A bowl of good salad can be the most enjoyable thing you can eat at any time of the day; yes, also the healthiest! As long as it’s assembled this way – flavorful, rich in textures, with fresh vegetable cuts, lots of crunchy greens, crisp fruit slices, and sprouts poking out here and there. To make it more appetizing, add some nuts, seeds, eggs, tofu, or beans. You drizzle this with select garnishes and what have you got? That is the question!
What’s really in your salad?
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular salad contents.
- Coleslaw salad
The thin strips of cabbage and shredded carrots make a powerful combination. However, using regular mayonnaise, the typical dressing used in this preparation, reduces the health benefits of 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 standpoint, due to the fat and calories that come from some of its main flavorings, Parmesan cheese and creamy dressings. For every 100-gram serving, your calorie count could be as high as 500 and fat as 40 g. If you want to continue enjoying Caesar salad, guilt-free, use fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil for dressing. Top it with finely minced garlic for added flavor. A tablespoon of Parmesan cheese won’t hurt.
- Waldorf salad
During apple season, what better way to celebrate than with a well-prepared plate of Waldorf salad? But then again, you may be holding back a bit seeing that it contains mayonnaise, giving you a calorie count of 195 and 18 grams of fat per 100-gram serving. Counter that by using fat-free Greek yogurt as a substitute for mayonnaise and then adding some chopped roasted walnuts for a rich flavor. Walnuts are rich in healthy fats that help lower bad cholesterol levels.
- Greek salad
Probably the only thing that would be contrary to 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 fat from 10g to 3g per serving. Spinach, a basic 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 vitamin C from oranges or lemon juice drops mixed in in addition to what you get from tomatoes, which also gives 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 it contains. 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 veggies. As for protein, the nuts and seeds you add to your salad and those chicken breast strips can provide that, just as some carbs are provided by starchy vegetables like pumpkin and carrots too. All of these health benefits and more can be yours when you make sure of what’s in your salad.