10 Amazing Health Benefits Of Spinach – What Made Spinach Popeye’s Secret Of Energy?

A leafy green that is native to south-west and central Asia, the one which is absolutely low in calories and rich in nutrients and most importantly, the one which was introduced to all of us as Popeye’s favourite food is Spinach! Knowing some splendid health benefits of spinach will totally convince you why this superfood is given so much importance!

Wait! Is spinach good for health? Because there are many sources that mention some serious side effects of eating spinach. Well, here is everything that will clear the air!

Is Spinach Good For Health?

Eating a cup of spinach every day would do no harm unless you are suffering from kidney stones or currently taking anticoagulant medication. These medicines are taken for reducing the ability of blood to clot fast!

Spinach contains Vitamin K in excess amounts. Consuming just 1 cup (which is around 30 grams) gives you more than 181% of your daily vitamin K requirement. Vitamin K when present in excess amounts can result in the formation of too many blood clots quickly!

Also, spinach contains purines in moderate amounts which get converted to uric acid resulting in gout, an arthritis condition in which excess uric acid may result in the formation of crystals around the joints causing extreme pain.

People suffering from kidney stones are refrained from eating spinach as the oxalates present in spinach bind with calcium, resulting in the formation of calcium oxalate stones in kidneys.

Otherwise, regular consumption of spinach (one cup each day) which is around 30 grams is incredibly beneficial to your skin, hair and overall health because of the amazing nutritional value of spinach that has been mentioned at the end of the article!

What Is Spinach Good For? –  Know Some Tremendous Health Benefits Of Spinach!

If you are still wondering why the makers of “Popeye the sailor man” have chosen spinach as the secret to Popeye’s energy, you will have a perfect answer by the end of the article.

Here is an amazing transformation that you can obtain by starting to eat spinach on a regular basis!

1. Benefits Of Spinach For Weight Loss

Those who are aiming for a quick weight loss should definitely know that spinach is a healthy weight loss food. This superfood is probably low in calories (only 6 calories per one cup) absolutely free of cholesterol and fats (only 0.1 grams per one cup).

You will absolutely feel satiated after your meals including spinach as the prominent veggie because of its good fibre content.

Also, thylakoids present inside the chloroplast of spinach leaves are responsible for controlling the hunger levels which keeps you contended after a heartfelt meal including spinach.

This also keeps your stomach healthy and clean every day because good fibre sources prevent constipation and help in a smooth and easy bowel movement.

Spinach contains 92% of water content and as you already know, you require healthy veggies with good water content for a quick weight loss.

2. Prevents Cancer

Spinach is rich in two important carotenoids called Zeaxanthin and lutein which are efficient in eliminating the free radicals from your body. Free radicals are those compounds which damage the healthy cells that are present in your body.

Continuous damage of healthy cells can lead to mutations because free radicals can alter the structure of DNA during the process of damage.

So, our body needs certain antioxidants to prevent the free radicals from acting upon the healthy cells.

Beta-carotene along with lutein and zeaxanthin exhibit antioxidant properties, thereby preventing the healthy cells from getting damaged.

In addition to the antioxidants, spinach also contains good amounts of folate (58.2 mcg) for one cup which prevents the damage of DNA.

These anti-cancer properties of spinach can actually slow down the process of cell division which is a great advantage to safeguard you from an unexpected cancer attack.

3. Eat Spinach To Keep Your Blood Pressure In Control

If your blood pressure is too high, it simply means that the force with which the blood is hitting your arteries is high which can eventually result in a heart stroke.

The exact pressure with which the blood is flowing is identified by calculating the pressure of blood flow in arteries when your heart contracts and pumps the blood (systolic pressure) and the pressure of blood flow in arteries when your heart relaxes and fills itself with blood (diastolic pressure).

Ideally, your exact blood pressure should be 120/80 mmHg and if you have found it is higher than this, you are probably in need of some of the best heart-healthy foods including the ones that can lower the blood pressure!

Spinach is the best source to lower your blood pressure since it contains good amounts of potassium, magnesium and folate which are excellent in lowering the blood flow in your arteries.

Potassium can counterbalance the levels of sodium while magnesium helps in relaxing the blood vessels, thereby decreasing the pressure against your artery walls.

4. Benefits Of Spinach For Diabetics

Carbohydrates do matter a lot for people suffering from diabetes because the carbohydrates that we take are eventually converted into glucose. So, less is the carbohydrate intake, lesser will be the blood glucose levels.

1 cup of Spinach does not give you more than 1.1 grams of carbohydrates!

Spinach is also less in Glycemic index which is a major advantage to those suffering from high blood glucose levels. This is because, foods with a low glycemic index help in reducing the rate of carbohydrate absorption which prevents an abnormal spike of sugar levels in the blood.

Also, spinach contains fibre which is also a type of carbohydrate that does not get digested by your body to get converted into the sugar molecules.

Intake of magnesium is essential for diabetics because they are prone to loss of this mineral through urine. Consuming one cup of spinach helps you meet 6% of your daily magnesium requirement.

5. Spinach For A Healthy Digestion

Bowel irregularity is the most common digestive disorder that causes irritability and a great inconvenience. Consuming foods with great water content as well as fibre can help you prevent constipation.

Apart from this, spinach contains both soluble and insoluble fibres. While soluble fibres mix with water to form a gel-like substance that can reduce the blood glucose and cholesterol levels, insoluble fibers, on the other hand, add more bulk to your stools, helping in an easy bowel movement.

However, you may have to be careful about the quantity that is being consumed because excessive consumption of spinach causes side effects such as the formation of gas, bloating and constipation.

To make the best out of health benefits of spinach for digestion try to include spinach, only in moderation into your diet.

6. Spinach Can Boost Your Brain Power

Your cognitive abilities have a strong impact on how you respond and react to various situations in your life because these involve paying attention, logical thinking, staying alert, learning, memorizing, reasoning!

It is very common to experience a decline in cognitive abilities with the onset of age. However, you can choose not to get affected by this and prevent yourself from landing in some serious mental disorders like Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s.

The secret to safeguard your mental health lies in the types of foods that you choose. Spinach is one such leafy green with good amounts of vitamin K and folate that are known to decrease the chances of cognitive decline.

Also, lutein protects the compound called DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) which is a type of omega-3 fatty acid that is essential for boosting memory power.

7. Essential For A Good Eye Health

Spinach contains vitamin A in abundant amounts. Just one cup of spinach (which is around 30 grams) contains 2813 International units of vitamin A and it helps you meet 56% of your daily vitamin A requirement.

Apart from this, spinach also contains special antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin which help in preventing the light from entering into the deeper layers of your eye. This may otherwise result in an eye disease called macular degeneration which causes a complete loss of vision.

Sadly, Macular degeneration is the leading cause of loss of vision among the U.S population. Also, spinach helps in keeping your mucous membranes perfect and healthy.

8. Keeps Your Heart Healthy And Safe

Spinach contains a special plant pigment called beta-carotene that helps in preventing the accumulation of bad cholesterol in your body.

Spinach also helps in reducing the levels of a dangerous compound called homocysteine which is easily accumulated due to frequent consumption of meat. Homocysteine increases the risk of heart diseases like strokes.

People who have high levels of homocysteine are known to have lesser amounts of folate and vitamin B12.

Spinach contains 58.2 mcg of folate in it which helps in reducing homocysteine. However, if you are a frequent consumer of meat, you may have to look for other sources of vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 in order to reduce the homocysteine levels successfully.

Moreover, spinach can lower the levels of blood pressure so that there is a reduced risk of heart strokes.

9. Helps You Maintain Strong And Healthy Bones

Spinach is one of the richest sources of Vitamin K. The deficiency of vitamin K causes a low bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures. Vitamin K is very much essential for the maintenance of strong and healthy bones.

Our bone tissue contains the most important gamma carboxyglutamate protein called osteocalcin which plays a crucial role in building strong and healthy bones. A deficiency of vitamin K results in the formation of undercarboxylated osteocalcin whose concentration results in the reduction of bone density.

Just a cup of spinach can give you 145 micrograms of vitamin K which helps you meet more than 100% of your daily vitamin K requirement.

One common misconception of spinach regarding its calcium content is that the presence of calcium (29.7 mg) per one cup helps in improving bone strength. Truth is, calcium does not get absorbed by your body because of the oxalate present in spinach that binds with oxalates resulting in the formation of calcium oxalate crystals.

10. Spinach Benefits For Skin

Acquiring soft and supple blemish-free skin is a dream for most of us. No matter how much we try to safeguard our skin, certain factors like pollution, hormonal changes, allergies may trigger unwanted bumps on our skin which diminishes our skin’s lustre and glow!

Consuming skin healthy fruits and veggies along with skin healthy face masks accompanied by proper maintenance of hygiene can resolve all kinds of skin problems.

Spinach contains Vitamin A, Vitamin E and more importantly Vitamin C which contains antioxidant properties that can prevent the damage of free radicals so as to provide a healthy and glowing skin texture!

Uses Of Spinach For Healthy Glowing Skin!

You can either prepare a healthy and savoury spinach juice or simply prepare a skin-friendly spinach face mask to extract the maximum uses of spinach for an everlasting and youthful skin.

How To Prepare A Spinach, Almond And Honey Face Mask?

Ingredients Required

• Spinach paste – One tablespoon
• Honey – One tablespoon
• Almond oil – One teaspoon

How To Prepare?

You need to first prepare a spinach paste by blending the freshly washed spinach leaves with required amounts of water.

Add honey and almond oil to this paste and mix these ingredients well. Apply a fine layer of this paste all over your face and let it remain for about half an hour to forty-five minutes.

Rinse it off and pat dry.

If you are looking for a perfect result, you may have to follow the remedy at least twice a week.

How To Prepare Healthy Spinach Juice?

To prepare a healthy and tasty spinach juice, you will need 3/4^th cup of water, 2 cups of spinach (rinsed and chopped), one fresh apple, a single stalk of celery and ½ teaspoon of lime juice.

Read More: Best Benefits of Celery – Everyone Should Know

Add water into the mixer blender along with all the other ingredients and blend this well until you obtain a smooth puree.

Make sure to discard the chunks so that you are left with the puree.

Use a sieve or a mesh to extract fresh spinach juice and discard the puree. You can drink this spinach juice at least thrice in a week to witness an amazing glow in your skin texture.

Nutritional Value Of Spinach

You might have by now understood the power of this wonderful leafy green after going through a list of these 10 amazing health benefits but you might want to know the exact amount of nutrients present in spinach.

So, here is a clear picture of all the nutrients present in spinach.

One cup of raw spinach which is around 30 grams contains the following nutrients.

Vitamins	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Vitamin A	2813 IU	56%
Vitamin C	8.4 mg	14%
Vitamin E	0.6 mg	3%
Vitamin K	145 mcg	181%
Riboflavin	0.1 mg	3%
Niacin	0.2 mg	1%
Vitamin B6	0.1 mg	3%
Folate	58.2 mcg	15%
Choline	5.4 mg
Betaine	165 mg
Minerals	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Calcium	29.7 mg	3%
Iron	0.8 mg	5%
Magnesium	23.7 mg	6%
Phosphorus	14.7 mg	1%
Sodium	23.7 mg	1%
Zinc	0.2 mg	1%
Manganese	0.3 mg	135%
Selenium	0.3 mcg	0
Other elements	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Carbohydrates	1.1 grams	0
Proteins	0.9 grams	2%
Fats	0.1 grams	0

Spinach is enriched with plenty of vitamin A and Vitamin K apart from decent amounts of vitamin C, Vitamin E, folate, choline and betaine.

It contains sodium, zinc, copper and phosphorous in trace amounts along with good amounts of calcium, Iron, manganese, potassium and magnesium.

Spinach nutrition facts also encompass some powerful antioxidants like flavonoids, carotenoids (Beta-carotene), lutein, and zeaxanthin that play an important role in imparting all the above mentioned health benefits of spinach.

The water content in spinach is 92% which makes it highly beneficial for weight loss and constipation.

Bottom Line

Spinach has a perfect answer for almost every health problem. Want to lose weight? Eat spinach, want healthy glowing skin? Eat spinach. Suffering from high glucose levels? Drink spinach juice!

Frequent consumption of spinach (at least a bowl a day) can protect your heart, reduce your blood pressure, help in easy digestion, give you strong and healthy bones, promote good eye health, keep your brain active and also prevent cancer!

You wouldn’t want to avoid eating spinach unless you are suffering from kidney stones or gout! Excessive consumption may also cause gas and bloating which is why one bowl of spinach (30 grams) is an ideal quantity to be consumed.

Otherwise, you can be all set to experience these tremendous health benefits of spinach to take your health and wellness to the next level.

Do not forget that the credit goes to amazing spinach nutrition facts!