Welcome to the Leaf for Life Library!
The library is intended to provide viewers easy access to a wide range of information on the use of fruits and vegetables to improve our health, with a special focus on green leaf crops. Longer works, including Leaf for Life training manuals, are Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files (click here for more info about pdf files* ).
5-a-Day Programs
The 5 A Day for Better Health Program offers a simple, positive message: eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day for better health. It began in 1991 in the United States, and similar programs are taking root all over the world.
Leaf for Life provides practical ways to make "5-a-Day" work for low-income communities both in the United States and in Latin America.
More about 5-a-Day
Short Articles
- Cancer Prevention
- Death at an Early Age
- Leaf Extracts from France
- Bolivian Study on Leaf Concentrate and Anemia
- Nitrates in Leafy Vegetables
- Industrial Leaf Concentrate Process (France)
- Moringa, the Miracle Tree
- Village Scale Leaf Concentrate Process (Nicaragua)
- Greens may reduce vision loss from age related macular degeneration
Documentos en Español
FAQs — Frequently Asked Questions
- Frequently Asked Questions about leaf crops and the 5-a-Day for Better Health Program
How-To Articles:
- Growing Leaves
- Making a Solar Leaf Dryer
- How To Dry Leaves
- Using Dried Leaves
- How To Make Leaf Concentrate at Home
- Recipes
(See also Manuals & Booklets for additional How-to documents.)
How-To Videos
We have 40 short video presentations on how to grow and prepare leafy vegetables. You can watch them here or on our YouTube channel.
More Resources
Top Crops
Over 1000 species of plants bear leaves that are eaten, to some extent by humans. We've chosen 16 of these as "our favorites" and 50 others as "honorable mention." Our favorites are plants that we feel have, by virtue of their botany and history, shown great potential for providing food for humans in a sustainable way.
Perennial leafy vegetables
A new study shows their nutritional and environmental potential. (19-page PDF; approx 1.2 mb)
Perennial vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition
Eric Toensmeier, Rafter FergusonI, Mamta Mehra
*Galería de Frutas y Verduras/
Fruit and Vegetable Gallery
Check out our Fruit and Vegetable Gallery. Learn interesting things about dozens of the best foods to help keep you feeling and looking good. You can even practice Spanish at the same time. Look up your favorites by their English name, their Spanish name, or by their scientific name. Be sure to scroll to the end of the text to see the photos.
Visita nuestra Galería de Frutas y Verduras. Aprende cosas interesantes sobre las docenas de los mejores alimentos a ayudar te mantienen sintiendo y Apareciendo bien. Tú aun puedes practicar inglés al mismo tiempo. Hállalos tus favoritos por su nombre inglés, su nombre español, o por su nombre científico. Las fotos están a fin del texto.
*NOTE: This section uses frames, and will not display properly on small screens.
Fun with Leaves
- Mr. Leafy's Word Search
- Solution to Word Search
- Rompecabeza (Spanish Word Search)
- Solución de rompecabeza
- Pop Quiz Test your knowledge about green leaves with this short quiz
- Answers to Pop Quiz
- PDF files:
- Leaf for Life Coloring Book This is a lighthearted 28 page coloring book that tells a story of a grandmother showing her granddaughter some of the ways to eat leaves.
- Libro Colorear This is a Spanish language version of the above coloring book.
Manuals & Bookets
These are longer documents that you may wish to print for reference, study, or pleasure. They are Adobe Acrobat ".PDF" files.