Spinach

Why spinach is rated low

Raw baby spinach is low FODMAP at about 1½ cups (75g), moderate at larger portions and high at much larger portions, and the FODMAP behind that climb is Fructans. 1½ cups (75g) is a full salad base, so spinach is one of the easiest leafy greens to work into a low FODMAP meal. The thing to understand about spinach is volume. Raw leaves are light and airy, so a heaped bowl can pass the low serve without looking like much, and cooked spinach wilts to a fraction of its raw volume, so a spoonful on the plate can hold a lot of leaves.

What changes your risk

• Serving size About 1½ cups (75g) is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high. A side salad sits comfortably in the low range, while a large salad built entirely on spinach can reach moderate.
• Wilting shrinks the volume, not the Fructans Spinach wilts to a fraction of its raw volume, and heat does not break Fructans down, so a pan of spinach cooked down to a small pile still carries what went into the pan. Portion the raw leaves before they hit the heat.
• Stacking Fructans across the meal Wheat bread, pasta, onion and garlic all carry Fructans. A spinach salad next to ordinary bread, or spinach stirred into a wheat pasta, puts more than one Fructan source on the same plate.
• Smoothies concentrate it Blending does not lower Fructans, and a green smoothie can hold far more spinach than anyone would eat as leaves. A big handful packed into the blender can easily be a larger portion.
• What goes on it Creamed spinach, spinach dips and restaurant sides are usually built on onion, garlic and cream, and that is where the trouble tends to come from at a normal serving. Garlic infused oil, chives, lemon, salt and pepper give flavour without those ingredients.

What else works

Spinach is low at about 1½ cups (75g), so the useful list is what else you can rotate through when you want a bigger bowl. Bok choy, cucumber, carrot, zucchini and green beans all work as salad or stir fry bulk and can fill out a plate past the spinach portion. Where people slip is assuming anything green or anything in a mixed bag behaves the same way. Leek bulb and the white part of spring onion are not low FODMAP swaps at ordinary amounts, so a mixed salad or a soup base that leans on them is a different proposition from a bowl of leaves. The green leaves of leeks and the green tops of spring onions are the parts that work.

How to keep it low

Portion about 1½ cups (75g) of baby spinach into the bowl rather than grabbing from the bag, since leaves compress and a heaped bowl climbs past the low serve faster than it looks. Store it dry in the fridge with a paper towel in the container, because wet leaves collapse fast and limp spinach tends to get used in bigger quantities to make up the volume. If you are cooking it, portion the raw leaves first and then wilt them, so you still know what the serving was after it shrinks. For dressings and sauces, build them yourself from oil, lemon, vinegar, herbs and hard cheese such as parmesan, and check any bottled dressing or stock for onion and garlic before it goes near the bowl.

Common questions

how much spinach is low fodmap

Raw baby spinach is low at about 1½ cups (75g), moderate at larger portions and high at much larger portions. Fructans drive the climb.

can i eat spinach on the elimination phase

Yes, at about 1½ cups (75g) of raw baby spinach, which is low. Portion the leaves rather than treating spinach as unlimited, since larger portions are moderate.

does cooking spinach reduce fodmaps

No. Heat does not break Fructans down, and spinach wilts to a fraction of its raw volume, so a small pile of cooked spinach can hold a lot of raw leaves. Portion before cooking.

is a spinach smoothie low fodmap

Blending does not lower Fructans, and a smoothie can easily hold a larger portion of leaves, which is moderate. Keep the spinach to about 1½ cups (75g) and count the fruit that goes in with it.