BAD, GOOD, BEST

How to get the most out of your food choices. This week: Spinach

BAD: Creamed. If you devour a home-made luxury creamed spinach dish containing spinach, butter, double cream and Parmesan, you are likely to consume around 350 calories and could easily be downing your entire daily recommended maximum intake (20g) of saturated fat in one go.

GOOD: Salad. A cup-sized serving of raw baby spinach weighs around 50g, delivering less of the good stuff than a heavier serving of the cooked veg. But it’s still good — 50g has over 40mg of magnesium (more than 10 per cent of your recommended daily amount) and 80mcg of folate(40 per cent of your RDA). Both help energy levels.

BEST: Steamed. Lightly boiling or steaming spinach helps to reduce levels of oxalates, plant chemicals in the vegetable that can interfere with the absorption of minerals. Plus, a 120g portion — three tablespoons — has a quarter of your recommended daily intake of bone-friendly calcium and more than a fifth of your iron needs.