Baby Spinach vs Mature Spinach

[Staggolee41 326]

I've come across something very odd - I seem to be sensitive to normal spinach, but not baby spinach. Is there a big difference between the two?

 

Historically, I've avoided spinach and had violent bowel movements (sorry if TMI!) when I couldn't avoid it. For the spinach/tomatoes/eggs breakfast I ate every day on my Whole30 (and still eat every day), I always bought baby spinach, expecting during the first week to have a reaction at some point, but never did.

 

Until the store was out of baby spinach, so I swapped regular spinach without a second thought, assuming that eating better overall had resolved my issues with spinach. Wrong.

 

This sounds totally outlandish to me... has anyone else had something similar occur?

[jmcbn 9767]

You could be sensitive to something in the soil where the mature spinach is grown - and given that it's spending more time in the soil the nutritional composition might be slightly different too. No idea what the offending factor might be though.

[ladyshanny 7992]

My guess is that it has to do with the fibre content. Mature spinach is "woodier" and has more substantial cell walls and stem.  Could be that it is just less digestible for you than baby spinach which tends to be more tender and break down easier.

[Staggolee41 326]

Both of those explanations make a lot of sense. Thank you!!