Traditionally, salads are prepared with raw vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage and onions – which are cut into slices and sprinkled with a pinch of salt and lemon. They were either served as the smallest portion of the meal or totally ignored. If you have also been doing the same, it’s time to change! Adding a bowl of salad to your meals is important and that’s what we’re going to tell you in this article.
Why Should You Eat A Bowl Of Salad Daily?
- Firstly, starting your meals with a bowl of salad will help you lose weight. It’s true because salads are low in calories, high in fiber and rich in other nutrients. Fiber helps you feel full and you go easy on the rest of your meal. Eating less but healthy = sustainable weight loss! Eating a high fiber salad 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 helps your body absorb protective phytochemicals (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 with nuts and seeds and maintain the crunchiness in the salad.
- To balance it with proper carbohydrates and proteins to make it a whole meal, you can add brown rice or protein packed Quinoa, grilled chicken, low fat Paneer, Tofu or Sprouts.
- People, who do not like to eat fruits, can relish salads which combine fruits and vegetables and eat it as a whole meal or an in between snack. This provides a host of powerful antioxidants which protect the body from damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.
Tips To Prepare Healthy Salads
- 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 kind (good fats) like 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.
- Add 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.
We hope this article helps you pick up the habit of adding a bowl of salad to your meals! Do get creative with your salad, make it colorful or crunchy and share a pic on social media or the GOQii Arena and tag us! For more on healthy living and nutrition, check out Healthy Reads.
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