Eat Out Eat Well

spinach

Got Spinach Stuck To Your Teeth?

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Ever eat cooked spinach and feel like your teeth have been coated by chalk?

According to the May & June 2011 edition of Cook’s Illustrated, oxalic acid in spinach is released when the spinach’s cell walls are ruptured – first by cooking and then by chewing.

Tiny calcium oxalate crystals are formed when the released oxalic acid combines with the calcium in your saliva and calcium in the spinach.  Those tiny crystals cling to your teeth, coat them, and leave behind a dry, dusty feeling.

This kinda yucky tooth coating is intensified when the spinach is combined with milk and cheese products since they have a lot more available calcium than your saliva. The dairy calcium will combine with the spinach’s oxalic acid, too, making more of the offending crystals.

If this sensation really bugs you, try eating your spinach raw so there is less oxalate from cooked ruptured spinach cells available to form the oxalate crystals that cling to your teeth.

Some Vegetables (some green) Have Protein, Too!

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Are you thinking about eating more vegetables and less meat but worry about getting enough protein?

Of course you can always get protein from excellent non-meat sources like eggs, fish, nuts and seeds, certain grains, and low or non fat dairy products.  But what about vegetables?

Beans and Legumes

Many people are aware that beans can be good protein sources.

For example, here’s the number of grams of protein in one cup of:

  • Cooked soybeans, 29 grams
  • Cooked lentils, 18 grams
  • Cooked black beans, 15 grams
  • Cooked kidney beans, 13, grams
  • Cooked chickpeas, 12 grams
  • Cooked pinto beans, 12 grams
  • Cooked black-eyed peas, 11 grams

What About Other Veggies?

Here’s the number of grams of protein for one cup of each of these vegetables:

  • Cooked lima beans, 10 grams
  • Cooked peas, 9 grams
  • Cooked spinach, 5 grams
  • Cooked broccoli, 4 grams
  • One medium potato, 4 grams

This Is Not A Complete List

There are other vegetable sources of protein, too.  These are just examples of some of the more common veggies that can serve as protein sources.  For a more complete list you can always check the USDA’s data base.

Spinach On Your Sandwich

For upping your protein – especially in a meatless meal – try adding some raw spinach instead of lettuce on your sandwich.  How about broccoli slaw instead of cole slaw, or peas mixed with your pasta?  Sounds good to me!