Advice Column: Is Eating Lettuce Pointless?

By Noor H. Salem

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Question: Everyone says that lettuce is not worth eating because it has no benefits. I always thought that it was a good choice.

Answer:

I too heard the talk that lettuce is not worth eating because it has no benefits, but unfortunately lettuce has a bad rep going for nothing.

Romaine lettuce has a ton of vitamin A, K, C, folate, B Vitamins, omega-3 fats, and many other nutrients. It has fiber, chlorophyll, antioxidants, a high percentage of water, and is heart healthy. Iceburg lettuce has very few nutrients and almost no fiber, but it does have a high percentage of water as well. So when we are discussing iceburg lettuce, I can see why people claim it’s worthless. I don’t find that it’s pointless to eat; I can see that replacing it with other greens may allow you to get plentiful of nutrients in the same plate of salad.

While snacking on lettuce may be a very wise choice over processed food and junk, and is lower calories and higher water compared to other vegetables, it seems minuscule on the scale against other leafy green vegetables. It’s good to switch up your usual lettuce for other leafy greens like spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, and kale. Romaine lettuce is a vegetable abundant in benefits- don’t underestimate it. Mix up your salad base with chopped lettuce, spinach, kale, collard greens, and parsley. Don’t eliminate lettuce from your lifestyle; just keep room for others in the plate.

I would like to remind you though, that lettuce and other leafy greens fall in the dirty dozen; produce that rank high in pesticides. I advise you purchase these organic whenever possible, and if you can’t then wash them well and remove the outer layers.

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