Water makes up over 95% of raw lettuce. In addition to helping you stay hydrated, lettuce helps with bone strength, vision, and sleep. This juicy fruit gets its name from containing 92% of water serving as a great snack for staying hydrated.
Lettuce is a source of vitamin K, which helps strengthen bones. Consuming adequate amounts of vitamin K can also reduce your risk of bone fracture. Water makes up over 95% of raw lettuce. As a result, eating lettuce hydrates the body.
If lettuce is the only thing you eat, you will get sick, you're going to have serious health issues. It can lead to dangerous malnutrition, grave weight loss, and in women infertility.
In summary, people can use lettuce in daily meals or as medicine, however, it should not be overused to ensure safety for health.
Lettuce is an excellent source of beta carotene (vitamin A) which is needed for healthy skin, bones, and eyes. Lettuce is a fair source of folate, which is needed for healthy cells and the healthy growth of babies during pregnancy in order to prevent neural tube defects.
The potato is one good example. Andrew Taylor isn't the only person in history who has relied almost exclusively on potatoes for sustenance. In the beginning of the 1800s, about a third of the Irish population got most of their calories from spuds.
As iceberg lettuce is mostly made up of water, harm to your health can only be caused if you consume a lot of it. Excessive consumption of this vegetable can lead to carotenodermia as it contains beta-carotene.
“With the high water content, iceberg lettuce isn't as rich in [nutrients] as other types of lettuce,” Feller explains. The sky-high levels of H20, mean there's just not as much room for other good stuff, like vitamins, minerals, and fiber, making iceberg lettuce nutrition less impressive.
Some of the most nutritious greens include spinach, kale, romaine, watercress, and arugula (see "Salad greens by the numbers").
Research shows that leafy greens also contain a specific type of sugar that helps fuel growth of healthy gut bacteria. Eating a lot of fiber and leafy greens allows you to develop an ideal gut microbiome — those trillions of organisms that live in the colon.
If large quantities of lettuce take the place of other nutritious foods, you won't get all your daily nutrients. This type of imbalanced diet will not support your health. While getting more fiber by increasing lettuce intake is healthy, you may experience digestive problems if you overindulge.
According to Texas A&M Extension's website, spinach has twice as much potassium, protein, calcium, iron, niacin and vitamins A, C, B, C and B-12 as any other leaf vegetable. Spinach also contains more fiber and minerals including magnesium, phosphorus and potassium than any of the four lettuce types.
Salads can be fun, full of variety, and incredibly delicious if done right. They're healthy, have tons of beneficial nutrients, and are super versatile. Eating a salad every day can even help you lose weight.
And while reaching for a salad for lunch day-in-and-day-out may seem like a no-brainer, I wondered if you could have too much of a good thing. The short answer is: Yep. According to Food Fix founder Heather Bauer, RD, CND, all those raw veggies can seriously stress out your GI tract.
Nutrients. Cucumbers are packed with them. In just a single cup of cucumber slices, you'll get 14% to 19% of the vitamin K you need for the day. You'll also get vitamins B and C along with minerals like copper, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium.
Spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula are leafy greens high in B-vitamins, which are great for natural energy boosts. They're also high in antioxidants that fight off free radicals and protect our brains from damage caused by stress and aging.
Consumption of green leafy vegetables may help to slow decline in cognitive abilities with older age, perhaps due to the neuroprotective actions of lutein, folate, β-carotene, and phylloquinone. The addition of a daily serving of green leafy vegetables to one's diet may be a simple way to contribute to brain health.
Leafy greens are filled with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients meaning that they are some of the most nutrient-dense foods out there. They contain high levels of fiber, iron, potassium, magnesium and calcium, all while having very low levels of carbohydrates, sodium and cholesterol.