Popeye Was Right - Greens Pack a Powerful Punch

The biggest animals — elephants, gorillas, rhinoceroses, hippopota­ muses, and giraffes — all eat predominantly green vegetation. How did they get the protein to get so big? Obviously, greens pack a pow­ erful protein punch. In fact, all protein on the planet was formed from the effect of sunlight on green plants. The cow didn't eat an­ other cow to form the protein in its muscles, which we call steak.
The protein wasn't formed out of thin air — the cow ate grass. Not that protein is such a big deal or some special nutrient to be held in high esteem. I am making this point because most people think animal products are necessary for a diet to include adequate protein. I am merely illustrating how easy it is to consume more than enough pro­ tein while at the same time avoiding risky, cancer-promoting sub­ stances such as saturated fat. Consuming more plant protein is also the key to achieving safe and successful weight loss.Now. which has more vitamin E or vitamin C — broccoli or steak? I'm sure you are aware that steak has no vitamin C or vitamin E. It is also almost totally lacking in fiber, folate, vitamin A, beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, vitamin K, flavonoids, and thousands of other pro­
tective phytochemicals. Meat does have certain vitamins and miner­
als, but even when we consider the nutrients that meat does contain, broccoli has lots more of them. For many important nutrients, broc­ coli has more than ten times as much as steak. The only exception is vitamin B12, which is not found in plant fare.

When you consider the fiber, phytochemicals, and other essen­ tial  nutrients,  green vegetables  win  the award for being the most nutrient-dense of all foods. We will give greens a score of 100 and judge all other foods against this criterion.