Eat your vegetables: Spinach

So what is up with people not liking spinach?

Remember in grade school, the first day of the new school year teachers would hand out “getting to know you” papers.  You had to go around the room and find out who had your same birthday and who liked spinach.  There was always one kid that would claim to like spinach.  I was never that kid.  Why?  I didn’t even know what spinach was and I was too embarassed to admit to it.  I would furrow my brow and cry out “eeeeewwww!”  when the topic of spinach came up, just like everybody else.

Turns out when most people think of spinach they picture it boiled and over cooked which incidentaly is really gross. (if you happen to like that well good for you:)

Phillip does not like spinach.  I made a spinach salad to go with our dinner the other night, I washed some spinach leaves, chopped them up, and added them to some carrots, tomatoes, and cucumber.  I thought the salad was good.  Then I looked over at Phil who had yet to take a bite; he was readying himself to do so.  He had a bite of salad on his fork, and there he sat puffing a few breaths to ready himself for the in coming spinach.  He ate it, he ate all of it, although I am not entirely sure that he liked it.  But what I do know is that he didn’t HATE  it because he ate it; if Phil hates something he doesn’t eat it.

So what is in that old spinach anyway?

First of all spinach is full of antioxidants.  Antioxidants help to rid the body of free radicals which happen to break down our bodies, so in essence spinach with its awesome antioxidants help to keep the body put together and strong :D

Iron, calcium, vitamins A C E K and B2 and B6 are all found in spinach :D

Now one downside to spinach is that it can increase the occurance of kidney stones, but usually only in some people.  I am one of the fortunate people who does not have a problem with kidney stones so I can eat all the spinach I want.  I also know several people who have a tendency to get kidney stones frequently and those people should try to avoid overeating the spinach ;)

To get the most nutrients out of spinach its best to either eat them fresh and uncooked or steamed for no more than a few minutes.

My favorite ways to eat spinach are:

in a salad

on a sandwich

or I like to wrap a leaf around another vegetable like a carrot and then munch it :D

Happy eating!

@–>–Rose