDL cholesterol. They are an excellent source of vitamin B and contain good levels of some minerals. Poppy seeds outer coat is a good source of fiber.

Cherries are a good source of copper and vitamin C which the body relies on to aid collagen production to keep tissues strong and also helps fight the free radical damage of oxidative stress. If you don’t drink wine and are missing out on the resveratrol, it’s also in cherry juice.

Kale and Cabbage Salad With Light and Creamy Poppyseed Dressing

Salad

Ingredients

• 2 large curly kale leaves, center rib removed, sliced thin
• 1 quarter green cabbage, sliced thin
• 1 quarter red cabbage, sliced thin
• fresh or dried cherries (or dried cranberries)
• pumpkin seeds or lightly toasted slivered almonds

(grated brussels sprouts work well in this salad too)

Light and Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Measure all dressing ingredients into a jar and shake until well blended. Drizzle over the salad.













Raw Pumpkin seeds are valued as a good source of the minerals zinc and magnesium. Among many things zinc is important for your immune system, cell growth, skin and eye health, sleep, insulin regulation and a deficiency can lead to difficulties in studying for children, acne, depression, and more colds and flus. Magnesium helps with proper bone and tooth formation, the pumping of your heart, relaxation of blood vessels which can help prevent strokes and heart attacks. Pumpkins seeds have anti-inflammatory effects on the body and are rich in healthy Omega-3 fats.