Nutritional value of Spinach

Suddenly my body has been craving greens and I ate chard ,kale, beets and beet tops, broccoli, and avocado this week alone.  So I decided to look up some of these vegetables and see what my body is trying to tell me. I know I am eating a whole lot healthier and I am not so freaked out about where the money is coming from to buy groceries.  That kind of thinking only gets me so down that I can't even try and succeed at life. So the better I eat and take my supplements the better I feel physically as well. I have made a point to eat fish or seafood three times a week minimum but I could eat it almost every day. I love fish and seafood.  I eat a minimum of one large raw vegetable salad a day. I eat soup that is homemade one cup before every meal. I also eat either a half an apple or a half a grapefruit before each meal and the other half as snacks.  I eat six small meals a day and two snacks.. I am never hungry and I continue to move more each day as I feel better, and I continue to only weigh at the doctors unless I am sick, I have heart failure and if I get sick I have to weigh daily to keep the fluid off my lungs. But what I eat and how I move effects all of this daily. I will do some more of these kinds of articles. Part two maybe tomorrow on Broccoli

At least, two kinds of spinach are cultivated for their edible leaves; Savoy type with dark-green crinkle (wrinkled) leaves not to mention flat-leaf type with smooth surfaced leaves.


Health benefits of Spinach
Spinach is store house for many phyto-nutrients that have health promotional and disease prevention properties.

Very low in calories and fats (100 g of raw leaves provide just 23 calories). Its leaves hold good amount of soluble dietary fiber and no wonder green spinach is one of the finest vegetable sources recommended in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs by dieticians!

Fresh 100 g of spinach contains about 25% of daily intake of iron; one of the richest among green leafy vegetables. Iron is an important trace element required by the human body for red blood cell production and as a co-factor for oxidation-reduction enzyme, cytochrome-oxidase during the cellular metabolism.

Fresh leaves are rich source of several vital anti-oxidant vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C, and flavonoid poly phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, zea-xanthin and beta-carotene. Together, these compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a healing role in aging and various disease processes.

Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid, is selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes where it thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering functions. It thus, helps protect from "age-related macular related macular disease" (ARMD), especially in the elderly.

In addition, vitamin A is required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is essential for normal eye-sight. Consumption of natural vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin A and flavonoids also known to help the body protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.

Spinach leaves are an excellent source of vitamin K. 100 g of fresh greens provides 402% of daily vitamin-K requirements. Vitamin K plays a vital role in strengthening the bone mass by promoting osteotrophic (bone building) activity in the bone. Additionally, it also has established role in patients with Alzheimer's disease by limiting neuronal damage in the brain.

This green leafy vegetable also contains good amounts of many B-complex vitamins such as vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), thiamin (vitamin B-1), riboflavin, folates and niacin. Folates help prevent neural tube defects in the offspring.

100 g of farm fresh spinach has 47% of daily recommended levels of vitamin C. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.

Its leaves also contain a good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, magnesium, copper and zinc. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese and copper are used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells. Zinc is a co-factor for many enzymes that regulate growth and development, sperm generation, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis.

Use spinach, kale or chard, beet greens instead of lettuce. Lettuce can be mixed in if you like the flavor with these other greens. Look for ways to use greens when ever you can. Eat at least two cups of raw salad a day. Do it in small servings or one large one. When I am really tired of lettuce salads I go look for other kinds of salads like the beet, walnut, and feta cheese salad and Strawberry, almond, spinach salad. That way a person never gets tired of raw vegetables. Dip them in other veggie dips you can  make. I love egg plant dips, hummus, I like chick peas and tabbouleh wraps. Did you know you can make quinoa and cracked wheat or Bulgar wheat?  When ever I am making grains like that I cook them in the crock pot and then put what is left in 1/2 cup. freezer cartons. I use the bags you can suck the air out of, the food last forever without freezer burn.
Judi Singleton is a free lance writer who writes for 20 blogs a week. You can advertise in her blogs now for just $5. a week in one or twenty. Email Judi And Order your Advertising now.