I decided to honor Paul Newman in my own little way tonight – I made a spinach salad and used my favorite Paul Newman salad dressing. As I was filling my bowl with spinach, I contemplated all the kids with cancer that his charitable food line (Newman’s Own) has helped. Then I thought of his amazing love affair and marriage with his wife of 50 years and how her soul must ache with his passing.

As I stared at my spinach I was wishing he would have lived longer. Then the thought occurred to me that even though he made salad dressing, maybe Paul Newman didn’t eat a lot of salad himself. I spent a few seconds wishing for him to have eaten more spinach so maybe it could have prevented his cancer.

That led to the thought that I should write an article about why everyone should try to eat spinach at least once a day. And then I thought about Popeye. Popeye The Sailer Man. The guy who chugged spinach for strength right before a battle with Bruto.

Of course, on the heels of my Newman-Woodward love story thoughts, my mind naturally remembered Popeye’s girl, Olive Oyl. And then BAM! It hit me. Spinach and olive oil! Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can eat! Spinach is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat.

Was the creator of the cartoon trying to get us all to eat healthy? How was I just now making this connection with Olive Oyl’s name?  All these years did everyone else already realize that Olive Oyl might be about Olive oil? The characters represented two foods that are extremely healthy for the heart. And the heart represents love and Popeye and Olive Oyl were in love. There are so many things I should have been reading between the lines with that cartoon!

I had to know. Was the creator savvy with nutrition? Had the creator of the show known someone who died of heart disease or cancer? Were we all subliminally being fed the message to consume healthier foods?

It was a pressing matter for me. I felt the need to research it further. So I did. As it turns out I was partially right, but had over-analyzed it a tad much. Yes, in fact, Olive was named after the edible oil from the Mediterranean countries. And the other characters from the original comic strip  were named after other oils, (one being diesel oil, so perhaps it wasn’t about sending a nutrition message). For the bored folks, you can read about all the Oyl characters. 

After researching Olive Oyl I ate my salad and thought about all the things I want to tell you about spinach and why you should eat more of it. First of all, eating it will likely reduce your risk of colon cancer, heart disease, lung and breast cancers. It’s full of all the good stuff:

It is high in calcium- bone strength

It is high in A and C vitamins – antioxidants

It is high in fiber – keeps your colon healthy and makes you feel full to avoid overeating

It contains folate – lowers blood levels of an artery damaging protein called homocysteine and is also     especially important in pregnancy for a healthy baby (folic acid is the synthetic form of folate contained in prenatal vitamins)

It contains flavonoids which prevent memory loss

It contains lutein which prevents catarcts and macular degeneration – both are preventable causes of blindness. Lutein also plays a role in preventing cancer.

It contains magnesium which helps bone strength, fatigue, PMS, blood pressure and arterial health

Spinach is one of those foods you can add to just about anything – I juice it with other fruits and veggies in a juicer, I make salads out of it and I cook with it. I put it in omelets, pasta dishes, soups, dips and casseroles. And a lot of times I just steam a big helping of it as a side dish. I’m not kidding; I try to find ways to put it in just about everything, and I think you should too.

For more ideas on how to sneak spinach and other vegetables into common recipes, check out Jessica Seinfeld’s book Deceptively Delicious. She wrote the book to make it easier for parents to get their kids to eat vegetables. I bought this for my sister who does a lot of cooking for her kids and she says the recipes are great!

Now, to bring us full circle, let’s end with a Paul Newman quote: “The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films.”

Learn more about Paul Newman’s Charitable Organization: Hole In The Wall Gang Camp