May’s food of the month is: spinach!
Popeye made spinach famous by motivating children to eat it so they can grow up to be strong like him. What Popeye did not address was that to be strong requires positive physical and mental health. The good news is that spinach is incredible for building a strong body and mind.
When you eat spinach, you may be left with a metallic taste in your mouth. That taste comes from spinach having a high level of iron in every serving. Iron is necessary in a complete diet to boost low mood and prevent depressive symptoms such as weakness, exhaustion, low appetite and headaches.
More than iron, however, spinach is loaded with manganese, comprising of 84% of the daily value in one cup of spinach. Manganese is also associated with protecting against developing mood disorders such as depression, reducing pre-menstrual symptoms and (PMS) and improving brain functioning. If you often experience low mood, irritability, chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia, you should incorporate high amounts of manganese into your diet.
Spinach is also a very good source of magnesium, which has numerous positive mental health effects. Diets high in magnesium are recommended for people who experience recurrent irritability and stress. Magnesium also works to improve fatigue, moodiness, depressive symptoms, anxiety and insomnia.
Spinach is also a good source of tryptophan, an amino acid which is converted into serotonin, a necessary neurotransmitter associated with positive mood. A deficiency of tryptophan in our diets results in low mood, depressive symptoms and anxiety.
As if all of these reasons aren’t enough, spinach is also a good source of zinc, another mineral that has found to help improve depressive symptoms. If you regularly experience mood swings, fatigue, confusion or low appetite, be sure to include more zinc in your diet. In addition, zinc helps to improve motivation and improves mental functioning.
Finally, spinach is a good source of selenium, a mineral associated with reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. Diets high in selenium have been show to protect against aging of the brain, resulting in higher brain functioning and cognitive abilities even at older ages.
To be fully healthy, both mind and body need to be taken care of appropriately. Try out some of the spinach recipes this month and do your part to improve your physical and mental health.