To Lose Weight, Eat A Lot of Vegetables

Eat five to ten servings of vegetables a day. This should include a mix from the following:

broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard and turnip greens, kale, cilantro, endive, green lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, bok choy, cabbage, collard greens, radishes, celery, tomatoes, artichoke, carrots, okra, turnips, onions, leeks and shallots.

A serving is one cup for loose, leafy vegetables and a half-cup for denser vegetables, such as radishes and celery. These should be eaten as a mixture of fresh and cooked vegetables. However, if eaten raw they should be chewed well to release all the nutrients. You will benefit most from vegetables by either juicing them or (this is my favorite) "blenderizing" them.

This sufficiently breaks up the plant cells, which are encased in cell walls made of cellulose. Since we cannot digest cellulose, it is necessary to mechanically break down the cell walls to release the nutrients.

Consuming two servings of vegetables in their blenderized state is the same as eating five to seven servings raw. Throw in some flax fiber, sugar-free blueberry concentrate and vitamin E succinate powder and you have one of the most powerful health drinks known to man.

The high fiber not only improves bowel function and reduces colon cancer risk, but it also slows down the absorption of carbohydrates (reducing hunger) and lowers insulin levels. The blenderized vegetables' high volume of bulk also reduces hunger.

Of course, all vegetables should be cleansed thoroughly in a vegetable wash to remove pesticides and herbicides.