If you have ever followed a meal plan with a nutritionist, you probably know the most common side dish they recommend to accompany all meals: the green salad. From breakfast, lunch, to dinner, this fresh garnish is super important within a diet.

In fact, according to functional nutrition, all plates, whether lunch or dinner, should contain 50 percent vegetables, nutritionist Jennifer Asencio told us. “It is recommended three times a day and that it be a large portion so that it can fulfill the nutritional contribution.”

But what do they mean by green salad? Although, of course, you can include vegetables of other colors, the main component of this salad is green leafy vegetables, as they are packed with essential nutrients for you and your body.

According to Asencio, a clinical nutritionist specializing in diabetes and patients with kidney diseases, “all green salads provide many vitamins (almost all), and they have an antioxidant effect”; this antioxidant effect is responsible for helping to prevent degenerative diseases, cancer, or heart diseases, among others.

Among the main nutrients found in green vegetables are folates, iron, and fiber, and this type of salad also “helps lower cholesterol, triglycerides, and decreases blood glucose, in addition to making you feel more satisfied, which is why they are so popular in diets.”

The folates provided by green salads are crucial for tissue repair, prevent anemia, and our trusted nutritionist at Te Cuida recommends that vegetables not be overcooked, so they do not lose these nutrients.

On the other hand, green vegetables also contain a lot of fiber, which helps with bad cholesterol, especially in the small intestine; in fact, these types of vegetables are “the main source of soluble fiber, which improves the gut microbiota, making you have more good bacteria than bad.”

Additionally, the iron in them helps prevent anemia, and these vegetables are packed with essential vitamins and nutrients for you, and combined with vegetables of other colors, you will have a more complete vitamin intake.

“You can mix all the vegetables; they don’t have to be just green,” you can base “it on any type of lettuce or Swiss chard, spinach, and combine it with cucumber, tomato, red onion, radishes, to ensure it has all the vitamins.”

You can also try less common leafy green vegetables, such as arugula, kale, cabbage, or classics like romaine lettuce; the important thing is that, even if you are not on a meal plan with a nutritionist, half of your plate should be green.

If you have no idea how to prepare a complete green salad, this Greek salad can be an easy and delicious option to start introducing green vegetables into your meals.