Why Salads are not as Healthy as we Thought
Replies
-
snowflake930 wrote: »It IS the high calorie items (toppings and/or dressings) that add the calories. I love salads. Use a variety of raw veggies, Tbsp of cheese, and low calorie dressing. In the 3 years I have been on MFP, I have lost 160+ pounds, and been maintaining for almost 17 months, and I eat salad everyday. Choose your toppings and work it into your daily calorie allotment. It can be very low calorie.
Amazing work!!! Not to hijack the post, but can I ask if you did it with diet and exercise alone? either way amazing successs! Congrats!!!0 -
kristen6350 wrote: »See, my Greek salads come out to 160 calories. I add Romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta, grilled chicken and use a 45 calorie Red Wine Vinaigrette (use 2TBSP, weighed out). I just don't use HUGE amounts of each. Enough to fill me up. I think you are doing it wrong, bro! LOL It's all about appropriate serving sizes.
That must be all leaves with the saddest portion of chicken and feta ever.0 -
3.5 servings of chicken breast on a salad? My god man how big is this salad?
0 -
Salads only sneak in calories if you tart them up with cheese, bacon, croutons, etc.
I love Greek salads, myself...I slice the Kalamatas so I get a wee bit in every bite rather than nomming whole olives. I measure out half an ounce of finely crumbled feta and only use 1T of dressing. TONS of pickled peppers and cucumbers, though!0 -
ceoverturf wrote: »3.5 servings of chicken breast on a salad? My god man how big is this salad?
Maybe that the wrong way that other poster was talking about. That is very close to a 500 calorie salad.
0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »
yopeeps025 wrote: »lcooper327 wrote: »Totally dependent on what you add to it. I like salad. And it has a lot of volume which makes it filling if you do it right.
What? the right way?
and the heated debate begins
Maybe every time you question something you turn it into a heated debate
Sweetie...I did not question anything. As usual you got it all wrong BUT posted snotty comments anyway! ugh
...He debates EVERYTHING. So don't worry haha0 -
Would the OP care to share his diary or give a detailed descriotion of this salad i.e list of ingredients and weight, then people could make up their own mind whether they thought it was healthy and how many calories they thought it had?
Talking about a salad only you know the details of puts the rest of us at a disadvantage.0 -
I never would have expected Buffalo Chicken Salad to be light on calories. And I think the words 'Quesadilla Explosion' are also fair warning that big calories lie ahead. I hope no one out there ever confused those menu items with actual salads!
Does anybody remember the Bud Light Real Men of Genius ads?
"Here's to you, Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor Man!"
youtube.com/watch?v=FWMBAmo_1cQ
0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »ceoverturf wrote: »3.5 servings of chicken breast on a salad? My god man how big is this salad?
Maybe that the wrong way that other poster was talking about. That is very close to a 500 calorie salad.
Maybe *shrug*
Guess we'll never know
0 -
PeachyPlum wrote: »I never would have expected Buffalo Chicken Salad to be light on calories. And I think the words 'Quesadilla Explosion' are also fair warning that big calories lie ahead. I hope no one out there ever confused those menu items with actual salads!
Does anybody remember the Bud Light Real Men of Genius ads?
"Here's to you, Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor Man!"
youtube.com/watch?v=FWMBAmo_1cQ
Loved those....I had a CD of about 100 different ones once...I should find it again. Comedy gold!
/hijack0 -
I remember the sad day I found my favorite spinach salad recipe was nearly 800 calories. I was always thinking it was around 400.0
-
Someone posted they use salsa on any salad,because they like it better than salad dressings. I prefer rice vinegar,lots of seasoning,small amout of oil .Heavy on the veggies & it's good to go.0
-
kristen6350 wrote: »See, my Greek salads come out to 160 calories. I add Romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta, grilled chicken and use a 45 calorie Red Wine Vinaigrette (use 2TBSP, weighed out). I just don't use HUGE amounts of each. Enough to fill me up. I think you are doing it wrong, bro! LOL It's all about appropriate serving sizes.
I'm trying to work this out. How much feta and chicken do you put in this?0 -
Salads ARE healthy. Mine come in around 300 calories. I use dressing very sparingly. I eat lots of yummy vegetables in mine. And a little feta or blue cheese.0
-
I probably have salads as a meals 6x per week. They range from 150 calories to 400. They're delicious, filling, and nutritionally dense. If your idea of a salad requires that it be 800 calories, then I think there's a problem with your perception; not with salads...0
-
yopeeps025 wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »lcooper327 wrote: »Totally dependent on what you add to it. I like salad. And it has a lot of volume which makes it filling if you do it right.
What? the right way?
and the heated debate begins
Maybe every time you question something you turn it into a heated debate
Sweetie...I did not question anything. As usual you got it all wrong BUT posted snotty comments anyway! ugh
...He debates EVERYTHING. So don't worry haha
You should of heard the debates I was having last night.
0 -
Someone posted they use salsa on any salad,because they like it better than salad dressings. I prefer rice vinegar,lots of seasoning,small amout of oil .Heavy on the veggies & it's good to go.
Yep. Alternate, low cal dressings include:
Balsamic Vinegar
Rice Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Squeeze of fresh Lime, Lemon, or Grapefruit
Honestly, I find that about 1/4 cup of certain veggies (like thawed frozen corn) is sweet enough to replace my need for dressing.0 -
You're making out that calories are unhealthy. 800 calories in a meal would make me think I need to find something else to eat after the salad. Calories are neither healthy nor unhealthy. It entirely depends on your specific goals. I'm trying to eat 3000 calories a day. But even if I were only aiming for 1200 a day, 800 calories in the form of salad leaves and chicken breast is still healthy. And 500 calories in the form of a bag of crisps is not healthy even if it contains fewer calories.0
-
I probably have salads as a meals 6x per week. They range from 150 calories to 400. They're delicious, filling, and nutritionally dense. If your idea of a salad requires that it be 800 calories, then I think there's a problem with your perception; not with salads...
Yikes! 150 calories is a snack, not a meal! I hope you're one of those eat 8 meals a day types!0 -
Nope....just nope0
-
800 calories is half my daily calorie allowance, if I don't exercise. But on days I exercise, I have no issue with pushing my calorie allowance to over 2000, so 800 calories isn't that big a deal for one meal out of the day. When eating at maintenance, I could easily have 800 calories for three meals a day.0
-
Great clickbait thread title.0
-
I agree that logging in MFP can be very eye opening. My taco salads easily added up to a ton more caloreis than I expected. Lots of lettuce, chicken, corn, black beans, guacamole, salsa and ranch dressing (low fat, so it was fine to use a ton).
I've now cut it back to something more reasonable and really thought about what I like in the salad (and what I can live without). It still has 100g of chicken, lettuce, mushroom/bell pepper/onion blend that's been cooked in spices, cheese, guacamole, and salsa as dressing. It works out to still be 500 calories (I think), but I love every bite, and I can easily fit that into my daily goal for lunch or dinner.0 -
PeachyPlum wrote: »Someone posted they use salsa on any salad,because they like it better than salad dressings. I prefer rice vinegar,lots of seasoning,small amout of oil .Heavy on the veggies & it's good to go.
Yep. Alternate, low cal dressings include:
Balsamic Vinegar
Rice Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Squeeze of fresh Lime, Lemon, or Grapefruit
Honestly, I find that about 1/4 cup of certain veggies (like thawed frozen corn) is sweet enough to replace my need for dressing.
Yeah, I like to add lactofermented veggies or banana peppers to my salads, their tartness is enough to serve as dressing sometimes!0 -
Someone posted they use salsa on any salad,because they like it better than salad dressings. I prefer rice vinegar,lots of seasoning,small amout of oil .Heavy on the veggies & it's good to go.
Yum salad! I use salsa instead of dressing if I'm lazy, homemade pico de gallo if not. And my salads are huge! Beets, broccoli, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, cukes. With a little grilled chicken and and hard boiled egg. Yum!
A tip for salad lovers. If you want salads for the week you can make a ton at the beginning of the week and portion them into airtight FoodSaver containers and they last all week long.0 -
I never would have expected Buffalo Chicken Salad to be light on calories. And I think the words 'Quesadilla Explosion' are also fair warning that big calories lie ahead. I hope no one out there ever confused those menu items with actual salads!
Heh, so true.
That said, I actually buy a buffalo chicken salad from time to time. It has 450 calories, 30 grams protein, 24 grams fat, 30 grams carbs, and 6 grams fiber (and 1340 g sodium, which isn't great, but you buy lunch, you take your chances there). Fits my lunch needs quite easily. (Well, I'm not eating chicken at the moment, but when I am again it will.)
0 -
If there are loads of fattening foods in your salad of course with will make you fat
Like 1500 calories of lettuce is still 1500 claories. I hate you all0 -
This. Lots of foods have good fats in them and fat has more calories per gram than the other 2 macros. For most, it's still going to come down to portion sizes.ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »High calorie doesn't mean unhealthy. A salad (or a lot of other foods) can be very nutrient dense and also be very calorie dense.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
0 -
I probably have salads as a meals 6x per week. They range from 150 calories to 400. They're delicious, filling, and nutritionally dense. If your idea of a salad requires that it be 800 calories, then I think there's a problem with your perception; not with salads...
What's wrong with someone who would like an 800 calorie salad? My calorie needs are 2250/day. 800 calories sounds pretty darn appropriate in such a circumstance. It's not my perception that's a problem at all.0 -
This content has been removed.
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 427 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions