Anyway to make salads more appetizing??

singer201

Basic dinner salad for me (in addition to a protein entree) is chopped romaine, tomato, avocado, and mushrooms. If I add half a chopped mandarin orange, a quarter of a chopped pear or apple, or chopped pickled beets, I don't even need to use dressing. Something about the little bit of healthy sweetness raises the taste from hum-drum, boring salad.

lynn_glenmont

I like to use cottage cheese instead of salad dressing. It's a better food than dressing and it does the job.... moisten the salad. I happen to love cottage cheese anyway. Also if you are going to have salad, add some good sources of protein such as beans or chickpeas.

Oh, yes, both of these are good. And if you want your cottage cheese to seem more like dressing, you can puree it a little in the blender and thin it just a little with milk, kefir, buttermilk, whey drained from your yogurt, etc. Add a little salt and fresh or dried herbs if you want to make it extra tasty.

ETA: fried or poached eggs are another great non-dressing salad moistener. I prefer them on salads with grains or hearty vegetables like beets or potatoes, but they work nicely with bitter salad greens, especially frisee. You break the yolk and it spreads all warm and yummy over the salad. I wish I weren't so full from my beet salad, so I could go have a potato salad with a poached egg right now.

Athena53

Variety. I have a salad (brought from home) every day for my lunch at work. I make sure to keep several types of lettuce (rarely iceberg- BORING) and whatever is reasonably-priced at the grocery- carrots, radishes, cucumber, etc. You can also sauté more fibrous veggies with nonstick spray or steam them. That might include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower. Add some garlic salt and chopped fresh garlic when you sauté or steam. If I really want to splurge I buy arugula- I love arugula from our local farmer's market during warm weather, but right now you have to buy it at the grocery store and it's not cheap.

rayonrainbows

you could look into making homemade salad dressings....

vinagre & spice variations
cucumber & yogurt in blender (add avocado & some garlic for a different but delicious taste)
zucchini "hummus"
etc

just mix it up. mix up your greens (mm kale & arugula), mix up your toppings (mexican, mediterranean, etc)
and most importantly, enjoy it! if you don't enjoy it, there are a lot of other ways to get the nutrients of veggies-- yummy stir-fries, roasted/grilled, use your imagination (and/or the internet)

0somuchbetter0

2 questions:

1. Why force yourself to eat something you hate?

2. When you say you hate salads, what part of the salad do you hate, exactly? There are so many varieties of salad, I can't imagine what you're referring to.

MizzQuizz

The OXO Salad chopper. It's weird, but it seems to make salads more palatable to me. It comes with a huge, heavy duty plastic bowl, and a twin bladed cutter. You add your greens, veggies, etc to the bowl, then CHOP it to bits! I call them my 'spoon salads', because everything is chopped so fine, you can eat it with a spoon. I'm not sure why it makes salad taste so much better, but its the best $25 I've ever spent on Amazon.com. If you do instagram, just search the hashtag #BAS (stands for Big *kitten* Salad). ENJOY!

lfcutie

I make taco salad with salsa...or just salad chicken and salsa, you can top it with those shredded tortilla chips they sell by the croutons. I also make my salad with just the cabbage coleslaw mix bag and add avocado. I like the lite Newman dressings they are good.

livingleanlivingclean

i love salads. I love salad dressing made with homemade evoo mayo and apple cider vinegar.

you need good fat so why scrimp on salad dressing when you can make the salad more appetising with something you need? it'll make the meal more satisfying and you wont be hungry 2 minutes later.

makingamiracle

Fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, red pepper flake, a little salt, and freshly cracked pepper. I could eat a meadow prepared that way.

toddis

If you are talking salad made with lettuce...you can always try different lettuce.

Which specific part of salad do you dislike?

CrusherKun

I use to be the same way. My wife use to make me a salad everyday for lunch (and still does) and after a while I started throwing most of it away cause I just didn't feel like eating ANOTHER salad. But after focusing on my transformation, I decided to change the old dull lettuce mix and went with a Kale/Beet Top/Spinach mixture that I found at Walmart. It was different and quite tasty. I also put a lot of time into finding a salad dressing I really liked. Wishbone has a really tasty low cal low fat spicy French dressing I really like. Also, I like make sure I have plenty of red bell pepper and red onion in it also. A few grape tomato's and some cucumbers and I am good to go.

I also think that my frame of mind at the time of consumption is key. I have made sure to take my 2.2 mile walk before I sit down to eat. That way it doesn't matter what I am eating, cause I BE HUNGRY!

IF all else fails....add bacon!

CK

droberts3311

Try rice vinigar. It is so good and you can get differant flavors. I add bean, feta cheese, corn, cranberries, what ever I have on hand. I dont think I have ever made any one salad the same. If you just dont like them try stir fry...bag of mixed veggies, soy sauce, chicken broth, mix it up. Anything goes, you cant go wrong. Good luck..:flowerforyou:

jennifer_417

One of the best ways to succeed at weight loss is to not force yourself to eat anything you don't like. The idea is to make the process as easy and pain-free as possible.

ItsCasey

A salad isn't necessarily healthy or unhealthy. How a salad fits into your larger calorie and macro goals for the day is what makes it a good or bad choice for you.

But it shouldn't come as any great surprise that the main ways to make a salad more appetizing are also going to pile on the calories. If you don't generally like salads, I highly doubt that using lemon juice as a dressing is going to change your mind. Meat will typically make a salad more enjoyable and more filling, as will cheese and full-fat dressings. And these are things that will likely require some calorie and macro sacrifices elsewhere in your day.

Another option is to use fruits and vegetables that pack a lot of flavor. Citrus/tropical fruits and peppers are my go-tos (I especially love using mangoes and jalapenos together). Strong herbs like cilantro will also do wonders for taste. I like to use shallots, as well, because they sort of pull double duty as onion and garlic.

gsoukup2

pomegranate seeds or corn cooked with a little bbq or steak sauce

dsoucy31

I always viewed salads as a leafy green meal. however I just pulled out a can of chick peas because I was going to attempt homemade hummus and there was a chick pea tuna salad recipe on the label that seems very interesting! so needless to say I put it together and its sitting in the fridge for tomorrows lunch.... so my advice is explore other types of salad!

ka97

If you don't like salads, then don't eat salad.

But, if you really want, get creative and experiment w/flavors. Think about what you do like, and get creative with how you could put it on top of some sort of vegetable mixture.

Some of my faves :

-baby spinach or spring mix, strawberries, sliced almonds, crumbled blue cheese, grilled chicken, blush wine vinaigrette - comes in at about 250 calories

-baby spinach, celery, carrots, grilled chicken or turkey, franks red wing sauce, bolthouse farms yogurt ranch dressing - under 200 calories

-shredded iceburg, ground turkey taco meat, onion, peppers, celery, salsa, nonfat greek yogurt, lowfat shredded cheese - about 300 calories (closer to 200 if I skip the cheese)

Great flavors and filling, doesn't feel at all like diet food.
But again, if you just don't like it, don't eat it.

ETA - I make my salads in a large Tupperware container, put the lid on, and shake. Gets all the yummy (and more caloric) ingredients mixed up throughout the salad. This allows me to keep the portions size low on the higher calorie items and load up on the veggies, and still get good flavor.

fruttibiscotti

^^^^ this! And extra virgin olive oil and avocados...fat makes it tasty and healthy!

jweindruch

Whole foods sells a variety of "No Oil" salad dressings in the produce section that are low in calories by high in flavor. Also, I add a whole avocado to every salad which for me makes it awesome!

ShawnandKristine

I love adding bbq sauce, a little goes a long way and low on calories!
I also like cottage cheese over it..

Those are my favs!