Salads

stacey76

Hey All
I'm not a fan of fruits and vegetables. I have for the last couple of years trying to make myself eat salads. Granted I use lots of salad dressing and can't forget the croutons! I've been working on very little to no croutons since starting dieting and sometimes depending on what dressing I'm using, I can use less. My salad's usually consist of spring mix, red onion, red kidney beans, white shredded cheese, mushrooms and chicken. I try to make it decent protein wise. Here's my question, I've heard salads help expand your stomache? Thats why they are used before meals to help make room for the reat of the food to come. So am I really helping or hurting myself by forcing myself in eating this things? Thanks Stacey

songbyrdsweet

Your stomach is a muscular pouch that can expand to hold up to 2L, but returns to its normal folded-up state when it's empty, sort of like a water balloon. It doesn't permanently 'shrink' or 'stretch' like people assume it does in response to eating more or less. It's made to fit tightly to whatever we eat to maximize the mixing and digesting that takes place there.

Mindful_Trent

I don't know about the whole stomach stretching thing, but if you can find another way to eat your 3 servings of veggies a day, then you may want to skip the salads. No sense in forcing yourself to eat something you don't like... it's less likely you'll be able to make it a long-term habit that way. I don't eat a lot of salads now, because I'm not a big lettuce fan, and I prefer eating veggies like baby carrots, sliced cucumber sprinkled with vinegar, steamed asparagus, spaghetti squash as a substitute for real spaghetti, and sliced tomatos sprinkled with pepper. There's no reason you HAVE to eat salads... just make sure you get your 3 veggies a day in.

I would recommend you try new fruits and veggies and experiment with different ways of preparing them - you may find you like them more than you thought!

leavinglasvegas

Songbyrdsweet is right. The stomach will expand when anything goes in it. Thats what it is made to do.

On the other hand, I have read from a number of holistic health/nutrition experts and my nutritional biology professor that eating your salad AFTER the meal is better for digestion. The roughage of the raw veggies act like a cleaner for you digestive tract. Try it for a week or two, and you'll notice a diffrence in your elimination habits. But honestly, if you don't like salad, just eat raw veggies. Or try using spinich instead of lettuce.

I LOVE salads. I couldn't imagine a world without them!