When trying to lose or simply maintain your weight a salad may seem the inescapable choice. Especially this time of year when the weather is warmer salads are a great option - or are they?
We've all done it before, myself included. You want to lose some weight or have lost some and want to keep it off. You go out for a bite to eat with friends and happy to be spending time with them.
Menu Salads
You look at the menu and think, "Geez, I'd love to order that hamburger but I want to eat something salutary and fit in to my new shorts, so I'll just have the salad." Your friend orders the burger and you secretly wish you could too, but you're a "good girl" and think you're doing the right thing. So you order the salad and are proud as you made the right choice. But did you?
More often than not that so-called "healthy" salad is added from the truth. Getting a salad at a cafeteria or fast-food place can pack on more fat, calories and sodium than you bargained for. Take a look at this:
At Panera Bread, their Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad has 28 grams of fat, 120 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol and 1040 mg of sodium - and that's without the dressing! The Caesar Dressing adds an additional 16 grams of fat and 190 mg of sodium.
Then there's the Greek Salad which packs a whopping 39 grams of fat and 1370 grams of sodium - again, that's without the dressing. The Greek Dressing has 24 grams of fat and 380g of sodium. So if you get the Greek Salad With the dressing you're seeing at 63.... Yes that's sixty-three.... Grams of fat and 1750 mg of sodium. Not exactly a "healthy" meal.
Isn't that incredible?!
Or check this out - at Chili's cafeteria a Southwestern Cobb Salad (without dressing) has 60 grams of fat and 2590 mg of sodium (and it's 970 calories!). No, you did not read a typo. Then add on dressing. Let's just say you pick the Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette. Sounds healthy, doesn't it? That packs on someone else 33 grams of fat and 340 calories. And that's in expanding to the salad.
So if you were to order the salad With dressing you're seeing at a meal of 93 grams of fat (and you didn't even eat from the bread basket). Wowza!
Looking at the Chili's menu there are only 2 dressings with 10 grams of fat or under. The rest are 35 grams and up. The Caesar Salad with Lime Grilled Shrimp With Caesar Dressing has an unimaginable 77 grams of fat and 1900 mg of sodium! This is for a Salad!
"So What's a Girl (or Guy) To Do?"
Well for starters, don't just assume that a salad at a cafeteria (and the same goes for fast-food places) is a salutary choice. Often the items that pack on the calories are the dressings, chicken (which is often fried), bacon, tortilla strips and other items.
Often it's best to go with a "basic" salad. They're often smaller and have less extra (read: calorie & fat laden) stuff in them. For example, at Panera Bread their superior Cafe Salad has 11 grams of fat, and Chili's evening meal Salad has 7 grams.
But watch out for the dressing. Best to ask if they have oil and vinegar that you can put on yourself.
Other choices (generally) are those labeled as vinaigrettes. But as we saw earlier, that's not all the time the case. When in doubt, be one of those population that ask for dressing on the side. It's okay, really. Many population today order on the side and for good reason. So just do it and add a bit of the dressing at a time to your salad.
And if you're de facto concerned, many chain and fast-food restaurants post the nutritional info on their website. Before heading out, check the nutritional info and see what's the best option for you. (Though some of them do "hide" it so you may need to dig a bit).
That may seem a bit overboard and time absorbing for you. But think of it this way: you can either spend 5-10 minutes checking out a restaurant's website beforehand, or you can spend 3-4 hours (or more) at the gym working it off later. I don't know about you, but the first option seems best to me!
Besides, your body doesn't need all of that sodium and extra calories.
Remember, an informed consumer is a smart consumer. The same goes for your health. Informing yourself is the first great step to any condition or weight-loss goals. So take control of your condition and get informed so you can de facto make the "healthiest choice."
© Dinneen Diette, 2008
The Shocking Truth About Salads
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