Healthy Salad Tips

By Michelle DeLiso

Eating a salad implies eating healthfully, but it isn't necessarily a lean eater's staple. It's only a sound choice if it's low on calories and keeps fat to a dull roar. Create a wholesome meal with these tips for buying, or building a nutritious salad.



Dress Lightly

When ordering out, opt for light or fat-free dressings, and don't bathe your salad with it -- order it on the side. Keep calories at bay by slightly dunking each forkful into the dressing. When making a salad at home, avoid bottled dressings -- just two tablespoons of the regular kind can add 180 calories to the meal. Consider oil and vinegar; even though olive oil is about 120 calories per tablespoon, it offers "good fats" without the often high sodium content of its bottled counterparts. Invigorate the conventional mix with ingredients that compliment it, or find dressing substitutes. Try oil with lemon, sweet balsamic or white wine vinegar. Blend green onion, shallots, fresh chopped chives, dill or cilantro into dressings. To switch it up, use fat-free salsa or bruschetta as the condiment.

Think Color

Choose ingredients from the major color categories. For example: Red: tomatoes, watermelon; Green: spinach, broccoli; Orange: carrots, apricots; Purple: blackberries, purple cabbage; white: leeks, pears. The color wheel is more than eye-catching: the color spectrum represents families of compounds that provide you with a host of vitamins and phytonutrients.

Avoid the Crunch

Say no to deep fried chicken strips, croutons, bacon bits or salads in a taco shell. A tablespoon of bacon bits can add 33 calories, 0.5 ounces croutons 60 calories, a couple of fried chicken strips could add more than 300, and a taco shell upwards of 400. If its texture you crave, add chopped green peppers, salt-free walnuts or almonds, raisins, dried cherries, wheat germ or chopped apples.

Add Flavor, Not fat

Taste buds crave excitement, but you don't need foods like cheese or fried goods to find it. Add peppery herbs and vegetables like fennel, celery and flat leaf parsley, or sweet flavors from roasted peppers, plums or nectarines. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.

Avoid Processed Meats

The deli meats on any chef salad rolled to exquisite precision make an impressive presentation, but the calorie and sodium counts are staggering: Just one cold cut roll-up could rack up 120 calories and 600 mg of sodium. Instead, get the protein your body needs from hard-boiled eggs, tuna, cooked shrimp or beans.

Next: Healthy Restaurant Salads