Spinach is a green, leafy vegetable with a high nutritional value. It belongs to the amaranth family and is related to beetroots and quinoa. Whether we like it or not, this leafy green is surely one veggie that we must include in our daily diet.
Megan Ware, a registered dietitian nutritionist based in Orlando, Florida, says:
“Eating spinach is beneficial for maintaining healthy skin, hair and strong bones, as well as helping with digestion, lowering the risk for heart disease and improving blood glucose control in diabetics.”
How Spinach Maintains Blood Pressure
Spinach is a green leafy delight that is low in calories, high in fiber and loaded with a significant amount of heart-healthy nutrients like potassium, folate, and magnesium. These key nutrients help in lowering and maintaining blood pressure levels.
This popularly known leafy veggie is rich in potassium and contains low sodium content in its raw form prior to preparation. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure while folate contributes to the reduction of hypertension, relaxes blood vessels, and maintains proper blood flow. Because of these effects, we can lower down levels of stress on the cardiovascular system and increase oxygenation to our body’s organ systems for optimal functionality.
Ware added that:
“Spinach is one of the best sources of dietary potassium and magnesium, two very important electrolytes necessary for maintaining human health. Spinach provides a whopping 839 milligrams of potassium per cup (cooked). As a comparison, one cup of sliced banana has about 539mg of potassium.”
Delicious Ways To Incorporate Spinach Into Our Diet
Need an easy way to eat more of this great green? Check out the ways wherein we can add spinach into our diet.
- Try mixing fresh spinach leaves into salads or adding them to sandwiches.
- Toss some fresh spinach into a smoothie. Smoothies are also a great way to sneak in small amounts of other healthy vegetables like carrots or kale.
- Include spinach in omelets. Spinach and eggs are ideal companions.
- Snack on spinach chips instead of potato chips. Toss fresh baby spinach with a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, and sea salt, then bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes at 325 degrees.
- Sneak spinach into sandwiches or wraps.
- Add spinach to slow-cooked foods.
