The "Healthy" Salad

Most people, especially people who are dieting, tend to think ordering a salad is diet friendly. The truth? It isn’t typically the best decision. Most restaurants use iceberg lettuce for their salads which just consists of fiber and water; it does not have much nutritional value. This lettuce turns into a gross slime once it enters your digestive track that your body needs to break down. Fiber and water doesn’t taste too appealing, which is why people drench their salads with dressings that are high in fat and sugars. A healthier choice is spinach with a small amount of oil and vinegar, which is my favorite way to make a salad. Croutons and bacon bits are a very popular and tasty topping but they have no nutritional value and just add on calories. If you need a crunch in your salad try some type of nut or seed. Adding some grilled chicken is a healthy choice, avoid fried chicken or processed sandwich meats. Also, do not over do the shredded cheese. Some other healthy toppings for salad are dried cranberries, almonds, a piece of salmon, beans, green vegetables, fruits, egg whites, the list goes on. Here is a great salad recipe to try out:

Salad ingredients:

• 4 cups baby spinach


• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts


• 1/2 cup red seedless grapes, sliced in half lengthwise


• 2 chopped scallions (include ~4 inches of the green part)


• 3 tablespoons dried cranberries


• salt


• medium coarse black pepper


• 4-oz mild goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing ingredients:

· 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

· 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

· sea salt

· medium coarse black pepper

Dressing instructions:

1. Whisk olive oil into cider vinegar.

2. Add salt and pepper to taste and whisk again to dissolve salt.

Salad Instructions:

1. Put all salad ingredients except goat cheese into large bowl.

2. Add desired amount of dressing and toss thoroughly.

3. Sprinkle goat cheese over entire salad and toss again lightly.