Spinach is high in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Therefore, they have many very dark effects on human health. Vegetables are processed into many different delicious and nutritious dishes. To learn more about this vegetable, please refer to the information in the article below.
What is spinach?
What is spinach?
Spinach is a vegetable that originated in Persia. However, today this vegetable has been widely grown in China and the US and also in the country.
Spinach is also known by many different names such as spinach, spinach or Spinach. This vegetable has a small stem, the leaves are dark green.
A root vegetable will have about 7-8 stalks growing together. The stems and leaves of this vegetable are quite brittle, so they break easily.
In our country, spinach is often grown in areas with cool climates such as in mountainous areas or Da Lat. Vegetables will be planted in two main seasons: Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter.
What types of spinach are there? shape, how?
Spinach comes in many different varieties, each with different leaf shapes and colors and nutritional profiles. So when you know each type, it will make choosing vegetables easier.
Here are 3 types of spinach:
- Savoy: This vegetable will have dark green leaves, smooth and especially curly and wrinkled leaves. This vegetable is appreciated for its nutritional content more than the rest. In addition, Savoy vegetables also have the effect of preventing some diseases for users.
- Flat, smooth leaf spinach: This is also one of the types of spinach. This flat and smooth cabbage leaves are quite wide, large, smooth surface, not wrinkled like Savoy type, so removing dirt, soil and sand clinging to it is quite easy and simple. This vegetable is now widely sold in many places, especially in supermarkets. Smooth, flat leaf spinach is often used in the preparation of dishes for children.
- Semi-savoy: Spinach also has another type that is Semi-savoy. This vegetable also shares some characteristics like Savoy vegetables because the leaves are slightly wrinkled, but cleaning is easier than savoy vegetables.
What are the uses of spinach?
Spinach has a rich and varied nutritional composition. In which water accounts for 91.4%, fiber accounts for 3.6, 2.9% protein. According to many studies, an average of 100g of vegetables will contain up to 23 calories.
In addition, spinach also contains many vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid, iron, calcium, minerals such as magnesium, potassium, etc.
This vegetable also contains a number of plant compounds such as: Lutein, kaempferol, nitrate, quercetin …
Thanks to the above nutritional components, spinach is known as a superfood. When used, it will bring many great benefits to the health of the user such as:
Losing weight
According to many studies, this vegetable contains a lot of fiber, so when eaten, it helps us to feel full for longer. Fiber will help promote metabolism to take place quickly and help the digestive system work efficiently.
When eating this vegetable, it not only works to prevent constipation but also reduces appetite. Therefore, this vegetable is often chosen by many people to support weight loss.
And yet, in this vegetable can also alkalize, and at the same time rebalance the diet in case of high acidity. Because foods that are highly acidic are considered one of the reasons why your body is prone to fat storage. That causes obesity as well as a number of other diseases associated with it.
Help strengthen bones
Spinach has many great health benefits, including helping to make bones stronger. Because this vegetable contains calcium, vitamin K, magnesium, which are very important for the bone and joint system.
Magnesium and calcium micronutrients will help strengthen bones and teeth. And vitamin K will work to accelerate the synthesis of osteocalcin, an essential protein so that our body will become healthier.
Young children, if using spinach regularly, will help promote height. Adding spinach in the daily meal will help the body get a certain amount of calcium to fight osteoporosis.
In addition, in this vegetable also contains a lot of vitamin C to help reduce the risk of bleeding gums. It also prevents diseases related to teeth and bone marrow.
If you want children to be taller, limit osteoporosis in the elderly, properly add spinach in your daily meals. In addition, elderly people who are experiencing bone and joint diseases should also use this vegetable to prevent the disease from getting worse.
Increase eyesight
In addition to its use in supporting weight loss, helping to strengthen bones, spinach also works to increase vision. Because in this vegetable contains high levels of antioxidants zeaxanthin and lutein.
These two substances work to help protect the eyes while helping the eyes to avoid cataracts or degenerative retinal diseases, reducing eye-related diseases in the long run. Vitamin A found in this vegetable also helps support healthy mucous membranes and is essential for vision.
According to many studies, if you use about 500g of spinach juice to drink a few times a week, it will support the treatment of night blindness. In addition, a number of antioxidants present in this vegetable also work to prevent the harmful effects of free radicals. Thereby reducing the risk of macular degeneration as well as limiting dry eyes, itchy eyes, cataracts and many other problems related to the eyes. So, if you are having eye problems or want to have healthy eyes, try applying some ways from spinach.
Helps nerve function work efficiently
Improving the functioning of the brain and nervous system is also one of the uses that this vegetable brings. Thanks to antioxidants and other ingredients like potassium, folate helps the nervous system work more efficiently.
Spinach will help improve the functioning of the nervous system such as increasing the brain’s ability to recognize, perceive and remember. It also helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
For the elderly, when using vegetables regularly will help the brain work well. At the same time, vitamin K also helps to think more clearly and promotes a healthier nervous system by synthesizing spingd, a fat that forms a myelin sheath to wrap around nerves.
Disease prevention (cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer)
Spinach has many different uses, they not only help strengthen bones, help the nervous system work effectively, but also help us prevent some diseases. This vegetable has the effect of preventing a number of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.
- For cardiovascular disease: Spinach is used to prevent atherosclerosis. In particular, in this vegetable also contains high levels of lutein, which will help prevent artery walls from thickening thereby reducing the risk of heart attack. And yet, in this vegetable, there is also a high-quality nitrite, vitamins A and C, so it will help prevent heart attacks and prevent the body from getting cardiovascular disease related to fat deposition in the vessel walls. blood.
- Helps avoid diabetes: This vegetable has a large protein content, so when used, it will work against insulin resistance. At the same time, it also helps to increase the ability to regulate insulin more reasonably. In this vegetable also contains lipoyl lysine compound that helps the body limit the oxidation of fat. And this is one of the main causes of diabetes.
- Cancer prevention: Another use of spinach is to help prevent cancer. Vegetables are rich in minerals and vitamin E that help support your immune system. This system will help keep you safe from other things that could hurt you. And yet, vegetables also contain more than 10 types of flavonoids that have been shown to reduce the division of cells in human stomach and skin cancers. At the same time, they are also effective in helping the body to fight the occurrence of ovarian cancer, prostate cancer …
Beautify skin, prevent hair loss
The effects of spinach have been recognized by both traditional and modern medicine. This vegetable is not only used as food, but they also have the effect of beautifying the skin and fighting hair loss very effectively.
This vegetable has an effective beauty effect thanks to its high content of vitamins A, B, C … In which, vitamin B will work to protect the skin from harmful ultraviolet rays. And vitamin A will help improve, brighten skin tone. At the same time control the activity of the sebaceous glands and prevent the formation of acne to help you have a smooth, beautiful, flawless skin.
Vitamin C plays a role in removing dead skin cells from the skin to form new cells. Vitamin C also has bactericidal, antioxidant and stimulating effects to increase collagen production to help maintain skin firmness and increase elasticity.
The antioxidants and nutrients present in this vegetable will help your skin to be more even and fresh. When using vegetables regularly and properly, it also helps to make the skin whiter and pinker.
Not only has the effect of beautifying the skin, this vegetable also helps prevent hair loss. Many people suffer from hair loss when the body lacks iron. Therefore, in these cases, you should add spinach in your daily meals to quickly replenish the iron deficiency.
Iron in vegetables will act as a catalyst to promote the formation of red blood cells. They also strengthen the hair shaft by allowing blood cells to carry oxygen to the hair follicles, thereby making the hair stronger and shinier.
In addition to the above uses, spinach also helps:
- Control blood pressure and reduce stress for everyone.
- Helps improve blood clotting disorders.
- Against stomach ulcers.
- Helps muscles become stronger.
Some dishes made from vegetables with sticky rice
There are many ways to prepare dishes from spinach. To take advantage of and ensure the availability of nutrients from this vegetable, you can follow the steps below:
Minced pork spinach soup
Minced spinach soup is one of the nutritious dishes that is very good for all ages, especially children. Because the dish is the perfect combination of foods rich in protein and calcium and many other micronutrients.
To make this soup is also quite simple, does not take too much time. Proceed as follows:
- Step 1: Prepare ingredients including root: 1 bunch of spinach, 100g lean meat, green onion, 1 teaspoon cooking oil, sugar, fish sauce, salt, seasoning, pepper.
- Step 2: Wash the spinach and then cut it into bite-sized pieces. The pork you bring is minced, then marinated with ½ teaspoon of fish sauce, pepper, and seasoning.
- Step 3: You prepare the pot for a little cooking oil and wait when the oil is hot, add the garlic to fry until fragrant. Next, you add the pork to the island to hunt the meat, then add the filtered water and cook until it boils again.
- Step 4: You put the vegetables in the pot and boil for about 3-5 minutes, after the water has boiled again, turn off the heat and season with spices to taste.
- Step 5: Ladle the soup into a bowl and sprinkle some green onions and pepper. Thus, you have a delicious and nutritious minced spinach soup.
Stir-fried spinach with beef
When combined with beef, spinach will create a delicious and attractive dish that many people love. Not only that, this dish also works to support the treatment of some diseases such as anemia, migraine …
This dish contains many nutrients, vitamins and minerals. When you use the beneficial nutrients from these two foods at the same time, it will definitely help your body stay healthy and prevent a number of other diseases.
It doesn’t take long, you will quickly have a plate of stir-fried spinach with beef. Try it right away by following the steps below:
- Step 1: Prepare ingredients including 250g cabbage, 100g beef, 3 minced garlic cloves, cooking oil, salted sugar, monosodium glutamate, oyster sauce, pepper…
- Step 2: Bring the cabbage to cut off the root, pick up the yellow leaves and then wash them with water. Cut vegetables into pieces to taste.
- Step 3: The beef is washed, thinly sliced and marinated with spices. To make beef rich when eating, you marinate according to the following recipe: Put the beef in a bowl and add ½ teaspoon of sugar, ½ teaspoon of MSG and ½ teaspoon of seasoning, oyster sauce, chili sauce, garlic and cooking oil. Then leave on for about 15 minutes.
- Step 4: Put a little oil in the pan, turn on the heat, when it is hot, add the garlic and saute until fragrant, then add the spinach. Stir-fry until the cabbage is soft, then season with spices to taste and then put on a plate. When you have finished sautéing the vegetables, add a little oyster sauce to the vegetables to wake up the attractive aroma.
- Step 5: Use the next pan to saute the vegetables for the garlic meat and fry until golden brown. Then put all the beef into the frying pan until cooked until cooked, then turn off the heat. Place on a plate of spinach.
Note: You should not stir-fry beef for so long, it will make the meat tough and no longer delicious. Therefore, you should only stir-fry when the meat has just been hunted.
After giving it all out, you can add a little pepper to enjoy it more delicious. Thus, with the above simple steps, you have a delicious, attractive dish with many great health benefits.
Smoothies or spinach juice
Spinach is present in many juices or smoothies. You can use whole vegetables or combine with some other vegetables for more delicious and easy to enjoy.
When using vegetables in smoothies or juices, it helps to retain all the nutrients and all the lutein in vegetables. This is a delicious drink, for people with obesity, fatty blood or heart problems, eyes …
Here are some spinach smoothies that you can refer to and follow:
Mango, banana, spinach smoothie
This is a delicious smoothie suitable for many people, especially children. To get a delicious and attractive smoothie, follow the steps below:
- Step 1: Prepare spinach, ripe mango ½ cup, ripe banana ½ fruit, water.
- Step 2: Wash the cabbage and cut off the stem, keeping only the leaves. Banana and mango peeled and cut into small pieces.
- Step 3: Put cabbage, mango, banana into the blender. Then add ¼ cup yogurt and ½ cup water. Blend all the above ingredients until smooth, then turn off the machine.
- Step 4: Pour the finished product into a glass and enjoy. The sweetness of mango, banana combined with the cool taste of vegetables will help supplement vitamins and minerals for the body.
Celery, cucumber, spinach smoothie
This is also one of the smoothies that many women love today. How to prepare this smoothie:
- Step 1: Prepare spinach, celery, cucumber, kale, lemon, ice, ginger.
- Step 2: Bring cabbage, celery, cucumber washed. For cabbage and celery, cut off the stem, keeping only the leaves, and cut the cucumber into small pieces.
- Step 3: Put all the vegetables in the blender and then add a slice of ginger, lemon juice and grind the above ingredients until puree.
- Step 4: You add a little bit and then grind again until the mixture is smooth, then turn off the machine, pour into a glass and enjoy.
Spinach and blueberry smoothie
To prepare this smoothie, do the following:
- Step 1: Prepare 1 cup spinach, 2 bananas, ½ cup blueberries, 1 cup white cabbage, 2 tablespoons flaxseeds, 3 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 cup coconut milk…
- Step 2: Wash vegetables and blueberries. Cut the skin and cavity into thin pieces.
- Step 3: Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth, then turn off the machine.
Above is the basic information about spinach, hopefully to help you better understand the benefits that they bring. You can process vegetables into dishes or make smoothies to supplement vitamins and minerals for the body.
