Leafy greens like kale and spinach are full of fiber, vitamins and minerals, and nutritionists want to see us eating more of them to stave off chronic disease.
But turning this rabbit’s food into a delicious dish takes patience and skill that some people lack. If you aren’t up for dealing with food prep and cleanup, you can go for days without eating anything green.
Just 1 in 10 of Americans meet the daily recommendations for veggies, which is 2-4 cups a day.
Now a silly food hack has emerged on TikTok to make eating them easier: People have taken to shoving fistfuls of greens into their mouths, sometimes straight from the bag, so they can get all of the nutrients — fiber, vitamins C and K, calcium, iron — with minimal effort.
The trend has been dubbed “Dinosaur Time,” and it may have been started by a former middle school science teacher in California named Amy Garrett, who uses the TikTok handle @sahmthingsup and has over 50,000 followers.
During her toddler’s naptime, Garret films videos of herself chomping down on romaine lettuce or spinach while she stands over her kitchen sink and the Jurassic Park theme plays in the background. These TikToks have been shared over 200,000 times and inspired others to incorporate Dinosaur Time into their diets.
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Leafy greens are among the most nutritious of foods, even when compared to other fruits and vegetables, says Julie Stefanski, a registered dietician in Pennsylvania.
Eating them regularly helps decrease the risks of heart disease and certain cancers. Studies have also found that they can slow age-related cognitive decline and help people maintain bone density.
So the more you can get them in your diet the better, says Stefanski, even if your meal isn’t exactly elegant. “We often strive for so much perfection with food or culinary techniques, and it’s really not necessary.”
Garrett told NPR she first started doing Dinosaur Time when she was doing CrossFit semi-competitively and was struggling to hit her daily nutrition goals. Another athlete shared they accomplished this by eating handfuls of plain greens before meals; Garrett gave it a try and found that gnashing the big, messy bites of raw spinach, bok choy or microgreens was both easy and made her feel like a monstrous herbivore.
Now a stay-at-home mom with limited time, she’s picked up Dino Time again.
“Instead of feeling guilty about not eating vegetables. I’m just gonna stuff them down my face and eat what I’d normally have eaten without any guilt,” she says.
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Eating raw greens without any oil or salad dressing would taste disgusting for some. That’s OK, says Andrea Mathis, an Alabama-based food blogger, and registered dietitian because “there are other ways that you can really enjoy spinach instead of eating it by the handfuls.” And it’s important to enjoy your food, she adds.
Some easy alternatives that Mathis suggests: Wrap greens with some lean turkey as a snack, add them to omelets, or mix them into a smoothie.
“Just throw it in your blender,” she says, “You can have those nutrients and you can probably barely taste it.”
Or if someone wants to get their recommended daily servings of vegetables in one sitting, then microwaving a bag of frozen veggies and putting a little seasoning on top is nearly as easy as Dinosaur Time. And it probably tastes better. Research shows frozen vegetables are nearly as good for you as fresh.
People prone to kidney stones should be cautious when doing Dinosaur Time, warns Mathis: Spinach and some other greens are high in oxalate, a compound that binds to calcium. Also, those who take blood thinners should consult their physician before adding Dinosaur Time to their diets.
One group on TikTok that seems to really enjoy Dinosaur Time is parents with kids. That doesn’t surprise Stefanski, who used to work with kids with autism and sensory processing disorders, which can led to selective eating. She says one of the few things children can control is what they eat and they can hesitate to try a new food because they don’t like how it looks or feels.
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By pretending to be giant reptiles, kids touch vegetables that they might otherwise avoid — which is a win, even if they don’t end up eating anything since they’re still exploring a new food.
“Giving kids the space to do that on their own is so important,” Stefanski says.
Stefanski doubts Dinosaur Time will become a permanent fixture in most peoples’ diets as most food trends eventually go extinct. However, if you hate doing dishes then Dinosaur Time might be worth a try.
To be clear, Stefanski and Mathis don’t want people to replace their meals with large quantities of raw greens. Dinosaur Time should be additive to people’s normal eating patterns, not a weight-loss strategy.
Garrett agrees, which is why she shows what she’s eating for lunch at the end of each TikTok. Recent meals include barbacoa, a tuna sandwich, and shawarma.
Emma Longsjo of Boston says that’s part of Dinosaur Time’s appeal. She grew up doing ballet and felt pressure to be thin; as an adult, she tries to avoid social media content that conflates health with body image. But with Dinosaur Time, she knows she’s doing something good for her body, that’s also kind of fun.
“The first time I was thinking of that scene in Jurassic Park where they’re seeing the long neck one, where he’s like, chomping on the trees,” says Longsjo, referring to when the stunned scientists first encounter a brachiosaurus.
So far, Longsjo has polished off three bags of spinach because of Dinosaur Time and plans to buy a fourth this week.
Sarah Boden is a freelance health and science writer.
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