This Humble Garnish Helps Your Body Age Better
If you're a certain age, you can probably still picture all of that red...
The pint glasses made of red pebbled plastic... the red-and-white checkered tablecloths... and the famous red roof.
I'm talking about Pizza Hut. And if you were lucky enough, your local Pizza Hut had a buffet, including a salad bar tucked off to the side under a sneeze guard.
That's where, amid all the scarlet, you'd find a little green...
Kale.
Pizza Hut wasn't exactly tossing it into salads. And it definitely wasn't putting it on the pizza.
For years, the chain was reportedly one of America's biggest buyers of kale for pretty much one reason: The curly green leaves decorated the salad bar, covering the ice that kept everything cold.
That's how a lot of us used to treat leafy greens: as décor. Maybe it was the limp lettuce under a dollop of tuna salad... the garnish left behind on a dinner plate... or the curly green stuff you breezed past to reach the pizza buffet.
But over the years, research has piled up that suggests those greens don't belong on the sidelines. Instead, they deserve a front-row seat on your dinner plate...
The Life-Improving Benefits of Eating Your Greens
Science makes it clear... Leafy greens can help protect our arteries and lungs, and they can help lower our blood pressure and blood sugar.
You see, these greens are an excellent source of vitamin K, which your body uses to ensure certain proteins – like the ones for bone-building and blood-clotting – work properly...
And according to a study published last month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vitamin K could be what spurs a certain protective protein into action. Importantly, this protein is the one that keeps our lung tissues nice and flexible.
Researchers followed 179,062 healthy U.K. adults for 10 and a half years. The participants who consumed the most vitamin K1 (a form of vitamin K found in plant-based foods) had a lower rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. The group with the highest vitamin K1 intake had a 16% lower rate of COPD and fared better in measures of lung function compared with folks who consumed the least amount of the nutrient.
The benefits, of course, don't stop at your lungs...
A 2025 European Journal of Nutrition study followed 1,436 older women for 14 and a half years. It found that higher vitamin K1 intake was linked with lower measures of subclinical atherosclerosis, or early changes in the arteries that can set the stage for heart attack and stroke.
The researchers in that study concluded that about 120 micrograms per day of vitamin K1 seemed beneficial... That's just a cup or two of leafy greens each day.
Also, a 2021 review of multiple studies linked eating about 100 grams of leafy greens per day to a 25% lower risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality.
And a 2025 review found that leafy greens can help lower blood pressure, improve elasticity in blood vessels, and reduce oxidative stress.
Leafy greens come packed with nitrates, which your body converts into nitric oxide. And nitric oxide helps your blood vessels relax and supports healthy blood pressure, including in the tiny blood vessels that service the brain.
In fact, according to a 2018 study of 960 older adults, tucking away just one serving per day of leafy greens is associated with slower cognitive decline.
Along with nitrates and vitamins, don't forget that leafy greens come packed with polyphenols and other antioxidants that help tamp down tissue-damaging chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. These veggies also feature fiber, which slows digestion and glucose absorption... As a result, they can help blunt post-meal blood-sugar spikes.
Finally, you might be surprised to learn that leafy greens contain beneficial compounds for eye and bone health. They're rich in lutein, a powerful antioxidant that's associated with a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. And in addition to vitamin K, leafy greens contain other bone-friendly nutrients like calcium and potassium.
So now that you know just how powerful these foods can be for your health, it's time to get started...
There's no need to overhaul your entire diet... The American Heart Association counts 2 cups of raw, leafy greens or 1 cup of cooked greens as one serving.
And you don't need to choke down a giant kale salad all the time, either...
The marvelous thing about leafy greens is how easy it is to fit a lot of them into your favorite dishes... I like tossing a large handful of arugula or spinach into everything from soup and eggs to sauces and pasta dishes.
If you're new to leafy greens and put off by their bitterness, do what I do and chuck them into boiling water for a couple of minutes before moving them to icy-cold water. This is called blanching, and besides reducing the bitter taste, it also brings out the gorgeous, bright-green color.
One word of caution, though... If you take warfarin or a similar blood thinner, don't go overboard on the greens without checking in with your doctor. (All that vitamin K can interfere with, or even reverse, the effect of your blood-thinning drugs.)
Don't wait... Make leafy greens a health habit today. They're cheap, low in calories, and easy to add to just about any meal.
Want even more health-and-wealth wisdom? In the most recent issue of Retirement Millionaire, I delved into something lots of folks are concerned about as they get older... arthritis. And I shared the secrets to help keep your joints healthy as you age.
For nearly two decades, we've been sharing our best ideas just like this each month... so you can improve your health, manage your money, and invest smartly – all to help you protect your independence and enjoy a prosperous retirement. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can check out all of these ideas and more with a monthlong, risk-free trial.
What We're Reading...
- Did you miss it? Make sure you wash those greens.
- Something different: Retro Pizza Huts are back.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
July 7, 2026