What's Really In Salad?

dat_island_ass

Hi guys! This might be a bit silly, but I've been wondering about it for a few hours and decided to just ask.

How do you get energy from salad if there are barely any calories in it? Sure, it makes you full - DEFINITELY. But most of the things that go into mine - lettuce, celery, cucumbers, etc. - have such low calorie counts that I almost always disregard them.

So, a little nutrition lesson, please. What's in a salad?

SailorSarah311

Well, celery has iron in it. Lettuce is full of vitamin C. Cucumbers have tons of vitamin B which give you a quick pick me up...plus, it helps hydrate you because it is 95% water. I would say these are some benefits to eating just salad. Next time you should add some protein to it like chickpeas or beans. Maybe even add some meat. Yes, the salad by itself literally has no calories, but it is still beneficial to your health.

annepage

Hi guys! This might be a bit silly, but I've been wondering about it for a few hours and decided to just ask.

How do you get energy from salad if there are barely any calories in it? Sure, it makes you full - DEFINITELY. But most of the things that go into mine - lettuce, celery, cucumbers, etc. - have such low calorie counts that I almost always disregard them.

So, a little nutrition lesson, please. What's in a salad?

You can always change up what you put in it. Dried fruit such as cranberries, nuts but both in moderation since they are high in calories. Lean protein like tofu, chicken, etc. Veg=carbs which do give you energy. Make your salads colourful so you can reap in the nutritional benefits of the various veg (red peppers, carrots, dark leafy greens, etc).

significance

Energy=calories. Some ingredients of some salads are high in energy, but the more important thing is the other nutrients the salad vegetables provide: vitamins, minerals and fibre.

If you don't eat vegetables, you won't be getting the vitamins you need, and we don't understand how they work well enough to replicate them in some other way. Multivitamin tablets have been shown NOT to work: in fact, there is some evidence they may be bad for you. Yet vegetables that contain the same vitamins are extremely good for you. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivitamin#Epidemiological_research_on_multivitamin_use_and_disease for a discussion of the effects of multivitamins

darkangeljanie

Iceberg lettuce has virtually zero nutrition. A better salad would include more leafy greens like baby leaf spinach, watercress that deliver high doses of vitamin A, K and C etc.

Celery is also a good source of vitamin A, K, C, B6 and various others. I'm a huge fan of Celery because I love the anti anxiety effect it has and it's nutrients. Celery is alkalizing, it equalizes the body's PH. Celery is considered a super food because it fights cancer, lowers cholesterol, aids in digestion, lowers blood pressure (why I like it), the minerals and essential oils in celery have a calming effect on the nervous system so are good for insomniacs, helps curb cravings for sweets, increased sexuality and few others things. If you get a minute google benefits of celery.

It's only worth eating if it's a leafy green in my opinion. I like salads but I like to add something protein based too.

MorgueBabe

Yeah I use at least Romaine, never iceberg.

Salads should be colorful.
Red/green/Orange Bell Peppers
Red Cabbage
Radishes
Hard Boiled Eggs
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Corn
Black Beans
Onions (red)
Sprouts
Carrots
Artichoke Hearts
Peas
Dried Fruits
sesame seeds
Tomatoes

I get energy and full from salads

symonspatrick

I eat salad mainly for the health benefits. It is full of vitamins and minerals. It has fiber and water which both help digestion. The low calories makes for a nice guilt free snack when I just feel like munching on something.

Umeboshi

Try potato salad. Lots of calories and energy there.

Wreak_Havoc

Yeah I use at least Romaine, never iceberg.

Salads should be colorful.
Red/green/Orange Bell Peppers
Red Cabbage
Radishes
Hard Boiled Eggs
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Corn
Black Beans
Onions (red)
Sprouts
Carrots
Artichoke Hearts
Peas
Dried Fruits
sesame seeds
Tomatoes

I get energy and full from salads

Sounds like one of my "gorilla" salads... I put all the good stuff on it and it weights almost 2 pounds... Takes me a while to eat it, but it's soooooo good! LOL

phoenixgirl81

My salads vary a lot. Some of my favourite ingredients are:

* mixed lettuces (not iceberg - baby spinach, romaine, rocket, etc)
* tomatoes (love the mixed coloured heirloom baby tomatoes)
* cucumber
* avocado (good healthy fats, omegas, etc)
* carrots
* celery
* watercress
* flaked almonds
* brazil nuts (great source of selenium!)
* chickpeas
* peas
* snowpeas
* cheese cubes (sometimes cottage cheese added at the last minute)
* sultanas sometimes
* dried apricots (one or two sliced up)
* cranberries
* walnutes
* figs quartered
* dates (sliced up)
* corn kernals
* pear slices
* beetroot
* asparagus
* pineapple chunks
* herbs (mint, basil, parsley, oregano, etc - fresh or made into a pesto)
* pasta spirals or penne
* boiled egg cut up
* tofu (smoked, fried, marinated and cubed, etc)
* smokey maple tempeh
* beans
* capsicum
* lemon/lime juice
* pomegranate seeds
* sesame/poppy/flax/chia/whatever seeds
* broccoli
* sprouts
* radishes
* shallots
* baked vegetables (e.g. pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, baked garlic cloves, etc)
* cooled steamed vegetables (e.g. zucchini)


and the list goes on.

Salad is what you make of it. I am vegetarian, so if you want to have any other animal protein in it you can work it out. Basically I just put in the basics of greens, and other vegetables, then I add the protein/s that I am using and then I add the other flavourings (e,g, nuts, herbs, juices, etc).

Simple!

(edited to add more of my favourites that I forgot about!)

dat_island_ass

Thanks for the replies, guys! Lots of great information here

What I've listed in my OP are far from my ONLY salad ingredients, hahaha, which I think confused a few of you. I enjoy mixing it up quite a bit. I just had a few mental questions that have been quite thoroughly answered!

I'm allergic to both tomatoes and pineapples, but there are tons of suggestions here that I'm pretty excited to try out

d2footballJRC

My salads are about like everyone else's so far..

My big thing is the dressings.

Depending on how many calories I have left it's either one of two options.

If I have the calories:

Olive Oil + Lemon Pepper = HEAVENLY DRESSING..

If I don't have the Calories:

Walden farms Calorie Free Dressings are awesome. I like the Csear and the Italian dressings, I didn't like the ranch dressing that much.

Fatandfifty3

Salad is about nutrients and interest! Always make it interesting with lots of colour and different textures. I'm a cook by trade and I find there's one common complaint about salad (mostly men!) and that is that they can't be bothered to cut it up.
So. Always make salad fork food (there's no such thing in traditional cutlery as a Salad Knife!)