I recently purchased a delicious, ready-made salad from Trader Joe’s, only to discover its surprising caloric intake afterwards. It’s unexpected to find out how something seemingly healthy can wreck your weight loss efforts if you aren’t careful.
When you think of a healthy meal choice, a nice green salad probably comes to mind. But if you’re topping your salad with creamy dressing, cheese, croutons, or bacon bits, your seemingly healthy lunch might be more of a diet disaster. Since you can control the toppings you toss in at home, it’s especially important to be choosy about the ingredients in quick-service and restaurant salads, which can easily pack more than 1,000 calories.
Here’s 4 Salad Items Making You Fat:
1. Glazed Nuts
Nuts are healthy fats and a great addition to any salad — that is, until they’re kettle-cooked and glazed with sugar. A lot of companies sell glazed walnuts and pecans, and you can find them sprinkled on an array of salads at restaurants across the country. Are they the worst topping on this list? No, but they’re not that great for you either.
Healthy Alternative: Stick to dry-roasted nuts to save on calories. I like to add sliced organic almonds to my salads, but chopped organic pistachios, pecans, and walnuts are a good addition too.
2. Cheese
Three or four daily servings of low-fat dairy products can boost your body’s fat-burning potential, but studies have shown that organic dairy-rich diets may help weight loss and the body’s ability to burn fat. When some people add cheese to a salad, they really pile it on — and that’s why it’s on this list. But some cheeses are more nutritional than others, and there are healthy ways to add them to your salad.
Healthy Alternative: Feta is a great choice for salads because it is lower in fat and calories than most cheeses. Another idea is to buy string cheese (part-skim mozzarella) sticks and add one to your salad by cutting it up into pieces.
3. Craisins
Craisins, or dried cranberries, are a fruit, so that means they’re good for you, right? Well, not exactly. I know these are everyone’s favorite sweet treat to add to any salad — but they have more sugar than you’d think! Though they are fat-free and relatively low calorie at 130 for a ¼ cup — they’re full of sugar — 29 grams to be exact.
Healthy Alternative: Count them. Simple, right? If you can’t give ’em up, count them out and add only 10 or so to your salad.
4. Croutons
Bread makes every salad taste better, right? Well, croutons are an easy way to ruin your salad by adding refined carbohydrates. Croutons from a popular brand are about 30 calories for just six pieces. Do most people put only six croutons on their salad? Not likely. These toppings can also have high sodium levels depending on how they’re prepared.
Healthy Alternative: Bread isn’t bad if you’re eating 100 percent whole wheat! You can definitely get a bread roll to accompany your salad, but keep it healthy and put it down when you’re full
Following are some do’s and don’t to keep your salads figure friendly:
Know & Use the 2/3 Rule
When making a salad, apply what the “2/3 rule”. Two-thirds of your salad should be made up of greens and raw veggies, while 1/3 is devoted to small portions of healthy fats (nuts, olives, avocado), lean proteins (chicken, fish, hard boiled eggs), and higher-calorie “fun” ingredients (crumble blue cheese, wasabi peas, croutons). That way, salads never get boring, and you never feel like I’m depriving myself.
Think Outside The Bowl
Don’t make the same salad day after day or it will become boring and unappetizing. Instead, experiment with interesting ingredients, such as fresh herbs, navy beans, lentils, sprouts, kiwi slices, goat cheese, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, and falafel. Visit a local farmer’s market to get new ideas so you can keep things interesting.
Toss The Iceberg
Iceberg really isn’t helping you out because it has very little health benefits. Instead, trade in your iceberg for something like spinach, kale, or another leafy green. Those rich, dark greens are packed with vitamins for your skin, hair, heart and so much more.
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