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I think it would be pretty easy to make a daily salad healthy or unhealthy depending on the ingredients. If your formula is mostly veggies + healthy protein + light options: fruit, nuts, cheese, grains + healthy dressing you'll be doing fine.
If it skews towards few veggies, mayo-based dressing, and tons of cheese/nuts/sugar-y topping it won't turn out so well.
Also most commercial salad dressing is pretty bad for you: high in sugar and low quality oil. So buyer beware. You can make your own excellent salad dressing fairly quickly. Reccomended if you are making salad daily. My formula is something like the following:
1-3 teaspoons of mustard (optional)
1-3 teaspoons of sweetener: agave syrup, honey, flavored syrup, jam
1-2 teaspoons of chopped aromatics: onions, garlic, ginger
1-2 tablespoons of chopped herbs: pretty much any will work (optional)
1/4-1/2 cup of acid: lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, orange juice or any combo any flavor
1/8-1/4 cup of oil: olive, walnut, canola, sesame (use less, since this has strong flavor)
salt and pepper to taste
Mix in a blender or a jar. I buy jam in small jars and save the jars for dressing. I mix up 1 or 2 every few weeks. I do not follow the conventional logic that says 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. I find that to be way too oily. At most, I make the oil and vinegar 50/50.
Mix these up and you'll have an excellent dressing. If you want a creamy dressing, follow the instructions above and add some greek yogurt. You might need a little more herbs, aromatics or acid but this works well.
I've got one of those salad dressing mixing jars, with measurements/recipes marked on the outside. There are several ( mine is Kolder , I beleive) . Homemade dressing taste much better and are better for you than most bottled.
I've got one of those salad dressing mixing jars, with measurements/recipes marked on the outside. There are several ( mine is Kolder , I beleive) . Homemade dressing taste much better and are better for you than most bottled.
And it is surprisingly hard to mess up too bad. You can always add more acid, salt, oil or sweetener to improve the taste. And those are staples so they are always available.
I have been experimenting with juice and jam for my salad dressings. I always seem to have a tiny bit left that isn't enough for a full serving.
Assuming you don't get sick of it and you eat enough to meet your daily calorie requirements.. also assume you're not going 100% vegetarian (i.e. you may occasionally have bacon or chicken in the salad as well as cheese, croutons, etc. but vegetables dominate as always.)
Salad's pretty much the only "healthy" food I know of that I can stand eating everyday, not cost a fortune, and not require a lot of time to prepare.
Lets correct a key point here. It's NOT salad that good for you but VEGETABLES!
A diet of VEGETABLES and protein ,limiting the carbs, will you enjoy a long happy life.
If all you do is eat salads then all you'll do is poop alot!
I was eating salad every day for lunch at work for....oh, probably two years now. I just got tired of it. And I had lots of different veggies in it, and had different dressings. It just gets boring after awhile. For the past two weeks I've been bringing soup. Preferably homemade, but if not, Progresso, and one of the "Full Serving of Vegetables!" varieties.
i eat 1.5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every work day. i dont think i will ever get tired of it. ill probably bump it up to 2 come january when im going to put on some weight.
A good change-up from salads is slaws. I buy broccoli/carrot mix (they're slivered) and steam it about 30 seconds in the microwave. It's still really crunchy and I dress it while warm. Then it can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days. Salad doesn't keep like that.
You can use different kinds of slaw dressing, really any dressing you want. It doesn't have to be creamy or mayo based. Of course, classic slaw classically goes great with BBQ'd meats. Anything spicy is perfect, and you don't need much "side" protein. I could have a nice bread/pate with a slaw and be completely satisfied for lunch.
I was eating salad every day for lunch at work for....oh, probably two years now. I just got tired of it. And I had lots of different veggies in it, and had different dressings. It just gets boring after awhile. For the past two weeks I've been bringing soup. Preferably homemade, but if not, Progresso, and one of the "Full Serving of Vegetables!" varieties.
Yep, Soup (or stews) are a very, very under rated inexpensive per meal food that is both good for you but they satisfy the tummy!
I sure do spoil myself with the homemades too! Then if I have a canned soup the next day, it's disappointing! Although Progresso's hearty tomato and tomato basil ARE the best commercial tomato soup I've ever had.
I like to have homemade soup in the fridge or freezer as much as possible, hubby has Celiac, so he needs to be gluten-free and you wouldn't believe the commercial soups that have wheat starch in them. I haven't found a Campbell's variety that didn't. AND, Progresso labels their's as "Gluten free" or CONTAINS: WHEAT. Which is much easier than deciphering ingredient lists in the grocery aisle.
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