Getting the Most Nutritional Value Out of Your Salads

Not all salads are created equal and some salads actually have more calories and fat than your average hamburger. Salads can, however, offer a lot of nutritional value when you know how to properly prepare them. You need to know which ingredients will give you the most benefit and which ones are actually counterproductive to your dietary efforts. Here we will talk about getting the most out of your salads and how to properly prepare them.

Size Matters

When you make a salad, you have to consider all of the ingredients. To begin your salad, you will use greens and your greens portion should be one cup. This is equal to a baseball in size. This may not sound like a lot, but again, you will be adding other ingredients to your salad. Your other ingredients will depend on what they are. For example, while nuts contain healthy fats, you should not be consuming a lot of them. When you are adding nuts or seeds to your salad, you will only be adding a single ounce. Other fruits and vegetables are generally portioned out as "half a handful" per my nutritionist. Dressings can make or break a salad, so it is important to carefully portion them. For creamy dressings, you should not use more than two tablespoons because these tend to be fatty and not very nutrient rich. If you are using a vinaigrette-based dressing, you may be able to use a little more, but check the label to look at the fat, sodium and other dietary contents. In a nutshell, you should be flavoring your salads with healthy toppings and use dressings sparingly. When it comes to adding things like meats, two ounces is about all you will need. The same goes for fish and chicken, and choose grilled over fried.

Make it Colorful

You have probably heard at one time or another to make your plate colorful to ensure good nutrition. Well, the same goes for salads. Keeping in mind the size recommendations above, use plenty of colors, such as greens, reds, purples/blues, whites, yellows/oranges, etc. There are so many vegetables and fruits available that you can use that you can make a truly nutritious and colorful salad, that also tastes great without having to add fatty dressings and unhealthy ingredients.

Elusive Ingredients

I use the term "elusive" to describe things like nuts and cheese. They are common salad ingredients and while they do have some health benefits, if you add too much, you are doing more harm than good. My nutritionist always tells me, "when in doubt about an ingredient, leave it out." I follow this rule of thumb strictly. I know a lot of people also love bacon on their salad and feel that using just a little bit is okay. If you only use it once in a while, it likely will not hurt you, but you do have better options. I personally like turkey bacon and my nutritionist is a big fan of Canadian bacon as a bacon replacement.

My Favorite Healthy Salad

I want to share my favorite salad with you that I eat several times per week. This salad packs a very hard nutritional punch and is very low in calories. Start with one cup of fresh spinach, two strips of cooked turkey bacon, two ounces of grilled chicken, and a half handful of thinly sliced onion, sliced carrot and zucchini. Add in a pinch of cracked black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Lastly, take one tablespoon of fat-free ranch dressing and one tablespoon of fat-free honey mustard dressing. Take all ingredients and place them in a bowl. Use your hands or two spoons to thoroughly mix everything and you are done. This salad has a mix of protein, iron, antioxidants and plenty of other vitamins and minerals.

Resources

The New York Times: The Way We Eat: Salad Daze