Salads!
Okay so I've been asked on several occasions about making salads. I guess because I'm always talking about them, and every time people do a public ask for help on losing weight, I pick up the pom pons and give three cheers for salad!
I owe a couple people some thoughts on salad so I thought I would just put them down here, and I'm even leaving this one public so you can share it if you know anybody who's interested in salad.
Because salad is so freaking interesting.
First of all, here's the most important thing to remember: You can't ruin a salad. Now granted, if you put blue cheese in my salad, you have ruined my salad. If you douse your salad with ranch dressing, you have ruined YOUR salad. So okay, you can ruin your salad. But making salad isn't like making a sauce. You're not going to put too much celery into it and now it is ruined. If you have a salad somewhere that you like, ask what's in it. But if you forget something or you want to make a change, you're not going to RUIN it. Now granted if you get the recipe for a salad dressing, you can ruin THAT by adding something or leaving something out of it. BUT my point stands: you can't ruin a salad. You can only make it better. :)
Second of all, you are not a rabbit, so don't feed yourself like one. If your answer to "have a salad" is "I don't like lettuce and carrots!" then you're doing it wrong. For starters, please see above. You really can't ruin a salad. So if you don't like lettuce and carrots, find lettuce you like and don't eat carrots. Here are a list of things I put on my salads when I have them around:
Caesar lettuce
Red leaf lettuce
Spinach leaves
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Corn
Peas
Green peppers
Yellow peppers
Red peppers
Apple pieces
Mandarin oranges
Raisins
Tomatoes
Grapes
Strawberries
Raspberries
Pear pieces
Edamame
Peaches
Crainraisins
Other dried fruit
Onions
Artichoke
Asparagus
(I'm typing this in class and my classmate is standing behind me saying, "Include young girls. Mmmmmm...")
Anyway, the point is, the sky is the limit. Wander through the produce section of your grocery store and if you see something you like, try putting it into your salad. Salads are made as follows:
1. Find some sort of leafy vegetable that can serve as your base. Those are the first four items on that list I made. Take a handful of your choice and stick it in a bowl. Get advanced if you want, and use two or more! WHOA!
2. Chop vegetables and fruits. I usually use 2-4 depending on how ambitious I'm feeling.
3. Get some salad dressing for the side and dip your fork into it as you eat your salad. OR get a salad sprayer and spray your dressing on your salad.
Thirdly (and last...ly), don't over-salad yourself. I LOVE salads but I only eat them as a meal once in a blue moon. I'll eat two (or more) a day, but I only eat them before meals. This way I fill up on veggies and fruits that I love (please see part the second!) before I go and eat things that are starchy. My suggestion? Start out slowly. Have a salad a few times a week before your meal. If you like it, you'll just add more without it being a chore. This two-a-day thing is very new for me, but I did it NOT because I wanted to be healthier (though it helps) but because I wanted to eat two salads a day. I like doing it. If you're going to say in one sentence that you don't like salads, do not in the next sentence say you'll replace lots of meals with them. My guess is, however, if you find a kind of salad that you like, you'll end up making more of them anyway.
I think that's about it.
In conclusion:
1. Put whatever you want on it.
2. Only put THINGS YOU LIKE on it.
3. Eat only as much as you want.
Some extra little tips...
4. Watch your dressing - I'm a big fan of the salad sprays from Wishbone and NOW they have a bunch more flavors. I think you can even get a ranch one? Some of the originals are like, a calorie per spray. So you spray your salad ten times and that's ten calories! Holla!
5. Watch your cheeses - I looove cheese and want to load up every salad I eat with lots of feta and monterey jack and cheddar and havarti... but that takes away from the health value of your salad. Having said that, if you have some shredded around and you want it, HAVE IT. Have it be the last thing you put on, and don't use a lot. Easy peasy pumpkin squeasy!
6. Watch your meats - If you're doing a salad before a meal, really just try and stay away from meats altogether. Unless your dinner has no protein (and you should eat protein!), you probably don't need it. If you're eating salads to lose weight, only put on meats that you'd eat anyway. For example, I like to put low-fat crab meat, or take a can of tuna or salmon and dump it (after draining) onto my salads if I'm making them a meal. Tear up some turkey breast or chicken breast and it's also delicious. Gonna put some steak into your salad? It's going to have more calories!
7. Skip the croutons - They're my favorite part of the salad too, but it's not worth it. You want something crunchy in your salad that isn't celery/carrots? Put in a few almonds or something. Nuts are very healthy fats so as long as you're not eating them by the handful, they're not going to hurt you. If you're dying for the flavoring of them (I love the seasoning on croutons), see if you can find a way to mimic that in your salad. You like the garlic and Parmesan croutons? See how your salad tastes with some garlic in it! You like the ranch ones? Use low fat ranch dressing OR try shaking some of the contents of a ranch dip mix onto it. I haven't actually tried this before, but hot dog I'd be willing! (On a side note - I love ranch dressing so much it's disturbing, but I HATE low fat/fat-free ranch and have given up on it.)
Okay that's really it. I'll shut up now. Add your 2 cents below, favorite salads, pictures. Whatever! Oh, but don't ask me about calorie counts for restaurant salads. Unless they're on a low-fat menu, they're probably a bajillion calories. Mmmmm... fattening salads...
I owe a couple people some thoughts on salad so I thought I would just put them down here, and I'm even leaving this one public so you can share it if you know anybody who's interested in salad.
Because salad is so freaking interesting.
First of all, here's the most important thing to remember: You can't ruin a salad. Now granted, if you put blue cheese in my salad, you have ruined my salad. If you douse your salad with ranch dressing, you have ruined YOUR salad. So okay, you can ruin your salad. But making salad isn't like making a sauce. You're not going to put too much celery into it and now it is ruined. If you have a salad somewhere that you like, ask what's in it. But if you forget something or you want to make a change, you're not going to RUIN it. Now granted if you get the recipe for a salad dressing, you can ruin THAT by adding something or leaving something out of it. BUT my point stands: you can't ruin a salad. You can only make it better. :)
Second of all, you are not a rabbit, so don't feed yourself like one. If your answer to "have a salad" is "I don't like lettuce and carrots!" then you're doing it wrong. For starters, please see above. You really can't ruin a salad. So if you don't like lettuce and carrots, find lettuce you like and don't eat carrots. Here are a list of things I put on my salads when I have them around:
Caesar lettuce
Red leaf lettuce
Spinach leaves
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Corn
Peas
Green peppers
Yellow peppers
Red peppers
Apple pieces
Mandarin oranges
Raisins
Tomatoes
Grapes
Strawberries
Raspberries
Pear pieces
Edamame
Peaches
Crainraisins
Other dried fruit
Onions
Artichoke
Asparagus
(I'm typing this in class and my classmate is standing behind me saying, "Include young girls. Mmmmmm...")
Anyway, the point is, the sky is the limit. Wander through the produce section of your grocery store and if you see something you like, try putting it into your salad. Salads are made as follows:
1. Find some sort of leafy vegetable that can serve as your base. Those are the first four items on that list I made. Take a handful of your choice and stick it in a bowl. Get advanced if you want, and use two or more! WHOA!
2. Chop vegetables and fruits. I usually use 2-4 depending on how ambitious I'm feeling.
3. Get some salad dressing for the side and dip your fork into it as you eat your salad. OR get a salad sprayer and spray your dressing on your salad.
Thirdly (and last...ly), don't over-salad yourself. I LOVE salads but I only eat them as a meal once in a blue moon. I'll eat two (or more) a day, but I only eat them before meals. This way I fill up on veggies and fruits that I love (please see part the second!) before I go and eat things that are starchy. My suggestion? Start out slowly. Have a salad a few times a week before your meal. If you like it, you'll just add more without it being a chore. This two-a-day thing is very new for me, but I did it NOT because I wanted to be healthier (though it helps) but because I wanted to eat two salads a day. I like doing it. If you're going to say in one sentence that you don't like salads, do not in the next sentence say you'll replace lots of meals with them. My guess is, however, if you find a kind of salad that you like, you'll end up making more of them anyway.
I think that's about it.
In conclusion:
1. Put whatever you want on it.
2. Only put THINGS YOU LIKE on it.
3. Eat only as much as you want.
Some extra little tips...
4. Watch your dressing - I'm a big fan of the salad sprays from Wishbone and NOW they have a bunch more flavors. I think you can even get a ranch one? Some of the originals are like, a calorie per spray. So you spray your salad ten times and that's ten calories! Holla!
5. Watch your cheeses - I looove cheese and want to load up every salad I eat with lots of feta and monterey jack and cheddar and havarti... but that takes away from the health value of your salad. Having said that, if you have some shredded around and you want it, HAVE IT. Have it be the last thing you put on, and don't use a lot. Easy peasy pumpkin squeasy!
6. Watch your meats - If you're doing a salad before a meal, really just try and stay away from meats altogether. Unless your dinner has no protein (and you should eat protein!), you probably don't need it. If you're eating salads to lose weight, only put on meats that you'd eat anyway. For example, I like to put low-fat crab meat, or take a can of tuna or salmon and dump it (after draining) onto my salads if I'm making them a meal. Tear up some turkey breast or chicken breast and it's also delicious. Gonna put some steak into your salad? It's going to have more calories!
7. Skip the croutons - They're my favorite part of the salad too, but it's not worth it. You want something crunchy in your salad that isn't celery/carrots? Put in a few almonds or something. Nuts are very healthy fats so as long as you're not eating them by the handful, they're not going to hurt you. If you're dying for the flavoring of them (I love the seasoning on croutons), see if you can find a way to mimic that in your salad. You like the garlic and Parmesan croutons? See how your salad tastes with some garlic in it! You like the ranch ones? Use low fat ranch dressing OR try shaking some of the contents of a ranch dip mix onto it. I haven't actually tried this before, but hot dog I'd be willing! (On a side note - I love ranch dressing so much it's disturbing, but I HATE low fat/fat-free ranch and have given up on it.)
Okay that's really it. I'll shut up now. Add your 2 cents below, favorite salads, pictures. Whatever! Oh, but don't ask me about calorie counts for restaurant salads. Unless they're on a low-fat menu, they're probably a bajillion calories. Mmmmm... fattening salads...