This leafy green needs no in­tro­duc­tion- it's com­mon­ly used as a base for dif­fer­ent types of sal­ads. It can be eat­en raw or sautéed down to a re­duced form and can then be used as a side dish, in soups, stews and event casseroles. Apart from it's very di­verse us­es spinach is a green, leafy veg­etable and is a rich source of vi­t­a­mins, phy­tonu­tri­ents and min­er­als, mak­ing it very im­por­tant for many dif­fer­ent types of process­es with­in the body. Spinach plays a vi­tal role in keep­ing the body healthy, here are a few ben­e­fits to show you how:

Low in fat

Spinach, be­ing a leafy, green veg­etable has a very low fat and cho­les­terol con­tent. Spinach con­tains an­tiox­i­dants that can help fight against free rad­i­cals with­in the body, which can lead to dis­eases such as can­cer and even in­duce ear­ly age­ing.

Build­ing mus­cle

Yes, spinach can help grow the guns, just look at Pop­eye for ex­am­ple! While that may be true, spinach has ben­e­fits for a dif­fer­ent type of mus­cle, your heart. Hav­ing a strong heart can help pre­vent against car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­eases like hy­per­ten­sion and heart dis­ease.

Good source of fiber

Fiber is a car­bo­hy­drate that the body can't di­gest- it pass­es through the body undi­gest­ed. Fiber helps to reg­u­late the body's use of sug­ars help­ing to keep hunger and blood sug­ar in check. This is why spinach out­weighs let­tuce as a hearty base for a sal­ad! An­oth­er plus? Fiber helps to keep your di­ges­tive sys­tem work­ing smooth­ly and pro­motes reg­u­lar­i­ty.

Sup­ports eye health

Spinach is full of be­ta-carotene and vi­t­a­min A which are both great for pro­mot­ing eye health. Itch­ing eyes, eye ul­cers, and dry eyes are all com­bat­ted due to the an­ti-in­flam­ma­to­ry prop­er­ties that help to re­duce puffi­ness and in­flam­ma­tion.

spinach salad

Spinach Sal­ad

In­gre­di­ents

1 Or­ange sweet pota­to

1 Cup of spinach

1/4Cup of chick­peas

1/4Cup of olive oil

Salt

Black pep­per

Di­rec­tions

1 Pre­heat the oven to 450 de­grees. On a chop­ping board, chop the sweet pota­to in­to small­er chunks and place on a bak­ing tray. With the sweet pota­to, place the chick­peas and sprin­kle both with olive oil and sea­son with salt and pep­per.

2 Place the bak­ing tray in­to the oven for ap­prox­i­mate­ly 35 to 45 min­utes. Be sure to turn the sweet pota­toes and chick­peas through­out the bak­ing time to pre­vent burn­ing.

3 This is where you can get cre­ative with your in­gre­di­ents. In a large bowl, place the spinach and then you can ba­si­cal­ly add any oth­er type of veg­etable that you de­sire! Once your done adding all of the in­gre­di­ents, driz­zle the sal­ad with olive oil or vinai­grette of your choos­ing.

4 When the chick­peas and sweet pota­toes are soft, re­move from the oven and add to the top of the sal­ad. If you want to mix it up, cov­er the bowl with a plate and toss it, then serve and en­joy!