Food Spotlight: Spinach

Spinach has been around for a really long time. The earliest references to Spinach were from​ the Sassanian Empire, which rules fro 226-640 AD. Through sophisticated irrigation techniques Arabs brought Spinach to the Mediterranean.

2 cups of spinach is 3 milligrams of Zinc. ¼ of your daily requirement.

​Here in Colorado Spinach enjoys a pretty long growing season. A variety of Spinach grows well in Colorado including Savoy types such as Bloomsdale and melody and Semi-Savoy such as, tyee.

Spinach is high in iron, zinc, vitamins A & C, as well as folate and magnesium. Of course, like other leafy greens, spinach is a good source of fiber. It also contains antioxidants.

So basically spinach is good for you. So what do you do with it? One of my favorite ways to eat it in a salad.

​
​Basically anything you would use lettuce for, you can substitute spinach. I don’t use any type of lettuce in my tacos any longer, just spinach. (This is simply a taste preference.) ​

1 cup of spinach contains 260 micro-grams of Folate. A pregnant woman needs 600-800mg daily.

One of the best things about spinach is that is cooks down A LOT. Raw spinach cooks down to hardly anything. ​

What is your favorite way to eat Spinach?

Food Spotlight is a series dedicated to my discovery of the foods I eat, and the nutrients that are in them. I do not have specialty in nutrition. Anything that appears on my blog regarding food is from research I have done. If you have more accurate information post it and your source. I love new information!