Why Salad Is Keeping You FAT

Salad, the ultimate diet food! The first sign someone is on a diet is their salad for lunch, definitely a healthier swap from the usual fast food or pizza, but is it going to help? Though the answer should be an obvious YES, it is a bit more complicated than that.

Salad is a beautiful thing, one of my favorites actually! The delicious blend of vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts, dressing, and herbs can make salad the perfect choice for a healthy meal. I know, you're thinking 'so what's the problem here?' There are two major problems that arise from salad being a 'diet fail'.

The first major problem is turning this amazing powerhouse meal into a high fat and high calorie disaster! In order for a salad to be healthy and assist in weight loss, it needs to be loaded with veggies and the fat content needs to be LOW! The entire point of salad is to fill up on high fiber, high water content foods, but the average person goes out to lunch and comes back with this:

http://www.1familymeal.com/chicken-cobb-salad-with-buttermilk-chive-dressing/

 

 

This salad is loaded with pretty much every thing that makes salad UNHEALTHY! It contains numerous high fat foods, high cholesterol, loaded with oil and sodium and really, there are barely any veggies! Though the blog does not give calorie and fat content, I imagine this is easily over 1000 cals with majority of those calories coming from FAT! This is a very high fat food which will leave you sluggish all day and craving SUGAR or coffee to stay awake! Hold up, since when do I care about calories??? When they come from fat, that is when you need to be concerned! Remember, all you need is about 10% of your calories to come from fat! This type of 'meal' is not only a weight loss disaster, but it is also loaded with animal products which I would never recommend, let's leave our friends off the menu! I see this type of salad being eaten often by women who are fooled by the diet industry claiming a 'salad' is always a healthy choice! This is not any healthier than a Big Mac!
Let's create a healthy cobb salad with lots of goodies that will keep you feeling alive and energized all day:
Your base needs to be a blend of greens, any kind you like! Toppings should include a lovely row of chick peas, sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped celery, red onion, steamed baby potatoes (cooled), steamed corn (cooled), chopped mushrooms, and a row of peas! To dress it up, grab a whole lemon, juice it over the salad, sprinkle with your favorite herbs like dill and season to taste with pepper and garlic powder! Not only have you eliminated ALL animal products, but you have also cut out unnecessary saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol! You now can eat as much as you want and not worry about your waistline!

The other problem that arises with salad is NOT ENOUGH CALORIES! Say what????? It sounds confusing, but please just keep reading! As I mentioned above, the only time calories become a problem is when they come from fat, or sometimes protein. The key to eating a healthy meal, is sticking to the 80/10/10 macro-nutrient ratio, 80% carbs, 10% fat and 10% protein! This allows you to eat a substantial about of calories without additional weight gain or sugar cravings!
This is a typical salad people order at restaurants or fast food joints. Nothing appetizing here!!

Not only only is this salad BORING but it will leave you STARVING and looking for junk food all day long! There is not enough food to keep a grown adult fueled for even an hour, lol! Your salad should be loaded with plant food and enough calories to keep you energized all day long! When I see people eat this as their meal, I know they will be hungry immediately after and ultimately turn to high fat snack foods like cookies, chips, etc. Most will end up dousing this teeny tiny salad with a high fat dressing trying desperately to make it appetizing! This problem is easily fixed by making salad at home and bringing it with you to work! This allows you to make it big enough and full of the proper plant foods to get enough calories without the added fat and sodium! You really cannot find a salad at a restaurant that is big enough to fill you up, but also NOT loaded with fattening foods like eggs, chicken, oil and cream dressings. Below are examples of my salad creations that are made to be MEALS in a bowl!

Salad can be a healthy option for any meal as long as it is made with HEALTH in mind! Low calorie salads will leave you starving all day without enough fuel to keep your brain fuctiioning, and high fat salads will leave you sluggish, bloated, and craving sugar! Neither option is going to be a success, both will contribute to weigh gain! Here is how you can build a perfect salad to keep you feeling ALIVE and healthy all day long and on track with your weight loss goals!