Salads

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yard493
yard493 Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Why is a bowl of salad so high in fat content... Are they adding the dressing for us? I add mine separate.. Any ideas?

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  • sylkates
    sylkates Posts: 173 Member
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    If it's a restaurant salad, probably, yes. Or some restaurants have INCREDIBLY caloric toppings built into their salads - the pecan chicken salad at TGI Friday's comes to mind. Fried chicken coated in pecans and sugared pecans on top! Woof! Great meal, if you just ran a long race!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited May 2017
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    A bowl of salad is not high in fat content...you're picking some generic entry from the database...some random persons salad and it probably includes whatever dressing they used.

    Don't use generic database entries...
  • ScottishRob1
    ScottishRob1 Posts: 49 Member
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    Depends on the salad and the dressing. We almost always make our own and measure everything that goes in. If I am going to eat a salad over 400 calories it better be a big awesome one.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
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    Speaking of salads - I was out Outback for the first time in a couple of years this week and noticed that they put calorie counts on their menus. I LOVED the blue cheese pecan chopped salad as a starter back in the day, but holy cow! That thing is over 400 calories just to start off the meal with!!! I knew it wasn't the healthiest before, but didn't expect that . . . I would've had bread, salad, steak, a beer/drink, and maybe desert a few months ago, easily topping over 2500 calories for one meal :open_mouth: . I tried my hand at moderation, and although I *did* enjoy a couple of beers, I skipped the bread, the calorie bomb salad, and the desert :D.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    yard493 wrote: »
    Why is a bowl of salad so high in fat content... Are they adding the dressing for us? I add mine separate.. Any ideas?

    It is most likely the salad dressing. But can also be things that have been added in....ie nuts, whole eggs, processed meat (bacon, ham), cheese
    Wendy's Power Mediterranean salad is actually pretty decent. Has a good ratio of carbs, fats and protein.
    Opt for a vinaigrette dressing or find some that are low in fat.
  • ScottishRob1
    ScottishRob1 Posts: 49 Member
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    Ohhh, you just had to mention Outback's bread. If there was a drooling emoji I would add it. I will just have to settle for my tuna and cheese lunch today.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
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    ScottishRob1 wrote: »
    Ohhh, you just had to mention Outback's bread. If there was a drooling emoji I would add it. I will just have to settle for my tuna and cheese lunch today.

    Trust me, it took effort to turn it down!! I *really* wanted that Sam Adam's, though . . . alas - the choices we must make, lol. Tuna actually sounds great right now, BTW. I have nearly an hour to go until lunch and I'm kicking myself for not restocking the desk snack drawer with the 70 calorie tuna pouches to tide me over.
  • calorielogonly
    calorielogonly Posts: 16 Member
    edited May 2017
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    I've been adding my salads by the individual ingredients I put in them. At least the ingredients end up on my frequently used list, so it isn't that big of a deal to just click all of the ingredients. A lot of salad dressings do have a lot of fat. Other things, like croutons and cheese, if you add them, also have a lot of fat. It's just easier to add the individual ingredients in the log. I have a batch of tahini yogurt dressing I've been using on my salads this week that isn't too bad.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    A bowl of salad is not high in fat content...you're picking some generic entry from the database...some random persons salad and it probably includes whatever dressing they used.

    Don't use generic database entries...

    This.

    If you make a dish using multiple ingredients, OF COURSE someone else's random version of that dish (or some restaurant version) will not be the same. Log the ingredients or create a recipe.

    A salad can be a bunch of arugula and almost no calories or that same arugula, a bunch of other vegetables, cheese, olives, nuts, chicken, and a high cal dressing for 900 calories. Or it can be a million other things.
  • OhButWhatIfIFly
    OhButWhatIfIFly Posts: 2 Member
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    If you eat the same salad alot you can type the ingredients in individually and then save it as a meal.
  • NewMeSM75
    NewMeSM75 Posts: 971 Member
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    Agreed with the rest. Generic entries aren't accurate for most part.

    People think salads are less calories than a hamburger, for example. But according to what you add (eggs, cheese, croutons, dressings, etc), it could be just as many as a hamburger. Depends on what you like, what you add and how much of each. Last night, I had a cheeseburger salad. It's exactly as it sounds: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, 4 oz ground chuck, real bacon pieces, light sprinkling of cheese and homemade thousand island. Mine had more fat and calories than some salads but I logged each ingredient. There's no way I would pick a generic entry for it.
  • bvff35
    bvff35 Posts: 74 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    A bowl of salad is not high in fat content...you're picking some generic entry from the database...some random persons salad and it probably includes whatever dressing they used.

    Don't use generic database entries...

    How do you know of it's a generic database entry or not? I'm sure i should know this by now but I don't.
  • calorielogonly
    calorielogonly Posts: 16 Member
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    Generic in the sense that you don't know what's in it, could be anything. So many different ways of doing salad.
  • MlleKelly
    MlleKelly Posts: 356 Member
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    I love the Fresh Express salad kits...the Strawberry Fields is awesome, and so is the Pear Gorgonzola. They're under 150 calories per serving (2 servings in a bag) and that includes the dressing content. So good. Check them out!
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    What? Log YOUR salad. What do you put in it? Weigh the ingredients and log them separately.

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