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!

How To Build The Perfect Salad!

When I tell people one of my favorite foods is salad, I typically get a confused look. Salad has a bad reputation. Boring. Bland. Not filling. This is due to the nasty prepackaged salads we've bought, the dried out/stale salad bar, or our own lack of creativity. Salad can be amazing & full of flavor! There are so many ingredients that can be added into a salad, it should never be boring!

One of the biggest mistakes we have been making is dousing our salads with dressing, oily, salty, sweet, or creamy dressings. These mask the amazing natural flavors of the fruits & veggies we should be enjoying. Salad is a beautiful mixture of flavors, and if done properly, all you need is a bit of herbs & a slash of juice to make it complete!

Here are some tips to making a perfect salad:

1. The Base:
Greens!! Buy numerous greens like kale, spinach, romaine, red leaf, green leaf, Boston, Iceberg, beet greens, etc. Finely chop your leaves and blend the dark with the light! Try a mix of kale & Boston lettuce, or spinach with romaine! There are so many greens out there, buy a huge variety and blend them to add some excitement to the base.

2. Sweets:
Sweet veggies or fruits are a MUST!! They add so much flavor to the salad and make our taste buds happy!! Fruits & veggies like tomatoes, carrots, beets, red peppers, peas, corn, clementine slices, apple slices, pomegranate seed, sugar snap peas, etc. Always add 3 or more of these!! There is no rhyme or reason, they are tasty and full of health benefits! The more, the merrier! Use flavors that combine well and that you actually like! Try buy a variety of tomatoes, cherry, grape, beefsteak, or vine ripe! They all taste a bit different and can really add great flavor and texture to the salad! 

3.More Veggies:
Cucumbers, onions, chives, celery, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, pea shoots & sprouts, etc. I like to add 2 or more of these. I prefer my salad on the sweeter side, so I don't over due on these! Another tip is to leave the skin on the cucumbers, and either slice thin on a mandolin or chop into little pieces! I love the extra crunch the skin adds, the different ways of chopping and slicing can help with texture. Chop cauliflower small, as well as broccoli!

4. Herbs & Spices:
This is so important!!! Since we are skipping store bought dressing, you cannot skip this step! Herbs like cilantro, dill, parsley, mint, basil, rosemary, red pepper flakes, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, are packed with flavor and essential!. I usually use a mix of spices and 1 or 2 herbs depending on the taste I am looking for. I like a mixture of dry herbs and fresh herbs! Sometimes I use dry parsley and other times I like it fresh! It is more flavorful when it is fresh! So if you really want a more intense flavor use fresh!

5. Juice:
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
or Blend avocado with lime juice to make a creamy base.
I use 1 lime or lemon or orange per family size salad. I just squeeze it over the salad and blend well.

6. Extras:
There's more!!! Now if you enjoy seeds, or nuts, beans or dried fruit, ADD on top! Things like sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, nuts, or sprouted lentils are great options! Other beans are great as well! Keep these to a minimum though, they don't digest as well as fruit & veggies and may make you feel heavy and bloated!

Before you eat...mix the salad well and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes! This will help the juices from the fruits/veggies and herbs & spices to blend and absorb. Letting it sit will also soften up the greens a little bit! Now you are ready to eat!!!

Your salad should taste fresh & light! It should be full of color and flavor, not oily, heavy & full of salt! Once you start making a proper salad, you will never want dressing again! This has been my salad making method at home for over a year and a half! My son LOVES to eat them like this and I use to have to give him a ton of dressing before!! We no longer buy dressing, and no longer add oil or salt!!