Superfast superfood salad

Matt Lovell's superfood spinach salad

Matt Lovell, elite performance nutritionist to Olympic athletes, premiership footballers and international rugby players, has teamed up with Seasonal Berries to sponsor the BUPA runs, creating recipes designed to boost your healthy lifestyle.

He explains why this superfast superfood salad makes a perfect lunch:

'The flavour combinations in this salad work really well and the colours shout health and vitality. Vitamin C from the blackberries will increase the amount of iron absorbed from the spinach; spinach regularly appears on the lists of superfoods and has high levels of calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese. Iron is an important part of haemoglobin, the substance in our red blood cells that transports oxygen around our bodies.

Five reasons to eat spinach

'Walnuts are a great source of omega-3 oils and feta cheese is lower in fat than cheddar.  The fat from the cheese and olive oil in the dressing help the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins from the spinach.

Low-cal snack ideas
 
'Perfect for eating on its own or served with flaked smoked mackerel for a delicious lunch or supper.

'This is a good meal to have on a day when you are not training as it will help keep you full without eating a lot of carbs.'

Five reasons to eat more fish

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
200g fresh blackberries
150g-250g fresh spinach leaves
50g feta cheese
20g walnuts
20ml raspberry vinegar (vinegar, although acid in nature, has an alkalising effect on the body - good because the Western diet is generally very acidic)
10ml olive oil
Method
1.    Lay the spinach leaves on a plate or bowl
2.    Arrange the blackberries, crumbled feta cheese and walnut pieces on top of the spinach.
3.    Mix the raspberry vinegar and oil in a bowl and drizzle on top of the salad

Nutritional Information
Total Calories 469 Kcal
Protein 17g
Carbs 23g
Fat 35g

Make yourself a week's-worth of delicious salads