Eat Lots of Plants
Basil is a plant, which means it falls into the largest section of the Paleo food pyramid right on the bottom. Of course, you probably won’t be making whole salads out of basil, but you could if you want to. You’d be hard pressed to find a more nutritious salad base.
A Nutrient-Dense Food
Fresh basil has almost no fat, a nominal amount of carbohydrates, and a little protein. Mostly, you’re in it for the micronutrients and the antioxidants. Basil comes loaded with vitamin K, which is awesome because we need vitamin K to transport calcium out of our blood stream to our bones (and basil also contains some calcium). Without the vitamin K, the calcium just sits there, building up plaque in our arteries.
Health Benefits of the Oil
Basil also has impressive amounts of manganese, iron, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, and various B vitamins. The oil found in basil has also been found to have antioxidant, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties, so eat up!
Mark Sisson included a number of good reasons to eat basil in this post.
