What are the health benefits of spinach? Is it possible to give spinach to children and from what age? How to choose, store, cook spinach dishes? What is the healthiest form of spinach?
Indeed, green spinach leaves are a real pantry of many useful substances to strengthen the immune system and the health of the body. It is low in calories, contains fiber, many phytonutrients (vitamins and microelements of plant origin), among green leafy vegetables - the leader in iron content.
Fresh spinach leaves contain vitamins A, K, C, group B, lutein and beta-carotene, as well as folate and nicotinic acid, potassium, magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc, are a source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Spinach is good for:
- fight against anemia
- prolongation of youthfulness of body cells,
- vision,
- various diets for weight correction,
- with diabetes,
- strengthening the skeletal system
- normal functioning of the nervous system,
- during pregnancy - helps prevent the development of defects in the neural tube of the fetus,
- cleansing the body from the action of free radicals,
- preventing osteoporosis,
- protection against cardiovascular disease.
100 g of fresh spinach replenishes almost half of the daily requirement of vitamin C
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How to choose and store spinach
Choose spinach with fresh, dark green leaves that are limp, yellowed, or blotchy - don't buy it.If the spinach leaves are not harvested in your own garden, after thoroughly washing under running water, place them in salted water for 30-60 minutes, so the remaining dirt and insecticides will “come out” into the water.
Spinach (not washed) can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week, you can freeze the leaves for future use. However, the fresher the leaves, the more nutrients they contain, so it is better to eat them as soon as possible.
What is the healthiest form of spinach?
Fresh spinach is most useful when raw, the leaves are added to salads, burgers, juice and smoothies.
There are many recipes for dishes with spinach - casseroles and soups, however, during heat treatment, some of the nutrients disappear, especially during long-term processing. Therefore, in a soup, for example, spinach is put at the very end of cooking and boiled for no more than 5 minutes.
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Dangerous properties of spinach
Re-heat treatment dishes with spinach (reheating) can lead to the conversion of nitrates to nitrites and nitrosamines under the influence a certain bacterium that thrives in nitrate-rich cooked foods such as spinach and many others green vegetables. Spinach contains oxalic acid, which can crystallize in the urinary tract into oxalate stones.
Spinach in baby food
Spinach can be included in the child's diet after 1.5-2 years. Add spinach to soup or boil soup puree, make fresh salads, for example, with cucumber and boiled eggs, season with sour cream.
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Be sure to find out how to instill in your child the right taste preferences and the habit of loving healthy food.
