The right ingredients can yield a flavorful salad without adding calories.
Even though many people think salads are boring, there are plenty of ways to make a tasty salad that is still healthy. Keeping your salad healthy is the number one key. Adding too many calories in the form of salad dressing and cheese can make actually make your salad more unhealthy than eating a slice of cake. You want to find a good balance of healthy food ingredients that spice up the flavor of your salad without adding too many calories.
Instructions
1. Start with your greens. You can choose among several different types of lettuce to start your salad off. If you pick iceberg lettuce -- the most common and blandest variety -- make sure you add another type of lettuce because iceberg has the least nutritional value out of all the lettuce varieties. Some different types of lettuce you can add to your salad include romaine, bibb or arugula.
2. Add as many vegetables as you can. Pick any vegetables that you like and add them to your salad. Besides the basic carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and radishes, try other vegetables in your salad such as corn, peas and zucchini. A wide variety of vegetables will add crunch and zest to your salad.
3. Try adding some fruit to add sweetness and texture. Try some apples, mandarin oranges, blueberries, raspberries, or pineapple. The sweetness in fruit can offer a nice counterbalance to the bitterness of many vegetables.
4. Toss in some protein to keep you feeling full longer. Several different options will keep your salad healthy. Try a piece of grilled chicken. If you want more flavor, try different seasoning rubs on your grilled chicken or add some garlic to your grilled chicken. Other protein sources include tuna, turkey and nuts such as almonds. Beans are another great option for adding some protein to your salad. Add some kidney or navy beans for extra flavor. If the salad is going to be dinner, you can even add a portion size of steak that has all the fat trimmed off. Make sure that you keep the portion sizes of the protein in check because you can add too much protein and pack on the calories.
5. If you must have cheese on your salad, make sure that you pick a low-fat cheese. Adding too much cheese to your salad will add the calories to the salad and you can get flavor elsewhere besides the fattening cheese. Another option for cheese is grated parmesan cheese, as it will spread throughout the salad even if you only put a little bit of it on. Also, you could try adding in some low-fat cottage cheese for taste and texture.
6. Absolutely avoid creamy dressings such as ranch and Caesar on your salads. Try making your own dressings out of extra virgin olive oil and different vinegars. Add in some herbs such as rosemary, dill, and garlic. Even if you use oil to dress your salad, you do not want to drench the salad in salad dressing. Make sure that you put a light drizzle of dressing on the salad or you can dip your fork into your dressing with every bite so that you get dressing in every bite but not that much.
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