Spinach has lots of essential vitamins and it’s low in calories, making it a popular food for weight loss. It can be easily added to a multitude of dishes; you can cook with spinach or simply eat it raw. It works for any meal of the day.
There are several benefits to consuming this nutrient rich plant, but does it have any negative effects on your body? Is too much spinach actually bad for your health? And in what ways does it benefit your body? Here is what happens to your body when you eat spinach every day. You might be surprised at what you find out:
1• Eating spinach every day will give you healthy skin. Spinach contains antioxidants, which may help protect your skin, You see, free radicals, a type of molecule, can damage collagen in the skin or even hurt your skin’s DNA, Allure explained. And that’s where antioxidants come in. They fight those free radicals before they can bind to your skin cells and do damage.
2 •You may be able to prevent diabetes by eating spinach every day. The magnesium in spinach helps solidify the veggie as a superfood. Magnesium keeps blood sugar regulated, which is important to reduce your risk of developing diabetes. People with diabetes often have low levels of magnesium in their blood because it gets passed through urination.
However, you can make sure you’re getting enough magnesium by including it in your diet through foods like spinach. 1 cup of spinach contains 6 percent of your daily value of magnesium. That’s pretty significant for such a small amount of food.
3 •Eating spinach every day will help you feel fuller longer and eat less. One cup of spinach contains three percent of your recommended daily value of fiber. Of course, if you eat large spinach salad every day, you can easily up the amount of fiber you’re able to consume in one sitting.
Spinach salads are another good idea for those looking to lose weight as the fiber can help keep your hunger at bay and make you feel fuller for longer, according to the publication. Fiber does this by slowing down the body’s digestion of food. The body isn’t able to digest fiber like it can digest other molecules so the fiber goes through the body intact.
4 •Eating spinach every day can help you reduce your inflammation. The phytochemicals in spinach that is, those remarkable plant chemicals that prevent cancer impedes inflammation.
Spinach also contains the phytochemical lutein, which is especially associated with lowered inflammation and, thus, a lowered risk of heart disease. .
5•If you eat spinach every day, you can lower your cholesterol. Eating spinach every day can actually lower your cholesterol, thanks to its fiber content., a result of the nitrates in spinach, keeps blood vessels dilated, which in turn reduces the risk of cholesterol as cholesterol can build up in arteries and cause them to become narrower. Blood doesn’t flow as well with high cholesterol and that spells future trouble, including high blood pressure and the risk of heart attack.
The lutein found in spinach also plays a role in preventing high cholesterol. In an animal study published in The Journal of Nutrition, lutein was able to prevent cholesterol from sticking and building up in the arteries. But that’s not lutein’s only role in fighting cholesterol. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, equipping it to battle your body’s inflammation. And, according to Health, high cholesterol causes an inflammatory response in the body. This response makes cholesterol build up even quicker a truly vicious cycle. Eating spinach, and therefore consuming lutein, however fights that inflammation and cholesterol cycle.
6 •If you eat spinach every day, you could keep your body from absorbing nutrients. Eating spinach every day is an inarguably healthy habit. Doing so provides your body with plenty of nutrients, of course. However, consuming too much spinach can actually stop your body from absorbing all those good nutrients. The culprit? A little something found in spinach called oxalate.
Not only can oxalate cause kidney stones, it is also considered an anti-nutrient. Efforts are being made in agriculture to grow spinach with lower oxalate levels, but, for now, be aware of how much spinach you’re consuming so you don’t risk inhibiting your nutrient absorption. You can also make sure to eat foods with nitrates, like meat and citrus, which can regulate oxalate.
7•Eating spinach every day will keep your eyes healthy. Eating spinach every day may do your whole body good, but it is especially beneficial to your beautiful eyes. Eating spinach can protect your eyes from sun damage, which, as it happens, can also lower your risk of developing cataracts .
Two antioxidants contained in spinach benefit your eyes: lutein and zeaxanthin. Not only that, but the lutein and zeaxanthin in spinach were found to lower the indication of sun damage on the lens by up to 60 percent.
These antioxidants also protect your eyes from macular degeneration, a condition that can eventually cause blindness. One study found the chances of developing an advanced form of macular degeneration were decreased by some 43 percent when a person’s diet included lots of lutein and zeaxanthin as opposed to a minimal intake.
8• Can eating spinach every day prevent dementia? A key to preventing dementia, a condition that’s caused by damage to brain cells, is consuming antioxidants.
Additionally, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease have both been linked to inflammation, but thankfully spinach is well equipped to battle inflammation. It also happens to be a very easy solution.
9• You can help prevent a stroke by eating spinach every day. Eating spinach every day means you’ll be taking in a good amount of potassium, which lowers blood pressure, keeps blood vessels relaxed, and helps prevent sodium in salty foods from causing high blood pressure. Regulating blood pressure is also how potassium prevents stroke.
Eating too much sodium overwhelms the kidneys so they can’t filter it all out. This causes sodium to build up in the body and when this happens, the body tries to hold onto whatever water it has to balance out the high level of sodium. However, more water means more blood in the body, forcing the heart to work harder. That strain on the heart can make blood vessels stiff, which can lead to high blood pressure and stroke.
10•Eating spinach every day will help you feel happier. Spinach is good for your physical health, but is it beneficial for your mental health as well? As it turns out, eating spinach every day can indeed help make you happier. In fact, the leafy green is considered an antidepressant food. Nutrition is closely linked to the health of the brain. Specifically, magnesium, which can be found in spinach, helps stave off depression.
