Nutrient-rich spinach offers almost half of your daily vitamin A requirement with each cup, as well as 14 percent of the daily vitamin C suggested for optimum health. Spinach also provides iron, calcium, folate, vitamin K and fiber. With spinach salads, you get the benefits of the green vegetable without cooking away the vitamins and minerals. Be careful, however, to avoid the fat and calories that come with some traditional spinach salad recipes.
Definition
Spinach salads offer a twist on classic "green" salads of iceberg or leafy green lettuces. Fresh spinach salads classically combine the green with seasonal fruit and light dressings. A second traditional salad featuring the vegetable --- the wilted spinach salad --- often consists of a warm bacon dressing poured over spinach and other vegetables or eggs.
Fresh Spinach Salad
MayoClinic.com offers a recipe for a classic berry-spinach salad that boasts color and flavor while keeping nutrition as a priority. The recipe calls for a blend of two parts spinach to one part strawberries and blueberries. Add an onion and toasted pecan. The dressing combines white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard and seasonings. A serving contains 158 calories and .5 g saturated fat with no added cholesterol. The salad additionally provides 4 g fiber and 4 g protein.
Wilted Spinach Salad
A wilted, or "warm," spinach salad usually begins with a hot bacon dressing poured over fresh spinach. This "wilts" the spinach so that it loses some of its crunch, yet doesn't shrink or lose its crisp texture completely. The warm dressing often contains onions as well bacon, along with an oil and vinegar blend. The bacon and oil content makes the warm versions of spinach salad higher in fat, sodium, calories and dietary cholesterol than a fresh spinach salad made with a light dressing. A typical recipe contains about 337 calories. It carries about 15 percent of the saturated fat you should have in one day, along with 10 percent of the cholesterol and 21 percent of the sodium recommended for daily intake. On the plus side, the salad provides 42 percent of your daily protein needs and 20 percent of the daily recommended amount of dietary fiber, as well as the vitamins and minerals of the spinach and vegetables.
Alternatives
MayoClinic.com's pineapple-chicken spinach salad offers the best of both worlds, keeping nutrition at the forefront whole. It provides a warm protein that slightly wilts the salad without adding saturated fat. The spinach salad combines cubed chicken breast with spinach, pineapple, broccoli and onions. The dressing is a light vinaigrette. A serving contains 181 calories, 17 g protein, 2 g fiber and 1 g saturated fat. It does, however, have more dietary cholesterol than either of the traditional salads, Check with your doctor if dietary cholesterol is more of a health risk to you than saturated fat.
Considerations
For those watching fat, calories, sodium and cholesterol, a fresh spinach salad or a more health-conscious warm spinach salad makes a better choice than the traditional bacon-spinach salad. Whichever type of salad you compose, washing the leaves thoroughly is a key step. Not only do spinach leaves trap a significant amount of sand and dirt, but they may be susceptible to bacteria such as E.coli. Soaking the leaves a basin of cold water, draining and repeating the process may address these problems. Always wash even "prewashed" bagged lettuce, advises the Center for Nutrition, Diet and Health.
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