Salads...

nytdreamer80 · January 2012

Hey everyone,
I see that lunch meat that I love topping my salads with are packed with sodium. Anybody have any healthier ideas?? Generally speaking I usually pack my salads with Romain lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro. But I NEED a protein (why I add the lunch meat). Any ideas???

lina1131 · January 2012

Grilled chicken strips are awesome on salads!

lina1131 · January 2012

Make 5 of them on Sundays, cut them in strips, place in ziplock bags and put in the fridge. One for each day of the week for lunch to top your salads!

ashtonvv · January 2012

chicken breast (the pre cut packaged ones usually have alot of sodium though so cook it yourself) almonds. Google is your friend, try dlife.com its a diabetic website, there is tons of ideas out there.

huizenm · January 2012

What about using hard boiled egg whites or beans as a protein instead of the lunch meat? I also echo the chicken strips.

steffiejoe · January 2012

Tuna or chicken. Starkist makes these tuna creations that make my salads taste yummy.

nytdreamer80 · January 2012

Great ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you.

Cgrrrl · January 2012

Def. grilled chicken! Easy to do at home! Plus you can pick up cans of tuna in water, and I know Clover Leaf makes awesome varieties like lemon & pepper, Thai, etc. But you can do that yourself at home. I dress-up the tuna after draining the water with salad dressings, or my own squeeze of lemon, or sometimes curry and a bit of ginger. Tuna is really quite a chameleon.
Otherwise, mix with vegetarian sources of protein, like beans of all kinds, quinoa (same thing, cook it then season it with whatever you want!), chickpeas, veggie ground-round (ditto to seasoning it yourself, some brands are a bit bland).

ToniSwejkowski · January 2012

You could do what I normally do and add Pineapple Italian Chicken. I take the chicken and cube it into half bite sized pieces and marinate it in low fat Italian Dressing over night. Using no non stick anything (just a non stick pan). I spoon the chicken into the pan so theres not alot of excess liquid and let it simmer in its own yummy juices lol the I take Fresh Pineapple and warm it up in another pan until golden brown and MMMMM Eat it upp! If I make 2 chicken Breasts, I have lunch salads for about 3-4 days depending how much chicken I decide to throw in lol

Cgrrrl · January 2012

OMG that pineapple chicken sounds amazing!

tiffypooh2u · January 2012

OMG that pineapple chicken sounds amazing!

AGREED!

kelfly · January 2012

I have to watch my sodium but do like lunch meat on my salad. I usually get Boar's Head from the deli (at some major grocery chains or deli's). They have reduced sodium versions of many varieties: Ham, Turkey, Beef, chicken. Still contains quite a bit of sodium, but greatly reduced over the standard lunch meat. I make sure I use a low sodium dressing, and watch my sodium for the rest of the day and all is OK... I typically have less than 1200 per day total sodium.

nytdreamer80 · January 2012

I will def. try out the chicken. Seems like a really good alternative! Now, just to find the time to do it!

kimborious · January 2012

Tofu and/or cottage cheese for non-meat options. Not that I dont also love a slab of chicken, just thought I would throw that out there.

allenk1 · January 2012

you could boil eggs and use the egg white only

onefitdiva · January 2012

Hard boiled eggs, tuna drained (packed in water), chick peas, black beans, edamame, grilled chicken breast or roasted chicken breast with out the skin (stay away from the prepackaged strips they are high in sodium like the lunch meat).

dirtbikegirl5 · January 2012

I like tofu on my salads. I also like cottage cheese, almonds or hard boiled eggs. I am not a huge fan of meat on salads, but I will sometimes put tuna fish on it.

Reedern · January 2012

Light Tuna in the pouches is a great topper and great source of protein, but lots less calories and sodium than lunch meat. and instead of dressing, use fresh squeased lemon! Really good