Topping lettuce and salad greens with chicken, seeds, nuts, fish,
shellfish, or beans can provide you with more protein than a hamburger,
twice as many nutrients as a traditional "entrée" plus two "side
vegetables" as well as contributing hard-to-find omega-3 fatty acids
to the salad meal. They can also be very low on the glycemic index.
Even small amounts of "garnish" type ingredients—like a tablespoon
of pumpkin seeds or a sprinkling of walnuts instead of croutons—are
a very worthwhile addition in terms of nutrients. Trace minerals and
small amounts of high-quality omega-3 fats are nutrients that most
U.S. adults don't get nearly enough of, and it doesn't take many
pumpkin seeds or walnuts to bring some of these vital nutrients into
the day's Healthiest Way of Eating.
Think of a salad meal as a canvas upon which you can mix the dif-
ferent “colors” of foods. Depending upon your mood, the season,
and the content of your refrigerator, you can make a salad with a
mixture of your favorite lettuce. Starting with a nutrient-rich lettuce
like romaine and adding a mesclun or spring mix variety of lettuces
will create a great foundation for any salad. From there you can add
in a selection of leafy greens, root vegetables, or other vegetables.
The sky's the limit as to what combination of nutrient-rich foods you
can use. From there, you can add fruit, nuts, seeds, beans,
legumes...the list of what you can add to a salad meal to make it
delicious and nutritious goes on and on. Mix up a lot of different
foods that feature a spectrum of nutrients and your salad bowl may
one day replace your multivitamin supplement.
And don't forget the dressing. The reason is that the fats in dressings
are necessary for our bodies to absorb carotenoids—the red, yellow,
and orange pigments in fruits and vegetables, which act as antioxidants
and prevent free radical damage that promotes aging and chronic
disease. This is because carotenoids (along with vitamins A, D, and
E) are fat-soluble, so our bodies cannot absorb them unless fat is
present. Studies have shown that adding just a little fat to your salads
Healthy Weight Loss — Without Dieting