Low-calorie and nutrient-dense, delicate-textured raw baby spinach offers you significant health benefits. Calcium and vitamin K in spinach help maintain bones. Vitamins A and C, folate, potassium and magnesium protect against heart disease and high blood pressure. Carotenoids and flavonoids lower the risk of cancers and help prevent cataracts and macular degeneration. Iron builds blood.
Spinach can be a best diet friend -- or not. You start with 1 1/2 cups of fresh spinach with 40 calories, 0 g fat and 160 mg sodium. You can end with 1,010 calories with 69 g fat --12 saturated -- and 2,650 mg sodium on Applebee's Grilled Shrimp 'N Spinach Salad.
Spinach Quality
Preferably buy organic because spinach is on the "dirty dozen" list of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residue. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group, using almost 100,000 reports about pesticides and produce from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, advises that these 12 items have 47 to 67 pesticides per serving. Organic versions, however, reduce your exposure up to 80 percent.
Spinach Quantity
How much spinach should you consume in one sitting? A 5-oz. plastic box lists its contents as one serving; a 6-oz. bag lists it as two servings. Even if you trim the stems as you layer a bowl with the leaves, that much green can encourage you to add too much dressing, often with correspondingly too much fat and sodium.
To eat more of the healthy green, chop the leaves with 1 tbsp. of dressing in your food processor, so they'll be easy to eat and evenly oiled. For variety, add mesclun, kale or arugula. Another solution is to steam the spinach until just wilted with the leaves beginning to curl. Further cooking will destroy nutrients.
Protein
For a salad that is an entree, rather than a side dish, add one or more proteins. Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, so it will fill you faster and keep you filled longer. Choose lean sources such as low-fat varieties of feta, mozzarella or goat cheese, hard-boiled eggs, white beans, canned shrimp or tuna, or grilled chicken breast or lean beef. If you use higher-calorie items, crumble or sliver them so you get more satisfaction from smaller, fewer pieces. Consider bacon, seeds such as sesame or poppy or nuts such as almonds, pecans or walnuts. Instead of high-carbohydrate, low-fiber croutons, substitute small cubes of Asian, Thai or Italian preflavored tofu.
Fillers
As you can choose from a variety of protein sources, you can also build your salad from diverse healthy carbohydrates. Add vegetables according to taste preferences and nutritional needs, for example, beets for blood-cleansing and brain health. Look up the benefits of mushrooms, green onions, red onions, olives, bell peppers, radishes and artichoke hearts. Or top with fruits, such as mandarin oranges, apples, pears, cantaloupe, berries, dried cranberries or raisins. Try sprinkling your salad with ground flaxseed or raisin bran cereal.
Dressing
The devil may be in the dressing. A classic spinach salad has warm bacon dressing. Many spinach salad recipes call for too much vegetable dressing, for example 3 tbsp. of canola oil -- at 120 calories per tbsp. -- for two servings. Opt for prepared dressings or recipes with less oil, preferably olive or canola, and more vinegar -- such as balsamic, raspberry, red or white wine, and cider -- or prepared Dijon-style mustard. Or dilute your rich homemade or bottled dressing with water. You do need fat in the dressing or protein to absorb the nutrients in the greens and fillers. Beware of the quantity of sugar often used to take the tartness from vinegar.
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