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Salad. It seems like a good decision, doesn't it? Sometimes salad can seem like a fortuitous nutritional decision but actually turn out to be a huge mistake. Don't believe me? Here are a few examples..
- T.G.I. Friday’s Santa Fe Chopped Salad has 1,800 calories (MSNBC).
- Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad has 1,310 calories, 93 grams of fat, and 1,470 milligrams of sodium (MSNBC).
- California Pizza Kitchen's Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing has 1,570 calories, 30 g saturated fat, and 2,082 mg sodium (MSNBC).
On your way to a dinner date? Here are some salad-ordering tips:
- Mexican Themed Salads = bad. They're usually loaded with thinly cut tortilla chips (bad), lots of fat-saturated meat (bad), and an abundance of cheeses (also bad).
- Creamy Dressings = bad. As far as dressing goes, if you can't see through it, it's bad. That's a good rule of thumb to keep you away from heavily cream or mayonnaise/fat based dressings. Steer clear of Blue Cheese, Ranch, and Thousand Island. Head, instead, for vinaigrettes - my favorite is balsamic vinaigrette.
- No Croutons! They seem harmless but are actually tiny little packages of carbs and calories.
- Similarly, stay away from tortilla crisps, crispy noodles, etc. Anything bread-related (even bread cousins like noodles and chips) should NOT be on your salad.
Here's my improvised version...
What You Need:
- Spinach (Mixed greens in these pictures, but I prefer spinach)
- Strawberries (Cut into thin rings)
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Feta cheese
- Sliced almonds or pine nuts
- Dressing: Balsalmic Vinaigrette
How You Do It:
- Alright, salads are pretty much just about throwing stuff on a plate, right? So... do that!
Here are some links for further reading:
