Spinach Salad

Spinach is a green vegetable called ‘paalak’ in Hindi. It belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, which grows up to about 1 foot in Central and Southwestern Asia.

The leaves of this plant are used in numerous variety of dishes. This one has low calories and is packed with nutrients.

Salad made with these tender as well as crispy leaves are also rich in protein, vitamins, iron, and minerals.

Let’s know about the calorie count for the Spinach salad-

Serving size- 1

Amount per serving  Calories- 134

Calories from Fat- 94

Eating a spinach salad can provide many health benefits including controlling diabetes, improving the bone health and lowering the risk of cancer.

This green vegetable is not only cheap but also very easy to prepare.

Those who generally makes a frown just hearing the name ‘spinach’ should first be aware of its benefits.

Let’s have a look on the health benefits of Spinach Salad-

Controls and manages diabetes

• There is an antioxidant present in spinach which is known as alpha-lipoic acid.
• It is beneficial in increasing the insulin sensitivity, lowering the glucose levels and to control the stress-induced and oxidative changes in diabetes patients.
• This lipoic acid is very instrumental for decreasing the automatic neuropathy and peripheral neuropathy in people with diabetes.
• The diabetes patients should surely be aware of these benefits and add this crispy vegetable in their diets.

Good for preventing asthma

• Spinach is an excellent source of nutrients, and it has an essential nutrient called beta-carotene.
• This beta-carotene lowers the risk of development of any asthma problems in the near future.
• In a study, it was found that among children between 6 to 18 years those who didn’t have asthma were good consumers of certain nutrients and beta-carotene is one of them.
• So, the people who are afraid of having or want to stay away from asthma should include spinach salad in their diet today.

It helps to lower the Blood Pressure (BP)

• Spinach salad is also helpful in controlling the risk of high BP.
• It has high potassium content which is preferred substance for the people with High Blood Pressure.
• For reducing the effects of Sodium in the body, Potassium is very useful.
• Therefore, the reason behind high BP can be a high sodium intake due to low potassium intake.

Improves bone health

• It is already established that Spinach is packed with so many nutrients and vitamins, it also has Vitamin K which plays a vital role in enhancing or maintain bone health.
• Low consumption of Vitamin K can lead to higher risks of having a bone fracture in the future if any incident comes up.
• For maintaining a good health adequate intake of Vitamin K becomes essential because it is the modifier of bone matrix proteins, enhances and improves the calcium absorption along with taking care of the reduction of disposable calcium that goes out through urine.

It also promotes eye health

• Every mom once in the lifetime always says this to their children “eat spinach, your eyesight will become sharp!”
• Well, this is because moms also know how beneficial spinach could be for enhancing the eyesight.
• It contains two antioxidants called lutein and zeaxanthin, which are helpful in protecting the eyes from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and risk of cataracts.
• Zeaxanthin is absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes for providing the feature of light filtering functions.
• For maintaining healthy mucus membranes, it also contains Vitamin A which is also essential for healthy eyesight.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Strawberries and Spinach complement one another. When served together, the presentation looks beautiful as the dark green color of Spinach, and the red color of Strawberries enhances each other’s beauty.

The salad prepared with these two is filled with enormous nutrition.

How many calories does a strawberry spinach salad contain-

Calories in a salad made with spinach, strawberries, and pecans

Serving size- 1

Ingredients of Salad	Calories
Olive oil (0.04 cup)	76
Pecans (0.08 cup, halves)	60
Blue cheese (0.33 oz)	33
Strawberries (0.33 cup, sliced)	16
Spinach (0.17 packed)	11
Granulated sugar (0.50 tsp)	8
Balsamic vinegar (0.33 tablespoon)	3
Garlic (0.04 tsp)	0
Dry Mustard (0.02 tsp)	0

 

Not only the serving but also the increased nutritional value is something which makes them so attractive when combined.

There are several benefits of eating a strawberry spinach salad-

Additional Vitamin A and K

• Adding both spinach and strawberries enhances the presence of vitamin A and vitamin K.
• If along with 1 cup of strawberries, 1 cup of spinach is regularly consumed then it will enhance the amount of vitamin A to 93% and vitamin K to 120%.
• Vitamin K is very essential for regulating the mineralization of bones and plays a critical role in blood clotting.
• Vitamin A includes elements like retinoids and carotenoids. Together, strawberry and spinach have three carotenoids which are lutein, beta-carotene, and zeaxanthin.
• Among these three, beta-carotene works as an antioxidant as it converts itself into vitamin A.
• The other two, lutein and zeaxanthin work as an antioxidant which functions to protect the eyes from age-related macular degeneration.

Balanced blood sugar absorption

• Spinach and strawberries contain soluble and insoluble fiber.
• Consuming 2 cups of both, daily is drinking 11% of fiber daily, which is the recommended intake.
• The Soluble fiber in these binds and removes the cholesterol out of the body and thus lowers the cholesterol.
• Insoluble fiber prevents the diverticular disease as it keeps the food moving through the digestive system. It also helps to relieve some gastrointestinal disorders symptoms.

Maintain the skin and regulates the sleep

• When consumed together with 1 cup of spinach and 1 cup of strawberries the vitamin C consumption is 118%, and vitamin B-6 is 12% of the recommended use.
• Vitamin C produces the collagen which helps to maintain skin and connective tissue.
• When it comes to vitamin B-6, it is required to regulate the mood and sleep by creating serotonin.
• It might also help to lower the risk of having cardiovascular disease and to remove the homocysteine from the blood.

Enhances the number of nutrients

• One of the significant benefits of consuming spinach and strawberries together is that they increase the number of nutrients, in fact, nutrients are doubled.
• When consumed alone it gives only 2% or 3% of the required nutrients, whereas when consumed together it increases the amount to 4 to 5 %.

Final word

So what do you like the most, spinach salad or strawberry spinach salad?

There is not much difference between the both of them other than the strawberries of course, but both of them are healthy and should surely be involved in everyone’s diet.