Is my salad unhealthy?

OTchic

Hi guys,

I have been eating this salad pretty consistently and I started thinking that I need to eat less fat as I saw my weekly fat for one week was 46/40% I guess that's pretty high? Then I figured while it's 310 calories my salad might not be healthy ?
What do you all think?

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 salad (no dressing)
 
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 160Calories 310
 
% Daily Values*
Total Fat 18g 28%
  Saturated Fat 6g 30%
  Trans Fat 0g  
Cholesterol 200mg 67%
Sodium 1150mg 48%
Total Carbohydrate 8g 3%
  Dietary Fiber 3g 12%
  Sugars 2g  
Protein 29g  
 
Vitamin A 160% Vitamin C 40%
Calcium 25% Iron 20%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

impyimpyaj

What's in it? The numbers aren't really all that helpful without some context.

Funsoaps

I usually look at ingredients as opposed to all the other stuff, what is your salad made of (consist of?).

caraiselite

if that is a meal, then i don't think its particularly high at all, depending on your other meals.

what is so fatty in it?

morninglilli

seems like a lot of salt for a salad also.

ericgAU

Salt seems high so to fat.

OTchic

Sorry !!!

It has 1 egg, olives, 3 cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup Colby jack cheese, carrots, lettuce, spinach leaves, bacon and chicken.I

I don't know what would make it salty maybe I should not eat the bacon? It's like .. 1/4 cup of bacon.

impyimpyaj

Honestly, it sounds pretty good to me. I'd probably cut back on the cheese by half, but that's personal preference. Your sodium and fat are coming from the cheese and the bacon. And there's lots of sodium in the olives too. There are far worse things you could be eating. I'd probably just leave it, but if you feel like you *need* to change something, start with cutting back on the cheese, and maybe the bacon. (But why would you want to cut out bacon? I love bacon.)

idauria

I would personally opt for either bacon or olives but not both due to the high sodium. But other than that I think it looks ok. If you really want to pare down the fat, leave off the bacon or cheese or just reduce amounts.

caraiselite

that salad sounds like heaven to me, except no chicken, add a hamburger. yum.
chicken likes to make me ill.

livestar

wow, I'm totally having this tomorrow, minus the cheese and with a whole lot less bacon

cindyhoney2

Sounds yummy except for the olives. I have had a 900 calorie salad for dinner so that's not really bad.

Cadori

Can you replace the bacon and cheese with avocado?

DarkFlutter

maybe try turkey bacon? and less cheese.

TracyAnn90

And maybe just the egg white.

Rayman79

It honestly sounds good to me! The salt content would be the only thing I would look to reduce.

If you want to reduce the cals you could lose the egg yolk, but I wouldn't bother - thems good fats! Reducing the amount of bacon is probably the easiest way to reduce sodium, fat and cals from this salad. (PS feel free to send the bacon to me!) :bigsmile:

Athijade

And maybe just the egg white.

And lose all the good stuff in the yolk? Heck no! Healthy fats and nutrients do a body good.

Funsoaps

Sounds great. you can replace bacon with canned chicken breast, deli turkey or just egg, I add nuts like broken raw pecans are my favorite. I love crunch to my salad, so nuts, celery are my favs. I love egg on a salad. I like my lettuce/spinach to be organic.

I drizzle mine with Extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Instead of cheese, I sprinkle Nutritional Yeast it's good, but you can use cheese too.

minkakross

unless you have a blood pressure problem I wouldn't worry about the sodium, I also wouldn't be all that concerned with the fat if you are staying within your daily calorie goal since it's pretty much been proven you can eat Twinkies as your only food group and lose weight if you just eat under your calorie goal. Personally if it still bothered me I would rather substitute than reduce since the protein count on that salad is awesome; I might try low fat cheese and turkey bacon, maybe reduce the olives since they are a likely culprit of a good portion of sodium.

EKarma

310 calories is not bad for a salad. I have found the most delicious salad dressing are from Bolthouse Farms. Any of their dressing are so delish!! My new favorite is the thousand island, and it's only 40 cals per 2 tbsp.

You could probably cut out the bacon and colby jack cheese. I like to do my salads with romaine lettuce, 6 slice beets, 6 slices bread butter pickles, .25 cup low fat cottage cheese, some kidney beans, cucumber, radish, red bell pepper, and (any) Bolthouse Farms dressing. They are all under 45 cals and so freakin delish. Or I use just plain vinegar if I'm in the mood.

EKarma

maybe try turkey bacon? and less cheese.

Turkey bacon usually has more sodium than regular and they have practically the same amount of cals. I used turkey bacon forever until I discovered this. Might as well go with the real stuff on an inconsistent basis.

darlilama

Generally sounds healthy (and tasty) to me. If you want to improve it, then bacon can be really high in fat and sodium. MIght opt for none or less. Do they have low-sodium and/or low-fat crumbled bacon in the condiments aisle? Also, if you're not using reduced-fat cheese (2% milk), I'd suggest making that switch as well. Sargento has some tasty reduced-fat cheeses! I don't notice the difference at all. Olives are good for you … but they are high in calories and fats (good fats). So, if you're having three or four, maybe just have a couple?

I always opt for light dressings and vinaigrettes… and personally I really don't need much dressing at all on my salad, so that can save a lot of fat and calories.

Overall, I think your salad is healthy and sounds delicious. But, I think with some minor changes, you could make it a tad more balanced.