A New Look at Salads for Weight Loss

By: Tim helps online | Tags: dieting, healthy salad, main dish salad, weight loss | Comments: 0

When most of us think of dieting, we think of salads. Often, we think of nothing but lettuce on a plate, three times a day. While it’s true that lettuce can be filling and have a satisfying crunch, the idea of a plate piled with lettuce and nothing but lettuce is a thing of the past and it’s boring!

Salads can be amazingly versatile, and can come with different calorie counts. Some so high in calories that you might want to avoid certain types of salad if you want to lose weight! (A classic example of a fattening salad is one containing creamed or fatty dressings, fried chicken, bread, cheese, and/or bacon.)

So let’s get away from the all-lettuce plate, the fatty high-calorie salad and explore the realm of fresh, interesting, tasty salads that may help you with your weight-loss efforts. Here are some ideas to change up your salads!

1. Nuts and seeds

Walnuts, pecans, and almonds lend themselves nicely to salads, and they add healthy fats, crunch, flavour, and nutrients. Sunflower, hemp, pine nuts, and pumpkin seeds also add their own nutritious crunch. So many combinations can be created with various nuts, greens, fruits, and healthy dressings.

2. Whole grains

A whole grain salad can be very tasty, and a nice dish for a hot day or sunny picnic. Classics like tabouli or a Middle Eastern dish made with bulgur wheat, tomatoes, and cucumbers, are filling and healthy. Leftover brown rice can be tossed with vegetables and oil-and-vinegar dressing, and whole grain pasta salads are also healthy choices when looking to add carbs.

3. Legumes

Beans and legumes add protein and nutrients to salads. You can cook flavourful beans and serve them over a bed of greens, or simply mix various types of beans with a tasty dressing and serve them over a bed of whole grain (or just serve them in a bowl as-is).

4. Lean meats

Incorporating lean meats into your salad boosts the protein content, thus helping you to feel full longer and even have more energy. Slices of cold, lean beef go well with a few blue cheese crumbles, and lean turkey can be tossed in with pecans and a fruity vinaigrette. Fish can also do well in salads – try mixing tuna with cannellini beans and tomatoes for a new type of tuna salad. Cold, grilled salmon is delicious in a Caesar-themed salad.

5. Main dish salads

Have you thought about salads as a main dish? Whole grain salads can do very well as a main dish. Pasta salads can come in all kinds of varieties with different ethnic themes – Oriental rice noodle salad, for example, is very different from Greek pasta salad.

The number of variations to a salad are endless, just make sure they are healthy ingredients. If you aren’t sure of the nutritional value of an ingredient, Google it! Simply type in “what is the nutritional value of walnuts” or “what are the benefits of walnuts”. A little research goes a long way!