Health Benefits Of Spinach Explained For You

Spinach is a dark green leafy vegetable and spinach contains a lot of important phytochemicals which include lutein that is helpful in preventing macular degeneration. You will also find that spinach contains lipoic acid which helps antioxidants like vitamin C and E to regenerate. Lipoic acid is being investigated to see if it can help to keep blood sugars stable.

If you serve spinach raw you get to take advantage of its rich content of vitamin C which is a rich antioxidant but if you cook the spinach you lose much of the vitamin C. You are far better off to steam your spinach as this will help to preserve some of its vitamin C content.

There is abundant potassium in spinach and potassium is great for improving the health of your heart. In one cup of spinach there are only 7 calories and one gram of dietery fiber. You really won't find a vegetable with more health benefits for you than spinach.

And a delicious spinach salad is the best way to eat your spinach so you get all the health benefits of the spinach. I like to mix fresh spinach, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, cherry tomatoes cut in half, crumbled bacon and Italian dressing into a delicious salad that is just packed with nutrients. I grow all kinds of heirloom cherry tomatoes and they are oh so delicious in my spinach salads.

You can easily grow spinach even in a hot frame in winter and have fresh baby spinach growing all winter long. I use spinach as a vegetable quite a bit and even though some of the vitamins and nutrients are lost when you cook it I just love the flavor of the spinach.

I have a hot frame where I always grow a huge crop of spinach each winter. I like to pick my spinach when it is very young. Its oh so delicious in salads that way.

How about you? What is your favorite way to serve spinach. And before we forget don't forget that spinach is packed with iron and iron is good for you. Spinach could just possibly be one of the best vegetables you could ever eat. Its for sure that its one of the best vegetables for your health that you can eat.

Mom told you to eat your spinach because it was good for you and she was 100 percent right. Spinach is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat. Plus spinach offers twice as much fiber as other greens.

You can easily grow spinach in either the spring or fall in much of the United States. Spinach doesn't do well in warmer weather and will bolt to seed in hot weather. So you need to grow your spinach either in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked or in mid to late fall. In most of the American south you can mulch your spinach heavily with straw mulch and pick and use it much of the winter.

To Plant Spinach

Spinach needs to be grown in well prepared and well drained soil. You need to prepare your soil by adding either well rotted manure or compost to your soil and you need to work the manure or compost into the soil well with a garden tiller. This will make sure that the added compost or manure gets well worked into the soil. You want to make sure that your compost or manure is very well rotted and aged. You can't use green compost or manure or you'll burn up your plants.

When you have the soil prepared you will want to plant 12 - 15 seeds per foot of row and cover your seeds with about a half of inch of soil. When the plants come up you want to thin the spinach plants to one about every two inches. Little cultivation will be necessary as the spinach grows quickly and will be ready for harvest very soon. The spinach is of course best when it is rather small. I like to pick it when it is 5 - 7 inches tall.

If you do think you need to add fertilizer to your spinach side dress it with a nitrogen rich fertilizer for the best results.

Spinach will quickly bolt to seed when the weather warms up. There is really nothing you can do about this. You want to ask at your feed and seed store for a variety of spinach that is less likely to bolt. That's about all you can do.

You should plan to grow your spinach in the spring and early summer and in the mid to late fall. This is when you need to grow your spinach for the best results possible.

Did you know that spinach is thought to have originated in ancient Persia. And that it was carried by Arab traders into India and later China where it became known as the Persia Plant. The ancient Saracens first introduced spinach to Italy where it became a very popular plant.

Spinach didn't arrive in Spain until the later part of the 12th century. It is believed that spinach first arrived in England and France in the 14th century and it was probably brought from Spain to England and France. The spinach plant became very popular quickly in England and France because it came up in the very early spring before anything else came up.

Catherine de' Medici who was the Queen of France in 1533 loved spinach so much that she gave a royal order that spinach was to be served at every meal. And to this very day spinach dishes are referred to as Florentine reflecting Catherine's birth in Florence.

Most of the spinach currently eaten in the United States is produced right here in the United States and currently spinach is increasing in popularity. Today you'll find spinach has gone mainstream and you'll find it served on everything from pizza to oysters. Spinach salad is increasingly becoming more popular with health conscious people. More people today are eating raw spinach salads than ever before. And raw spinach is truly one of the best things you could ever eat.

Below in the videos are some delicious recipes that you can make with spinach.

Spinach Ricotta Pie Is So Delicious

Have you ever had a spinach pie made with fresh spinach, ricotta cheese, mushrooms, and bacon. Well if you haven't than you have not yet truly lived because spinach pie made that way is one of the most delicious things that you will ever eat.

I also love to make giant stuffed shells with fresh spinach, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and mushrooms. You won't ever taste anything much better than that.

The U.S. Spinach crop is currently estimated to be valued at 200 million dollars a year and growing. In the United States spinach is most popular in the north east and out west. You remember Pop Eye the sailor man eating spinach all the time don't you. Well it appears that Pop Eye was right about the advantages of eating spinach.

Spinach can improve your eyesight, strengthen muscles, improve your blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart attack, and it is now believed that spinach has great anti cancer properties. So maybe just maybe spinach should be a regular part of your diet. With all the health benefits of spinach I would suggest consuming spinach on a regular basis.

I hope you enjoyed this Hub Page on one of my favorite foods which is Spinach. If you have questions, tips or suggestions please feel free to post a comment below. I hope if you find this Hub Page helpful that you'll tell a friend about this Hub Page.