Cabbage May Be Your Colon’s Best Friend

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A few years ago one of my college course assignments was to write an Informative research paper on Digestive Health. As I was collecting data from various sources, ei: internet, health books, medical journals, I was shocked to discover how many people are afflicted with digestive disease.

The Royal Society of Medicine reports that over 90% of diseases are a result of an infected digestive tract. A lot of those issues can be traced to the foods that we consume. You’ve heard the saying, “you are what you eat,” and if you want to achieve optimal digestive health, then cabbage may be your colon’s best friend!

Cabbage is considered a part of the cruciferous family of vegetables such as: broccoli, cauliflower & Brussels sprouts. The root word of cruciferous is “crucify” (to kill); therefore, cruciferous vegetables are known to crucify or inhibit cells that potentially cause disease or cancer. Chemicals found in other cruciferous vegetables and cabbage are considered anticancer. But cabbage works like a sweep and broom effect along your intestine to remove waste. See why cabbage may be your colon’s best friend?

Cabbage has one of the least amounts of calories and fat compared to the many other vegetables and a 1/2 cup is approximately only 16 calories. I’m more conscious about fat intake then calories, but for those of you who are calorie counters, this must be great news!

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine once said, “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.” That man had some wisdom and we all know how food affects our health in a positive or negative way. Now, I love food and I’m not in bondage to the dietary laws of the Old Testament; however, I do believe that the principles for health are the same yesterday, today, and always.

I have shared my family’s favorite Cabbage Chicken Salad recipe before and have even recommended it for foods to eat while on a cleanse. My mother frequently prepared this growing up and still does when I go home to visit. Although I make this now in my own kitchen, there’s nothing like mom’s cooking! It was one of the easiest recipes passed down to me as a new wife learning to cook years ago.

Of course I always serve my cabbage salad on fancy plates

Today, I made a big batch of this Cabbage Chicken Salad for lunch and the rest made for great leftovers for the kids’ lunch or an after school snack. I’ve posted the recipe before as you may find on one of my other posts, but for your convenience…I’ve included the recipe below. Enjoy!

Cabbage Chicken Salad

1 whole green cabbage
1 chicken breast
1 bunch of cilantro
4 stalks of green onions
1 to 1 1/2 whole lime

Boil chicken breast let cool and then shred or cut in small thin slices
Cut cabbage in quarters and finely cut each quarter
Cut up cilantro & onions finely
1/4 tsp of Celtic sea salt
dash of pepper
a few dashes of soy sauce or fish sauce (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine cabbage, chicken, cilantro, onions, salt and pepper, soy sauce. Squeeze lime juice over the salad mix and toss really well before serving.

Note: By the way, if you have a Thyroid issue, you may want to limit your intake (do some research on this…another post for another day). Another key food source for obtaining digestive health, is getting the required amounts of fiber. I’ll be writing about this in an upcoming post, but fiber is vital in its ability to trap and remove toxins from our colon as well as promote regularity. As a women, we need approximately 25-30 grams of fiber a day. Unfortunately, not many of us are getting it in our daily diets.

Disclosure: The contents in this post are for educational purpose only and is not intended to diagnose or treat illnesses. Please always consult with your physician.