salad ideas for a non - salad eater?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1028992-more-salad-ideas-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at

Hundreds of ideas here.

Off topic, but GemmaRowlands, what a transformation. You look like a different person!

I was just thinking the same thing! Very inspirational!

I love salad, especially when i make a thai dressing with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, chilli and almond butter. Seriously makes ALL the difference to a salad soooo delicious! I could eat it every day! but sometimes i mix it up because i'm afriad of sickening myself with it and i love it so much so i dont want to ha! xx

I absolutely HATE lettuce. But for different reasons than you so this advice may not help.

What gets me about lettuce is the crunchy white parts. I just find them gross, so lettuces that are heavy with them, like iceburg, are totally unappealing to me. Even romaine has far more than I would like.

So I substitute baby spinach. No gross crunch white pieces, and with less sugar and sodium (though, regrettably, more calories).

And also, as other people have said, why does it need to have lettuce at all?

Also, I used to go to a salad bar and I never got lettuce. The base was raw cauliflower and broccoli. Topped it with various salad bar accoutrements and dressing.

You can try Quinoa salads, instead of lettuce mix whole wheat quinoa in with veggies and nuts, you can get some good recipes on eatingwell.com or just google "Quinoa Salad"

There is nothing magical about salad for losing weight. Salads are a great way to get your veg and what not for nutrition..but really, a salad worth eating is still going to be calorie dense because for me it's going to have some good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a little cheese...some meat, and loads of veggies...my salads usually clock in around 600 calories or so. Also, I don't really do lettuce...only true greens. Lettuce is just a waste of everyone's time.

Moral of the story, if you don't like salad, don't eat salad...

Pinterest and Yummly have some really great ideas to get you started. Just google "salad no lettuce".

I use 1-2 cups of fresh spinach, 1-2 cups of mixed baby greens, add kidney beans, olives, shredded carrots, 1/8-1/4 cup shredded cheese, 5-6 grape tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing. Put all that in a large tupperware container and shake it like your mad at it. Turns out PERFECT! I can hardly go a day without this now. It's about 300-500 calories if you do it right.

Try using a vegestable peeler to shave some carrot and zucchini "noodles" as the base of your salad. Very tasty! I like to add some sort of protein and then a stinky-cheese like Feta too. Mmmmm

THIS!! I love carrot and zucchini "ribbons" in my salad. Other things to try, beets/beetroot, I do pickled or plain canned. Pickled peppers. Canned/cooked beans. Also, try different kinds of greens. You don't have to stick with plain lettuce. I like mixing cold with hot. Nuts or seeds for crunch. Try rinsing onions to get a flavor with less bite. I use non-traditional dressings like avocado puree thinned out. Or raspberry yogurt (I make my own with pureed raspberry).

I honestly like everything but the kitchen sink in my salads (see photo, lol) And usually lettuce or greens don't make up the bulk of my salad. They're not my favorite texture, either. A tip for trying different things would be to go to a well stocked salad bar and create something new.

And finally if you just don't like it no matter what you do, don't worry. It's fine. I cringe more when I see grown adults drowning their salad in a high calorie dressing to choke it down to say they ate a salad!! (Not saying you do, it's just a pet peeve of mine!!)