Why The Salad isn't Always the Healthier Option - and How to Make it So

Salads are not inherently bad. Salads are amazing. Salads are one of the best meals you can eat. If you are filling your plate with heaps of leafy green vegetables, bright, fresh fruits and vegetables, and lightly dusting it with a sprinkle of good-quality, raw nuts and seeds - you have a beautiful thing!

But the thing is, too many people are SABOTAGING their weight loss efforts by eating salads!

It makes me so sad to see people genuinely interested in increasing their health and/or losing weight thinking they are doing something good for themselves when they would be better off ordering a sandwich instead!!!

How can this be?

The reason is not the salad itself, but the DRESSING and the TOPPINGS.

The salad itself is a wonderful, beautiful, filling, tasty, satisfying meal that nourishes all the cells of your body! So stop adding all the fixings and making it ruin your waistline!

Just say no to heaps of cheese, bacon, fatty meats, useless crusty bits of bread (crutons), high-fat dressings: full fat ranch, full fat caesar, oils (*OIL IS NOT A HEALTH FOOD*). You're turning your salad into an artery-clogging, waistline-widening disaster! Even avocado, nuts, and seeds are to be moderated. 

I don't care if a fat is "healthy or not" fats are fats and as John A. McDougall (author of the Starch Solution) says - "the fat you eat is the fat you wear". It's not entirely true, but what is true is that your body is VERY EFFICIENT at taking the fat you eat and storing it in your hips, belly, thighs, etc. compared to carbohydrate or protein-rich foods. North Americans eat too much fat, and at 9 calories per gram, it is more calorie-dense than any other macronutrient in the diet. Just saying no to high-fat foods is one of the easiest ways to naturally lose weight.

So if I can't douse my salad in high-fat, calorie-rich toppings to make it taste good, what can I do?

Good choices include: vinegars, mustard, salsa, any fat-free or low-fat or low calorie store-bought dressings that have 2g fat per serving or less and less than 20-25 calories per tablespoon, preferably. For toppings, add other veggies: coloured peppers, sliced tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, or for fruits: sliced apple, berries, mandarin orange segments, raisins, dried cranberries.The possibilities are endless. If it came from a garden and it's fresh, vibrant, colourful, and nutritious - add it!

For protein on your salad, pick the leanest choices: chicken, turkey, hard boiled egg white, tuna (not doused in mayo), beans, lentils, or tofu.

You can always add less dressing to your salad to make up for the higher fat content, but at the same time, you want your salad to taste GOOD. So if a tablespoon or two (GET YOUR MEASURING SPOONS OUT) of the high fat dressing tastes better to you and makes you want to eat salads more than a few tablespoons of low calorie dressing, then go right ahead. But I personally find that my salad is more flavourful and satisfying when I use the low calorie dressings because I can add as much as like and really coat the veggies with flavour!

Take care everyone and let me know what your favourite high-nutrient, low-calorie salad toppings are!