With the availability of a variety of food, from street food to gourmet dishes from the chefs of the most expensive restaurants, people's eating habits have changed significantly. However, not everyone can control the nutritional value of the food they eat and does not think about how it ultimately affects the body.
10 Reasons to Include Microgreens in the Family Diet
Daily consumption of microgreens is an opportunity to minimally maintain the balance of nutrients. The purpose of this essay is to study and analyze how and why eating microgreens is recommended as a source of energy and benefits.
No Soil? No Problem!
The summer season has long since ended and has been replaced by gray autumn days, and now the first frosts and Christmas holidays are just around the corner. The change in seasonality affects the variability of the diet, although nowadays any supermarket presents seasonal vegetables and fruits. However, one option consistently provides access to vitamins regardless of the climate, season, and weather outside.
These are microgreens - small sprouted sprouts, both a universal houseplant and a small version of your organic farm or garden. You can grow them in containers, and even without a pot - yes, you heard right, growing microgreens without soil is also possible. This is a unique botanical microsystem that easily adapts to the environment, without requiring large areas, bulky volumes of water for irrigation, or mineral fertilizers.
It only needs minimal lighting to provide the photosynthesis process, which is essential for the growth of any greenery on our planet. The benefits of eating microgreens are keeping your health in balance, maintaining health, and high activity.
So, we invite you to get acquainted with the incredible universe of small greens. Make sure you will find a lot of useful information here and the inspiration to try growing your first vitamin microcrop.
Small but Mighty
The mightiest of these smallish sprouts is that a small microgreen of a pea or sunflower contains a concentration of nutrients several times higher than that of a mature bean or sunflower seed. Thus, spending several months growing and ripening an adult plant to get food rich in fiber, vitamins, and nutritious minerals is unnecessary. Home gardening makes microgreens good for you and supplies quick access to healthy nourishing 24/7 throughout the year.
Packed with Vitamins
To illustrate how great the benefits of microgreens on food are, let's study the main nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals in their composition, which are the main tool for maintaining optimal health for every person. The most powerful concentration is vitamins minerals, vitamins (A, C, E, K, A), and beta-carotene.
Vitamin A is vital for healthy skin and vision. Eating 100 g of alfalfa microgreen sprouts daily will provide you with up to 80% of the daily requirement of vitamin A and beta-carotene.
Vitamin C and E are antioxidants and are very important for the production of collagen to ensure healthy skin, blood vessels, and wound healing.
Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting and bone strength. By the way, 100 g of microgreens contains 2-5 times bigger Vitamin K concentration than the daily requirement. Therefore, it is enough to consume 15-30 g of microgreens per day to provide the body with the basic daily amount of vitamin K.
Microgreens also contain minerals - Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron. Calcium is necessary for strong bones and teeth, as well as for proper muscle function.
With a lack of Magnesium, biochemical reactions in the body fail, including energy production, disrupting the work of muscles and nerves, as well as regulating blood pressure. Sufficient concentration of Iron in the blood is necessary for oxygen transport and preventing anemia.
By adding microgreens to your diet daily, you will fill your body with a balance of essential vitamins and minerals, vital for maintaining health and having a cheerful and active regime.
Great for Boosting Immunity
The biggest reason why should you eat microgreens and grow microgreens at home is that you get easy access to a superfood. Adding freshly picked microgreens to your diet every day is a source of fiber - which improves the digestive process and has a positive effect on the intestinal microflora. Thanks to the high content of cholesterol, potassium, and vitamin K, the healthy functioning of the cardiovascular system is supported.
Vitamins A and E are good for the eyes, and several other minerals and elements are useful for the skin, muscles, bones, nervous system, and immune system support. The use of microgreens has a positive effect on the correct synthesis of neurotransmitters and controls cholesterol balance.
Even Picky Eaters Will Like Them
One more reason why eating microgreens influences your health and activity is the possibility of consuming food of better quality with a few changes. Thus, step by step, do not change your routine diet by adding microgreens to your food every day but make a great contribution to your health and eating habits in the future.
Fresh juicy sports of mint or mustard flavor your drink or sandwich much more naturally than dried herbs or sources. So, it is just a simple way to add a few health benefits to your diet even if you do not like to eat some kind of vegetables or herbs.
Grow Microgreens Fast and Easy at Home
As mentioned above, growing microgreens at home is not a resource-intensive activity. You can grow them in a small container on a windowsill or the countertop. The surrounding space will not be polluted because microgreens can grow without soil on a coconut mat. They are fast-harvest, and the first sprouts come in the first week.
To keep you excited about growing your greens we would say that for sprouting them at home you do not need to waste a lot of time and energy, and there is no need to follow a special schedule or get some professional skills, buying equipment, or educational courses. This activity is easy even for beginners.
Microgreens can grow even with low indirect light or your everyday ceiling lights, with the lowest amount of liquids for watering and the easiest maintenance and impressive results of sprouting and benefits of eating microgreens.
Add Micro Greens to Food for Extra Flavor
It is difficult to imagine dishes from modern cuisine without the magical aroma and characteristic taste that the ingredients give them. One of the benefits of eating microgreens is the appetizing aroma that turns the simplest ordinary dish into a real culinary masterpiece. A freshly picked juicy sprout of microgreens can be a wonderful addition to a salad, side dish, soup, or steak.
Depending on the type, the taste and aroma palette will be different: for example, basil, dill, parsley, watercress, and arugula microgreens have a pungency, bitterness, and a spicy smell, or mint has a menthol aroma, while flax microgreens have a nutty aroma. The variety of planting materials for microgreens can satisfy any gourmet.
An Eco-Friendly Choice
Growing microgreens requires minimal expenditure of renewable and non-renewable resources. Due to the need for minimal irrigation, water resources are not used in excess, and the sprout itself drinks thousands of times less water than its relative - a mature plant.
It does not require mineral fertilizers or pest treatment with dangerous chemicals that destroy the biosphere, killing insects and butterflies, and leaving birds and animals without food.
The growing process does not increase the carbon footprint, so this activity is an excellent example of conscious anthropogenic activity with respect for the environment.
Healthy and Affordable
Growing microgreens at home is a simple and inexpensive activity. You can buy everything you need in a store, or even collect it yourself.
All you need are seeds, a growing medium (coconut litter or paper napkin), a container for germination (you can reuse the packaging from food delivery - it must be clean and with a transparent lid for light access), and minimal lighting (a windowsill or a table lamp).
You do not need to take several training courses or read mountains of books and educational literature, it is enough to familiarize yourself with a short instruction that you can easily find on any Internet resource. Microgreens seeding is a cheap and easy-to-do activity.
Don’t Need Much Space to Grow Microgreens
It's possible to grow them outdoors (in your yard, flowerbed, on a balcony or terrace) or in an apartment or house. They are not needed in big squares or separate buildings with specially qualified maintenance like farms or greenhouses.
You can harvest fresh sprouts in the first week sprouting them on a windowsill, kitchen table, or even as a living decoration on the shelf. In return, you will receive great benefits for physical and mental health from the harvested crop.
Learn more about sustainable lifestyle.
Conclusion
So, taking care of your health begins with analyzing your regime and eating habits. To ensure daily balance and health strength of the body, to feel active and cheerful, and to provide the organism with a basic set of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, you need to consume healthy organic food like microgreens.
This is a superfood that is not only resource-efficient but also easy to grow and is a source of nutrients in high concentrations.
Adding microgreens to your daily diet saturates food with new tastes and aromas. This is the reason why eating microgreens positively influences your mood. Although sprouts do not fully replace the daily norm of vegetables, they are extremely nutritious and useful for every person.
Eat organic - feel organic!
