Spinach is a powerhouse of nutrients:
- High in protein – go figure! The highest vegetable protein around! This was a big surprise to me. One cup spinach = 12% DV protein.
- Super duper high Vitamin A
- High Vitamin K – second only to cauliflower
- Great source of folate/folic acid, particularly important for pregnant or nursing women
- Over 25% DV of magnesium, iron, potassium, Vitamin C and manganese
- Decent source of fiber
I went searching for helpful foods that could boost my nutrient intake as well as help me detox and help lower my risk for diabetes. I'm slowly, but surely taking back some control and beginning to get back on a healthy track. I can do it with spinach. I eat it almost every day and it's my go to when I'm craving a filler. Seems strange, but it really takes great mixed with a handful of almonds a handful of black berries and a sprinkle of salt and olive oil. Simple solutions!
Spinach Fights Diabetic Heart Disease!
Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A, the latter notably through its concentration of beta-carotene. These two nutrients are important antioxidants that work to reduce the amounts of free radicals in the body; vitamin C works as a water-soluble antioxidant and beta-carotene as a fat-soluble one. This water-and-fat-soluble antioxidant team helps to prevent cholesterol from becoming oxidized. Oxidized cholesterol is able to stick to and build up in blood vessel walls, where it can cause blocked arteries, heart attack or stroke. Getting plenty of vitamin C and beta-carotene can help prevent these complications, and a cup of boiled spinach can provide you with 294.8% of the daily value (DV) for vitamin A along with 29.4% of the DV for vitamin C. Spinach is also an excellent source of folate. Folate is needed by the body to help convert a potentially dangerous chemical called homocysteine that can lead to heart attack or stroke if levels get too high, into other benign molecules. In addition, spinach is an excellent source of magnesium, a mineral that can help to lower high blood pressure and protect against heart disease as well. A cup of boiled spinach contains 65.6% of the daily value for folate and 39.1% of the daily value for magnesium. Pretty amazing!
Cooked or Raw?
Both!
Benefits to cooking spinach: cooking releases beta-carotene and lutein, and it also neutralizes oxalic acid or oxalate, a compound that inhibits the absorption of both calcium and iron. This is why you don’t reuse the cooking water from spinach.
Benefits to raw spinach: Vitamin C and folate are both very heat-sensitive, so to obtain the maximum benefits of these compounds, eat spinach in your salads. One important CAUTION. If you are prone to kidney stones, you may want to focus more on cooked spinach. There is an enzyme in raw spinach called oxalic acid that causes stones to form. Also remember: use up your spinach within 8 days. It will lose it's nutrients if you let it sit in the fridge and why let it sit when there are so many things to do with it. Not to bag on bagged spinach because let's face it we all use it. We love the little stems, we love the smaller baby spinach of which only comes in bag form, but....and this is a huge thing, bags of spinach have been sitting on the shelf after being processed, then shipped and then days later being placed on your shelf at the grocery store. We're talking about 4-6 days sitting inside that bag where it continues to lose it's nutritional value. If you're not in it so much for the nutrients, then by all means use the bag because it is convenient and it does taste good. If you're at the end of the spinach bag and it doesn't look good to eat raw, cook it and gain back some of those vitamins and don't waste the bag. It's a win, win.
Source: World’s Healthiest Foods
Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 can mandarin oranges
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) Craisins
2 tablespoons dried or pomegranate seeds
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves refreshed in water, drained well, and spin dry or fresh bunch of spinach, washed and dried.
1/4 cup lite extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon orange juice + 1tsp zest
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) Craisins
2 tablespoons dried or pomegranate seeds
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves refreshed in water, drained well, and spin dry or fresh bunch of spinach, washed and dried.
1/4 cup lite extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon orange juice + 1tsp zest
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar (sub white wine vinegar)2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
2 tablespoons whole, lightly-salted cashew nuts
Coarse or sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
Into a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid, add the olive oil, vinegar, orange juice and zest, Dijon mustard, cashews, salt, and pepper. Shake until oil is emulsified; set aside.
Combine all salad ingredients and mix gently with dressing. Don't over dress your greens, you can always add more after the salad has been mixed together.
yields 2 heaping servings
love spinach. i eat it at least once a day. sometimes twice. and i did know about the protein. coolio!
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