Day 7: You know what? I've decided to quit counting calories when it comes to non-starchy vegetables. The calorie content is negligible at best. Take the following foods, for instance:

• 1 cup of broccoli -- 40 calories
• 1 cup of cauliflower -- 48 calories
• 3 stalks of celery -- nine calories ... I mean, come on. Is that worth writing down?
• 1 cup Swiss chard -- 32 calories
• cucumber -- 30 calories, for the whole thing!
• 1 cup eggplant -- 38 calories
  
  

You get the idea. These foods are jam-packed with nutrition and carry little weight when it comes to calories, so to make my life simpler, I've decided not to write them down. Will it make a difference in my weight loss? In the long run, I doubt it. This is about teaching myself life long healthy habits, not about obsessively tracking every last calorie.

Greens fit for company -- I'm sure the balsamic makes this delectable, while the sliced garlic is a new technique for me (I usually mince). Do you think it really needs the sugar? I'm betting not. I'd skip the preboil step with chard.

Swiss chard wraps -- Wrap a tomato and a little mozzarella cheese with a chard leaf, bake and you'll have a testy -- and healthy -- new side dish.

Each week, we'll be offering original recipes and unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

I must admit I'd never heard of Swiss chard before this week when I came across a page in a women's magazine cheering on its merits. I'm a pretty standard veggie girl. Give me broccoli, peas, green beans, squash, a good salad and I'm happy. Swiss chard? Never did sit on a plate of mine. Yet I'm intrigued by this item. Here's what I'm learning about it.

I'll warn you first that Swiss chard is packed with sodium -- 313 mg per cup -- but it's loaded with good stuff too, like vitamin A, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. A mere 35 calories come with one cup of this chopped stuff. Check out the rest of these nutritional facts.

Protein: 3 grams
Carbohydrates: 7 grams
Calcium: 102 mg
Iron: 4 mg
Magnesium: 151 mg
Phosphorus: 58 mg
Potassium: 960 mg
Sodium: 313 mg
Vitamin C: 32 mg
Folate: 15 mcg

So what exactly is this Super Food?

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Are you a fan of kale, chard and spinach? Maybe not, since those are leafy greens that send some folks scurrying away fast. Although raw (and cooked) vegetables are not that palatable to many people, the vitamins and minerals many of them have should be a powerful motivator to eat them.

A secret of mine is spices -- I use spices like majoram, bay leaves, sage, garlic and pepper on so many things it would make even my head spin. The reason? The lack of "taste" is a common reason why good foods are not eaten as much as nutritionally-dead foods are eaten.

A history of processed food tastes is hard to overcome, but getting vegetables right with spices and taste (while adding hardly any calories) can be a great method for eating those "bland" leafy greens. Try it and see what you think. Fresh garlic is a taste that I'd rather have than a quarter-pound cheeseburger any day -- but it didn't happen overnight.

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