Whether you’ve decided to get back in shape and lose weight, or you just want to improve your dietary habits, the general inclination is to turn to salad. For most of us, salad translates as healthy food. But is your salad really all that healthy?
That depends entirely on how you make your salad, and what the word healthy means to you. If healthy means low in calories and fat, and high in vitamins and nutrients, then we’re on the same page.
A salad should provide your body with a food break. It should provide you with enzymes; vitamins and minerals to help your digestive system get over all the heavy foods you’ve been eating. Remember that if your reason for eating salads is to lose weight, you already have fat on your body, and you don’t need to add more fat to your salad. A salad should not be a high calorie meal.
"I’ll have a couple of fast food burgers on my salad."
If the preceding sentence sounds ridiculous, think about all the extra stuff you can add to an innocent salad: croutons, cheese, eggs, cold cuts, and thick, fatty, sugary salad dressings like thousand island, ranch, Caesar or blue cheese. While not all of these are necessarily unhealthy, it’s very easy to add an extra 500-1000 calories to a simple salad by adding these items. And doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Realize that simple olive oil (any oil) is high in calories and should be used sparingly. For example; 1/4 cup of olive oil is about 450 calories! Yes, it’s healthy but it’s high in calories.
Are all greens created equal? Definitely not. The darker the green, the better the salad. Darker greens such as spinach, kale and dark-colored lettuces have lots of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and chlorophyll. Those are all good for you, and those are the main things you want to get out of eating a nice salad. Light-colored lettuces like iceberg and romaine have virtually no vitamins or minerals — they’re mostly water and cellulose and have very little nutritional value. So the main ingredient should always be a dark, leafy green.
The idea behind eating a salad for health is that you lower the fat and calories. An ideal salad should include a simple vinaigrette made with a little bit of olive oil, an acid (like red wine vinegar or lemon juice), garlic, herbs, sea salt and pepper. The main focus should be on fresh vegetables and dark, leafy greens such as kale, spinach and dark lettuces. You can also add berries, nuts and dried fruit (very sparingly) for extra flavor. You can even skip the oils altogether to speed up your weight loss. I often enjoy seasoning my salads with red wine vinegar, fresh garlic, herbs, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. And did you know that apple cider vinegar is a known blood thinner? This can keep your body cooler in hot weather.
I hope this crash course on salads gets you heading in the right direction as far as nutrition and health is concerned. Do you have a great salad recipe? Please share it with me at tampabaychef@gmail.com.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2012.