Thinking About a Salad? Think Twice when for Weight Loss or Maintenance

The salad has We hear it all the time, "I ate a salad" or "I chose to get the salad bar instead of what I normally get", etc.  Chances are if you are trying to watch your weight you have said something similar.  Google provides this definition of salad: 

sal·ad  

/ˈsaləd/

Noun A cold dish of various mixtures of raw or cooked vegetables, usually seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressing: "a green salad". A mixture containing a specified ingredient dressed with mayonnaise: "tuna salad". The salad has been around for a long, long time.  We're talking since the beginning of time when people gathered edible leaves as part of their meal plan. However, the salad we know today is not just edible greens! That would mean that the salad would consist of greens such as Romaine, Iceberg, Kale, Spinach, etc with little seasoning and a rather low calorie snack or meal.   Today, the calories in a salad has not only grown due to increased portion sizes, but also due to the number of non-vegetable additional toppings. Because of the increase in calories, the salad may not always be the first and best option for weight loss or weight maintenance.  A salad can be a great option if you think twice about the amount and type of toppings that you add.   Toppings to GO ahead and include these vegetables/herbs: snow peas green/red/yellow/orange peppers tomatoes carrots broccoli cauliflower mushrooms green beans cucumbers zucchini asparagus beets artichoke hearts peas radishes onions salsa basil/mint/chives/parsley/dill Toppings to CONSIDER, but not get carried away with include fruits (remember fruits have calories too!): pears mandarin oranges apples cherries grapes  strawberries pomegranate Toppings to CONSIDER if you desire more lean protein: low-fat or no-fat cottage cheese grilled chicken canned tuna baked fish ground turkey, cooked egg whites tofu edamame/hummus Toppings to LIMIT if you desire tasty salad, but want to limit calories: cheese avocado croutons dried fruit sunflower seeds sesame seeds other seeds nuts/water chestnuts salad dressing (creamy, oil based) *Ask for on the side to dip fork crispy noodles  pasta high calorie meats: those that are cooked in oil or fried Instead of this: Image Source Choose something that looks like this: Image Source

A veggie-filled salad will yield fewer calories and provide fullness unlike no other salad you could make AND you will be happy with your choice of building a salad that IS considered a good option for weight loss or weight maintenance!

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