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Traditionally salads were known to be prepared of only raw vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage and onion which are cut into slices and sprinkled with a pinch of salt and lemon. They were either served as the smallest portion among the other food items in the meal plate or totally ignored.
Hey folks, if you have also been doing the same, it’s now time to change.
But, let me first tell you the importance of having salads which will definitely lead you to start having salads with your meals. You can also be very creative in making your salad colorful, tasty, crunchy, balanced, appealing to eat and obviously healthy.
Why salads?????
· Starting your meals with a bowl of salad will help you attain weight loss. Not a joke, it’s true because salads are low in calories, high in fiber and rich in other nutrients. Fiber helps you feel full making you eat, the remaining meal less and ultimately lose weight.
· Eating a high fiber salads aids in lowering cholesterol and also is known to prevent constipation.
- Eating a little good fat (like the monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, avocado and nuts) with your vegetables in salads appears to help your body absorb protective phyto-chemicals (known to protect against cancer and heart disease), like lycopene from tomatoes and lutein from dark green vegetables.
- Best way to skip croutons (deep fried pieces of wheat bread) which are few in nutrients and have a high glycemic load is to replace them by nuts and seeds and maintain the crunchiness in the salad.
- Want to balance it with proper carbohydrates and protein to make it a whole meal; you can add brown rice or protein packed Quinoe, grilled chicken, low fat Paneer, Tofu or Sprouts.
· People, who do not like to eat fruits, can relish on salads which combine fruits and vegetables and eat it as a whole meal or in between snacks. This will provide them a host of powerful antioxidants which will protect the body from damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.
Now let’s have a look at some tips to prepare a healthy salad
· Salads are known to be rich in Vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K cannot be absorbed and used by the body without the presence of some fat. So go for the unsaturated (good fats) olive oil or canola oil. Toss the oil with vinegar which helps to prevent blood sugar spikes after meals.
· The best way to include greens like romaine, radicchio, iceberg and spinach in our daily diet is to mix them all up or use one at a time in salads.
· Don’t forget to add the medicinal herbs like basil, garlic, lemon juice or parsley to the salad for that strong punch of flavor and loads of disease fighting antioxidants. The more flavorful your salad is naturally, the fewer high calorie ingredients you will need to add for taste like extra cheese and cream.
· Pack your salads with as many other veggies or fruits as possible to get the synergetic effects. Carrots, cucumbers, different colored peppers, broccoli, peas, artichokes, strawberries, raspberries, or pears are great choices to get in different textures as well as plenty of filling fiber.
Hope reading this will add a lot of nutrition to your food plate and lead to your ultimate health goals.
Thanks for enlightening us on the importance of eating salads. Please tell us how to de-toxify the vegetables that we are buying from different sources.
I really like fresh salad so much, and salad make us healthiest and life long. So can you tell me some important aspects when we eat often? And what can we eat for two or three times per week?
Hey !! I really appreciate that you like salads and think they are healthy. If you are looking for weight loss, start your meals with a big bowl of salads. Veggies are high on fiber, vitamins, minerals and low on calories which give you early satiety. This is not make you binge of other unhealthy stuff.
Regarding how frequently you should eat, if your salads are off those unhealthy sauces, GO AHEAD and grab them everyday.
I’m anemic and have IBS mostly c type.
I don’t take iron supplements and due to working I have been mostly vegan until recently.
I was eating a lot of fried and deep fried vegan foods, but have recently been eating a very large salad of mixed romaine and spinach, with shredded carrot, red onion, cucumber, black olives, tomatoes, feta cheese and a dressing made from honey, cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme.
Is this a good mix for somebody in my position? I’ve only started doing this for the past week so am not noticing any difference yet.
Hi Trishan
The combination of all the veggies looks good but make sure that you don’t eat them raw. Go for stir fried. You can also add curd as a probiotic to get more relief.
Experience confirms that salads should be part of meal for good health.
Very useful information. I eat Salad with lunch and dinner-cucumber, tomato, spinach and onion.
Thanks Jaswinder.Glad to know you are having salads daily. Keep it up!
I have a big bowl of green salad each day…very simple consisting of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, sweet peppers, sometimes the purple onions. My skin overall is noticeably smooth and clean, I feel light and full of energy. I am close to 40, 140lbs and 5’6″…and health conscious as i grow older..but I will recommend salads for everyone. On some days, i would steam or bake fish and eat with my salad and make a nice dressing to go with….its so simple, tasty and healthy too….Good luck everyone!!!
WOW! That’s amazing and you are an inspiration for all. Good going
I think a good habit to get into is cutting out the other junk and get back to yhe basic. . a nice salad with a little cheese to start and grilled meat.. Pork, chicken, steaks, .. Thats a good plan.
True!
Thanks for the information about the benefits of salads. Is it advisable to include meat in our salads?
Hi Paul
You can definitely add ingredients like low fat paneer, grilled/steamed/boiled chicken or fish pieces.
Hi
You can mix up variety of green leafy veggies
Hi,
Useful information but i got a question, the amount of calories in a regular salad bowl which consists of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, , sweet peppers, onions, olives,carrot has around 450 calories whereas a medium sized cups of rice , 3 curries, Dal too contain around 475 calories. How is salad beneficial in weight reduction as we consume same amount of calories be it salad or meal.
Thanks
Hi Krishna
Good question! Even though the calorie content may be same but the nutrients which contribute to this calories are different. We get more of fiber, vitamins and minerals from Salads and less of carbohydrates as compared to the dal, rice and curries.