What’s New and Most Popular
Enter your email address to receive updates
and freebies from NicheTopics
© Copyright 2004-
Niche Topics (Diet, Health & Fitness) is dedicated to help you lead a happy and healthy
life. We provide the latest updates on nutrition, dieting, exercise, fitness, home
remedies and natural cures for common illnesses, and other health-
Categories
Resources
By Peter Reyes
I wonder how many of you guys can relate to this. You take your girlfriend out for a nice meal, she tells you she's not hungry, on diet, blah blah blah and feeling virtuous, she asked for a Southern Cobb salad without dressing. Mind you, that's a salad with 1080 calories! On diet??
Many dieters think that eating salad is a no-
Use these healthy salad bar choices to help you navigate your way through the salad bar safely without breaking your calorie bank for the day.
1. To begin, eat fresh vegetables plus legumes and go for color – leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, mushrooms, sweet peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes, kidney beans and chickpeas.
If you see iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce, choose romaine. Dark colored veggies much more Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium and iron.
Kale, spinach, watercress, and arugula are other good choices to pick. Colored greens like iceberg consist mostly water and they don't provide the same nutritional benefits.
2. Stay away from unhealthy high sodium food items including soups. Salted items may contain monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG is a notorious excitotoxin that causes you to overeat.
3. Avoid or limit yourself to one tablespoon (at most) of fat salad dressing such as regular Italian, French or Blue Cheese dressing.
Instead, opt for olive oil, salsa, lemon juice, red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.
4. Croutons are usually drizzled with butter so that they stay crunchy, thus they may contain a fair bit of fat. I suggest you skip salad toppings such as croutons or bacon bits altogether.
Or, just take a tiny amount of seeds and nuts. Walnuts, sunflower seeds and sesame
seeds are high in polyunsaturated fats, which are desirable because they have a cholesterol-
5. Limit the serving size or skip prepared food items like pasta salad, potato salad, three bean salad and marinated vegetables. These foods usually contain oil or mayonnaise; in other words high in calories and fat. Do you know that a tablespoon of mayo has 100 calories?
Also, be cautious of gelatin items made with cream cheese and whipped cream, which contain both saturated fat and cholesterol.
6. Hot may not be a figure-
So, your safe bet is to skip on those items and if you like some extra protein to go with your salad, choose grilled chicken breast, turkey, plain tuna, beans, tofu or eggs instead.
7. If you want a bowl of soup, choose only the vegetable broth based soups. Keep in mind that creamy or beef based soups tend to be higher in fat.
8. For dessert, always go for fresh fruits. Sure, ice creams, pastries, cakes and puddings are delicious but they are high in saturated fat.
9. Last but very important tip for eating healthy at salad bars is always eat slowly. Put your fork down between each bite. It takes approximately 20 minutes for your brain to know that you're full and hence you don't overeat.
It's not difficult to eat healthy at salad bars. With these healthy salad bar items in mind, I'm sure you'll leave the salad bar satisfied and smiling!
How to Eat Healthy at the Salad Bar
Watch Your Food Portion Sizes at Meal Time
How to use your hand or common everyday items as a point of reference to estimate your servings.
Healthy Low Fat Chinese Takeout Restaurant Choices
Find out how your favorite Chinese restaurant or takeaway dishes rank on the nutrition scale.
Surprising Reasons Why You Can’t Lose Weight
What you can do to kick-
Is Your Boyfriend Making You Fat?
Most women in love tend to gain weight. Learn what you do to avoid getting fat in your relationship.
Snacks can be part of a healthy and balanced diet. What are some healthy snacks that will satisfy your cravings and help you lose weight?
What alcoholic drinks have the lowest calories? More tips on how you can still stay slim while enjoying your party drinks.
15 Yummy Ideas to Eat More Fiber and Love It
Find ideas to include more fiber in your diet to meet the daily requirement of 25-
Avoid Food Temptation While Dieting
Find diet tips on how you can resist and control food cravings painlessly.
What’s the difference between light, reduced fat and low fat food labels? Are low fat foods ok to eat?
