Eat Your Spinach!; Maryland Personal Trainer

Every piece of food we eat affects our body's acid-base balance. Aside from being loaded in antioxidants and fiber, green leafy vegetables are very alkaline. On the other hand, meat and grains tend to be acidic. As a society, we eat a lot more acidic food than alkaline food, which can have significant effects on health, body composition, and performance. For more information, this article does a great job explaining the science behind the acidity (or alkalinity) of food. The rest of this post is about how to get more spinach in your diet, as it is one of the most alkaline vegetables around. Here are two quick and easy ways for increasing your spinach consumption:

Spinach Salad:

One of the easiest ways to get more spinach in your diet is to use spinach leaves as salad. For a low-carb, protein packed meal, simply fill up a large bowl with spinach, add one can of tuna fish (or other meat), and top with a dressing suitable for your diet goals. Fat-free works when dieting (be careful not to get one with too many carbohydrates if you are watching those), and light ceasar mixed with olive oil (my favorite) works when strength and size are a top priority.

Blended Shake

If you have never tried this before, try not to be too quick to judge. Spinach virtually no taste when added to a blender. Also, it works with frozen spinach (which is unusable in salad and does not taste as good when cooked). This recipe is perfect if you meet any of the following criteria:

- You hate spinach
- You need to get in a meal on the go
- You do not mind getting strange looks
- You can't afford fresh spinach or it always spoils (frozen is much cheaper!)

Blend the following ingredients in the blender:

- 4 Cups Fresh Spinach (or ~1-1.5 cups frozen)
- 1 Cup Cottage Cheese (replace with protein powder if you are lactose intolerant or are restricting fat)
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 8 ice cubes
- 1 tablespoon of flax seed
- artifical sweetener, to taste

Tastes better than it looks!

This recipe is pretty versatile. I hate the taste of frozen spinach and cottage cheese, but with a little bit of peanut butter and splenda/stevia, anything tastes good. You would be surprised what you can sneak into a blender without it affecting the taste of the shake.

Conclusion

Popeye was right all along. Now you have no excuse for not eating your spinach!