In Season: Swiss Chard

This leafy green is in season and ready to bring nutritional goodness to your table.

What, Where & When?
Chard (aka Swiss chard) is a member of the beet family, but doesn’t produce an edible bulb. This green leafy has crinkly green leaves and silver stalks resembling celery ribs. Both the leaves and stalks are edible and the flavor is a cross between spinach and beets. The stems have an earthier beet flavor but are still delicious (even if you’re not a huge beet fan).

Common varieties include Ruby Chard, Rhubarb Chard, and Rainbow Chard. Ruby Chard has bright red stalks and deep red veins while Rhubarb Chard has dark green leaves with a reddish stalk and a stronger flavor. Rainbow Chard are other colorful chard varieties bunched together. The stalk colors vary from pink, orange, red, purple, white with red stripes, and ivory with pink stripes. Chard is in season during late summer into fall.


Nutrition Facts
One cup of cooked Swiss chard has 35 calories, 3 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fiber. It has over 700 times the recommended daily amount of vitamin K and over 200 times the recommended daily amount of the antioxidant vitamin A. Chard is also rich in vitamin C, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. It also has lutein, shown to help with eye health. This green leafy veggie is also part of the cruciferous vegetable (cabbage) family, which has been shown to help with cancer prevention.

What To Do With Swiss Chard
To prepare chard, wash well under cool water to get rid of any dirt or pebbles. Also, avoid cooking chard in aluminum cookware as it will change color because of to the oxalates (naturally existing compounds) in the chard.

Chard can be used just like spinach. Use it in a lasagna or pasta dishes, add it to soup or sauté it with olive oil and garlic. The stem can be used as a substitute for broccoli or asparagus in dishes like in an egg frittata, omelet or stir-fry.

Choosing and Storage Tips: Choose chard with tender greens and crisp stalks and avoid those that are wilted or with brown or yellowing spots. Place fresh chard in a resealable plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Store for up to 3 days.

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Write an Essay on the Value of Good Health in Life

It is said “Health is wealth”. If health is lost, everything is lost. If health is i’ lost, the capacity to work is lost. Inability to work leads to poverty and misery. On the other hand, if we have health we are able to work and this, in turn, adds to our wealth. Therefore good health is one of the basic foundations on which our lives are built.

For the common man, health is merely an absence of sickness and ailments. This view is narrow and one-sided. The term ‘health’ is much more comprehensive. Good health is the state of all-round physical, social and mental well being of a person, which enables him to live and work normally and to resist the negative impact of his environment.

The merits or the advantages of having good health can hardly be exaggerated. Good health is not only important but is also an essential ingredient for a happy life. A healthy person is able to work and live on his own.

He is not dependent on others. He is in a better position to relax and to enjoy the thrill of life. He is able to enjoy life in its varied forms. On the other hand, an unhealthy person finds it difficult to be happy and joyful. Physical ailments bring in pain, sorrow, bitterness, mental tension and sleepless nights. He survives on others charity. “Bread bought with other’s sweat is never sweet”.

It is therefore essential that we should try to acquire good health. Good health cannot be bought, it can only be, wrought. Acquisition of good health calls for certain concrete steps. According to many doctors and health specialists three basic factors bring about good health. They are: (a) clean environment, (b) good habits and (c) clean mind.

One of the basic requirements for good health is to live in a clean and healthy environment. Unfortunately, this is becoming almost impossible today. Our entire environment is polluted. The water that we drink is polluted.

The food that we consume is contaminated. The air that we breathe is full of dirt and poisonous elements. Our cities, towns and rivers have become dumping grounds of wastes and breeding grounds of dangerous microbes. Unless and until this pollution is prevented our chances of acquiring good health may remain a distant dream.

Secondly, good personal habits go a long way in helping to acquire good health. Good habits, such as, getting up early, maintaining personal cleanliness, temperance in eating, doing physical exercises, adequate sleep and rest, etc., are vital elements which help in the acquisition of good health.

Thirdly, the importance of clean mind for the acquisition of good health cannot be undermined. Mind, to a great extent, controls the body. Many doctors say that the mind is so powerful that it can dispel even the most incurable ailments of the body, if it, so desires. Optimistic outlook, serene mentality, joyful spirit, laughter, clean thoughts, etc. have unfathomable impact in bringing about good health.

I perfectly agree with the maxim ‘health is wealth’. Unfortunately, very few care about this ‘wealth’. People spend sleepless days and nights, running after material wealth forgetting that the first step to acquire material wealth is to have good health.

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