Building a Better Salad

Building a Better Salad

It is easy when dinning out at a restaurant with a salad bar to add a little of this and a little of that to a salad which can quickly grow from a small salad to a salad taking up the entire salad plate. Here are some tips for building a healthy salad.

Start with the right base of greens such as baby spinach and arugula. Even romaine lettuce is more tasty and have more nutritional value than iceberg lettuce.

Then add vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, peppers. Fresh

vegetables offer a lot of nutritional value with few calories.

Protein is a good addition to a salad. Choose lean meats such as turkey, salmon, or eggs. Chickpeas, kidney beans and other legumes are also viable options. Cheese can quickly add calories, so be careful about the amount of cheese you add.

Tasty extras add flavor but can also add calories and increase the fat content of the salad. Gently add nuts, seeds like sunflowers, avocado, croutons, olives and dried cranberries.

When choosing a dressing look for the low-fat or fat-free options. Vinaigrettes are another great option. If possible place the dressing on the side of your plate and dip the salad contents in the dressing rather than pouring dressing over the salad. It is easy to add three to five tablespoons of dressing which can add lots of extra calories to your salad.