Spice up Boring Salads

Summer is the season of salads. Salads are considered a high volume food because they provide a lot of nutrients without a lot of calories. Barbara Rolls, PhD, has published many journal articles and books related to the study of hunger and obesity. Her book Volumetric Eating Plan focuses on tips and techniques for feeling fuller on fewer calories. Eating salads before a meal is one such way to do this. In 2004 she published a study that showed that women who had eaten a low-energy dense salad (high volume of food, but low in calories) ate 7-12% fewer calories at the meal that followed. Not all salads are created equal however. They also tested high-energy-dense salads that had a higher calorie/fat dressing, more of the dressing and more cheese. Women who ate those salads increased their intake by 8-17%! Using smart strategies when making salads is therefore highly important if you are watching your waistline.



With all that said, I can still hear a few of you out there saying "salads get boring". I hear ya! Spicing up a salad can be a simple as adding one or two new ingredients each week or adding a little bit more texture here and there. Here are a few things to think about when looking to make a low-energy-dense salad that isn't boring!



-Start with a base of a few different lettuce varieties. There is crisp head lettuce like iceberg or bibb that provides a little crunch. Then you have your romaine, deep green leaves full of nutrients like vitamin A, K and C. Don't forget to add a little red leaf lettuce in there because, the more color the better. Remember that different colors bring different phyotonutrients to your plate.

-Add tons of veggies! Top your base of lettuce with as many different color veggies as you can. Get tired of the same combo each week? Mix it up. Sometimes put on red tomatoes for your red, other days put on red peppers or instead of white onion, add zip with red onion.

-Let there be fruit. If you haven't started yet, today is the day to try adding fruit to your salad bowl. There are no real rules for what works and what doesn't. Try fresh or even canned if you don't have any fresh on hand. I personally like strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, pear and apple the best, but you can get creative and add fruits like kiwi, cantaloupe, grapes, whatever your heart desires. Just go for color and flavor and you can't go wrong. If you decide to add dried fruits like cranberries, raisins or apricots, make sure to keep your portions in check. Those are a food that fall into the high-energy-dense category (water has been extracted so you get to eat less of them than the original version)

-Limit high calorie extras-You don't have to avoid these add on's because they are part of the way to jazz up a salad and prevent boredom, but do try to limit them because they are just the type of ingredients that lead to 700-900 calorie salads!

• Dried fruits
• Feta cheese-1 oz = 75 calories, 6 grams of fat
• Olives - 5 olives (kalamata pitted-my fav) 45 calories, 4.5 grams of fat
• blue cheese-1 oz = 100 calories, 8.2 grams of fat
• Walnut pieces- 1 oz = 190, 18 grams of fat
• Sunflower seeds - 2 tbsp = 103 calories, 9 grams fat
• Croutons - 130 calories, 5 grams of fat

Here is a link to Whole Foods which has some great salad ideas:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/list_salad.html

7-Day Goals: Try measuring out a few of your salad ingredients. A dash of walnuts here may have turned into way more than 1 oz worth or your little bit of blue cheese may have morphed into a much bigger calorie punch than you intended. Get creative with your salad today!

~K