For a very long while, you’d often get the advice to eat spinach if you have low levels of iron in the blood. But, that was all due to a typo and the decimal point for the iron content was in the wrong spot. Nevertheless, spinach is a superfood for your skin (and body) although not for its purported iron content.
Spinach is considered to be one of the world’s healthiest foods, along with kale, blueberries, broccoli, or salmon. Up to now, more than a dozen types of flavonoids were identified in spinach, along with a slew of other vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients.
Do you want to have gorgeous and radiant skin? Duh! We all do, right? But seriously, if you want to roll back the years, think of spinach. For years, it was considered a superfood. And as with many of these superfoods, it’s jumping off your plate and on to your skin.
A little bit of background
Spinach is a vegetable plant, belonging to the Amaranthaceae family. Quite a famous plant family: beets and quinoa also belong to this family. Representatives of Amaranthaceae are known to be nutrient-rich, reduce inflammation, and slow the going process by protecting cells against damage.
Spinach tastes slightly bitter and is very versatile: You can eat it raw as a salad, or cook it in different ways. It even makes for the world’s easiest side dish: Just poke some holes into the bag with a for, microwave, et voila.
When you look at its nutrient profile, you see that it’s rich in many important nutrients. It’s one of the best sources of potassium and magnesium which are needed for maintaining your health. It also contains
- Vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids)
- Vitamin B2, B6, and B9 (also known as folate)
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Calcium
- Copper
- Chlorophyll
- Lutein
- Zeaxanthin
So, no wonder it’s associated with a slew of health benefits. In general, eating spinach is vital for your bodily functions. Since it contains minerals such as potassium and magnesium, it helps your body regulate body fluids, cell functions, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Spinach is also a rich source of antioxidants, which help prevent damage in your body caused by free radicals. Also, leafy greens which include spinach, broccoli, and kale can protect against various types of cancers.
It’s good for your eyes
The dark green colour of spinach shows you that it contains a lot of pigments such as chlorophyll and health-promoting carotenoids including beta carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin. These are powerful antioxidants that are anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous. Zeaxanthin and lutein are linked to improving eye health. They are shown to help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts.
Strengthens healthy bones
The minerals magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus as well as vitamin K are important for maintaining healthy bones. Low levels of vitamin K are linked to a higher risk of bone fracture.
Healthy hair
Want healthy and resilient hair? Eat spinach! Its high content in carotenoids which your body turns into vitamin A, is key for sebum production to keep your hair moisturised. Vitamin A is involved in the growth of all bodily tissue, this means also hair.
For a healthy glow
Looking at its nutrient profile, it’s clear it plays an important role in skincare. With its high antioxidant content, it fights against a host of skin issues.
- Reduces inflammation (including breakouts) – it helps reduce inflammation in the skin and address redness
- Anti-ageing – the antioxidant help to scavenge free radicals that can cause fine lines and wrinkles
- Repairs skin – as a source of vitamin A and C, spinach plays an important role in cell growth and repair and growth
- Regulate sebum production – the vitamin B9 balances out your skin by controlling the sebum production so that it can help reduce spots
DYI spinach packs
Of course, you can find spinach in all kinds of skin care products such as mask sheets or toners. But sometimes, your kitchen pantry is the best source for things to help you tackle your skin woes.
Spinach pack for glowing skin with only 2 ingredients
For this pack you need
- 3-4 fresh spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoons yogurt
First, wash the spinach leaves and chop them up roughly. Toss them into a blender with the yogurt and mix until you have a smooth and creamy paste. Apply the pack on your cleansed face and neck. If you like, you can massage for a few minutes then let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse off with lukewarm water and follow up with your skin care. You can use this mask once or twice a week.
As you know, vitamins A, B, C, E, and K give your skin radiance and heal scars and sun damage. Yogurt contains lactic acid which acts as an exfoliant. It’s also moisturising, evens out skin tone, is antioxidant and helps balance your skin PH.
Anti-ageing spinach pack
Take
- 3-4 fresh spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoon avocado pulp
- 1 teaspoon of your favourite oil (for example rice bran oil)
Wash the spinach leaves and chop them up so it’s easy to blend. Place everything in a blender and mix until you get a smooth paste. Apply on your face and neck and let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse off with lukewarm water and follow up with your skin care. Use this mask once or twice a week.
Not only does avocado contain vitamins A and E, but it also has fatty acids, making it a great anti-ageing ingredient. Rice bran oil contains Q10 and with its balanced proportion of fatty acids protects and moisturises your skin.
Calming and clarifying spinach pack
What you need
- 3-4 fresh spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon almond oil (substitute it with olive oil if you don’t have almond oil at hand)
- 1 tablespoon tomato pulp
Again, first, wash the spinach ad chop it up so it’s easy to blend. Add it with the other ingredients in a blender and mix until you get a smooth, creamy consistency. Apply the mask to your face and neck. After 15 minutes, wash it off with warm water. You can use it once or twice a week.
Honey calms down inflamed skin and is also antimicrobial. Tomato is slightly astringent so that it reduces excess sebum on your skin’s surface. It’s also a source of salicylic acid which is often used in acne treatment.
Conclusion
Including spinach in your diet is one way to reap its benefits. But sometimes, your digestive system is unable to absorb all the nutrients. That makes it so important to also apply it on your skin in form of a spinach-infused skin care product or with a DYI pack.
Do you know more DYI face masks with spinach or have a question? Leave it in the comments below. If you enjoyed this post and want to get more DYI recipes, join our newsletter.
