Mr. Green Jeans

Every time I hear a reference to Mr. Green Jeans from the Captain Kangaroo shows of my childhood, I feel all good inside. Kind of like I feel when I think of oatmeal or soup. Mmm mmm good. Even though we've learned there's hardly anything good in canned soup and oatmeal is full of phytates and avenin, it turns out.

I swear I am going to ferment my oats with buckwheat one day to get rid of phytates and avenin and eat them the healthy way...but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

In the meantime, there's still Mr. Green Jeans to feel good about. I loved Mr. Green Jeans. Literally. I don't even remember why. I think of Mr. Green Jeans when I think about growing things, starting a garden, even eating my vegetables. But there's nothing like a big bowl of cooked greens to really make me wonder about Mr. Green Jeans and who he was and whatever happened to him.

Funny the things our brains associate.

I was just eating a bowl of especially healthy greens and who did I think of? You guessed it. So this time instead of wondering, I went and collected this image for you. Did you love Mr. Green Jeans too? My dad grew gardens and we had cows, so maybe it was a combination of my dad and Mr. Green Jeans that cemented in me my love of animals and all things rural and agrarian.

Oh and there was a character on Petticoat Jnction or Green Acres too. Who was that? Do any of you remember a green-jeans type of character on either of those two shows?

Back to greens. I feel so good when I eat them. This week was the perfect time to make them. I'd bought beets (with their attached greens) to make beet kvass. I had leftover kale spinach and arugala from a salad. I found organic kale on sale for 99 cents a pound. I even had wilting watercress (which I prefer to eat raw when it's not wilted) so I threw that in the pot too.

Unfortunately, I love a smoky bacon taste in my greens. Fortunately, though, you can buy organic nitrate-free turkey bacon these days, and it gets me through in a pot of greens.

Sometimes I add onions and garlic to my greens, sometimes I don't. This time I didn't.

Some sea salt and a dash of apple cider vinegar, and I can make a meal with a couple bowls of greens. Good stuff.

My question is, though...greens are goitrogenic which is a problem if you've got thyroid issues making you fat. One of my friends who is hypothyroid and gaining weight thinks she should stay away from greens. And broccoli. And a whole list of superfoods that she says are goitrogenic and can make her hashimotos and hypothyroid condition worse.

I've been wondering about my thyroid. But I can't imagine that staying away from greens and broccoli could do me any good.

Some things I read say cooking them reduces their goitrogenic qualities. Other things I read say to just supplement with iodine and not worry about it. Other articles say it's dangerous to supplement iodine if you have hashimotos. Some other articles say to limit greens to 5 servings a week. Hell, when I make a pot of greens, I might eat 5 servings in one day.

Now, I have to feel bad about eating greens? What's the world coming to? Do any of you have an opinion about goitrogenic green foods and hypothyroidism?

All these theories, it's exhausting, isn't it?

Until the science is clear, I'm not going to stop eating greens any time soon. Though it does make me feel less guilty for not liking broccoli. There are positive aspects to every negative, I suppose.