A bowl of good salad may be the best thing you can have at any time of the day, yes, the healthiest thing too! As long as it’s assembled this way: tasty, rich in textures, with fresh vegetable cuts, lots of crunchy greens, crunchy fruit slices, and sprouts peeking out here and there. To make it more delicious you add nuts, seeds, eggs, tofu or beans. This you drizzle with choice garnishes and what do you have? Now, that’s the question!
What’s really in your salad?
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular salad content.
- Cabbage salad
Thin shredded cabbage and shredded carrots make a powerful combination. However, using normal mayonnaise, the typical dressing for this preparation, reduces the health benefits provided by vegetables. The calorie count per serving could add up to 260. Instead of mayonnaise, you can use low-fat yogurt.
- Caesar salad
This salad has earned a spiteful reputation, from a health point of view, due to the fat and calories that come from some of its main additives, the Parmesan cheese and creamy dressings. For each 100-gram serving, your caloric intake could reach 500 and fats 40 g. If you want to still enjoy your Caesar salad guilt-free, use fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil for dressing. Top with finely minced garlic for added flavor. A tablespoon of Parmesan cheese then will not hurt.
- waldorf salad
During apple season, what better way to celebrate than with a plate of well-made Waldorf salad? But then again, you might hold back a bit to see that it contains mayonnaise, giving you a calorie count of 195 and 18 grams of fat per 100-gram serving. Counter that by using nonfat Greek yogurt as a substitute for the mayonnaise, then add some chopped roasted walnuts for a punchy flavor. Nuts are rich in healthy fats that help lower bad cholesterol levels.
- Greek salad
Probably the only thing that would work against the health benefits of this salad is the fat and sodium content of the cheese you add to it. Be careful with that particular ingredient to cut the fat from 10g to 3g per serving. Spinach, a staple addition, is rich in iron and calcium, but your body may not absorb all of it due to its oxalic acid. What will help counteract this is the vitamin C from the oranges or drops of lemon juice mixed in on top of what you get from the tomatoes, which also give you vitamin A. For a stronger heart, add lots of olives, which is a good source of monounsaturated fatty acids. it does! The calorie count per small bowl is 90.
How healthy your salad is depends on what’s in it. With nutrition in mind, you want the healthy fats that olive oil and avocado can provide. For the best influence on your digestive system from start to finish, you get it from fiber courtesy of those greens. As for protein, the nuts and seeds you add to your salad and those chicken breast strips can provide that, as well as some carbohydrates from starchy vegetables like squash and carrots. All of these health benefits and more can be yours when you make sure what’s in your salad.