Anyway to make salads more appetizing??

If you have a favorite salsa, use it as a topping. They are generally super low in calories.

I recently started dressing my simple side salads with a bit of lemon juice. It gives them a nice kick.

I also love Taco style salads, so chopped tomatos, cucumbers, a FEW sprinkles of low fat shredded cheese and peppers could help.

I would also recommend trying Kale, it's very nutritious and it actually tastes good, I prefer kale over regular salads anytime!

It's good to have some healthy fats in your diet so your hormones aren't affected so add some avocado, nuts or extra virgin olive oil/vinegar/lemon or lime juice dressing. A teaspoon of oil is not that many calories and you need the fats so enjoy!

I love chipotle's burrito bowls, so I'll sometimes do a variation on that: corn (canned or roasted), sweet peppers, sauteed onions, avocado, etc etc. If you mix up the textures and flavors of your ingredients, your mouth will be much happier! Salsa's a great idea, also.

My favorite dressing by far. Plus I love meat on my salad. Tuna,beef,chicken. Add cheese or hard boiled eggs. Mix it up a bit. Good luck.

Fresh Berries! Nuts, sliced apples or pears, pineapple, cheese (sparingly), cranberries, fresh herbs, seafood like salmon, smoked salmon, or scallops, beans, corn, salsa, carrots, cucumbers, avacado, chopped veggies cooked with curry, and on And on.

Get creative and experement sometimes I use what I have (the other day it was hummus and turned out delightful).

Look at the salad menus of fancy restaurants for ideas too. Most of them can be found online. :flowerforyou:

QFT, how could I forget Bacon.

I toss mine in a small amount of dressing and add sunflower seeds and shredded cheese. Mmm.

Eating salad is not a requirement to reach you goals. And you used the word "hate" so must despise eating them. Don't.

Don't force yourself to eat something you don't like. There are several other foods that are nutritious and delicious. Discover them. Food is meant to be enjoyed not forced down.

P.S. Lettuce really doesn't have much nutrition; it's mostly water so you're not missing out on anything magical.

That said, I LOVE salads! I eat a big one twice a day but only because I love the taste of vegetables. I only use olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a dash of salt, pepper and some dried basil.

QFT
Also, a salad doesn't even have to have lettuce. You can base it on other veggies. When tomatoes are at their best in the summer, I'll just chop up a big one, add fresh herbs like basil, add some balsamic and salt, and chow down. Today I had a huge plate of roasted beets dressed with white wine vinegar, a little warm bacon fat, Dijon mustard, smoked sea salt, black pepper, and a little grated ricotta salata. My appetizer was the beet greens, cooked in a little water with bacon fat, dressed with white wine vinegar and Tabasco.

Once you get used to homemade dressings, I predict you'll never want to go back to commercial dressings. Just start with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and fresh or dried herbs. You can add a little mustard or mayo as an emulsifier (so the oil and vinegar won't separate), but lots of times I don't bother. Later you can experiment with other oils (e.g., nut oils) and other kinds of vinegar, or try lemon juice instead of vinegar (goes well with lots of pepper). You can add a little anchovy paste and grated parmesan for a Caesar style dressing.

Beyond dressing, things like cheese, nuts, olives, bacon, and avocado (it doesn't take much) and fresh or dried herbs can add flavor. You actually need to have some fat so that your body can make use of the vitamins you're getting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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