80 calorie salad - what would you add?

diced bell peppers, cucumbers, green onions, sliced almonds... feta

chickpeas
tomatoes
cucumbers

I recently found some 0 calorie dressing in the grocery store. It's Walden Farms (google it) and in all honesty, it wasn't too bad!! I've tried some low fat and fat free that were horrific so I wasn't expecting too much, but this wasn't so bad. I added parmesean cheese for 20 cals and that might be the trick. Throw in some deli turkey and a ton of veggies and you can easily stay under 100 cals.

This is good news I'll have to pick some up and give it a shot.

hard boiled eggs, a can of tuna, olive oil, apple cider vinegar

that's a really hard one. Normally my salads are over 1,000 cals.

A tbsp. of flax or other seeds.

If I had a perfect salad, it would be:

Spinach
Broccoli
Carrots
Green onions
Some sort of protein - either tuna or grilled chicken
French or Italian dressing (fat free or low fat)
Lowfat croutons
MAYBE a little cheese. I love feta, otherwise some low fat cheddar works too. I usually leave the cheese off though.

Of course all of that might get over 80 cals. To keep it low, I'd just omit the cheese and croutons, maybe the meat too.

As I'm not a big veggie person...my salad is pretty plain.
And until last week, very non-existent.

Romain Lettuce (1 cup)
Carrot Matchsticks (not even a full serving)
The best dressing EVER...Bolthouse Farms new Caesar Parmigiano Yogurt Dressing (1 TBSP)

Last week I added in Baby Spinach..but sadly it didn't agree with me.
This week I want to try sliced cucumber.

Actually I LOVE, fruit in my salad..try blueberries or sliced pears,mandarin oranges or strawberries roasted red peppers, seedless cucmber, carrots, red onions......balsamic vinegar/ oil...experiment ther's just too many combos!

As a salad base, I use kale, cleaned well and chopped fine. To my base I add purple cabbage all shredded fine, for color and fiber, a bunch of green onions chopped fine, lemon juice and about two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. This salad base is delicious, filling and full of wonderful vitamins and minerals. It lasts for at least 4-5 days (this is one bunch of kale).

Then I have sandwich bags full of fresh stuff to add to my salads each day, all cleaned, chopped and ready to devour: sweet red peppers, cauliflower florets, cucumber (peeled) an avocado which 1/8th is a serving, so one good slice. The avocado helps it stick to your ribs. I keep all the bags lined up in a plastic box about the size of a shoebox in the fridge, and use it all up within a week. Use anything that looks yummy at the store or Farmer's Market. So many good things are available in season, you never have to have a boring salad.

A nice big fat carrot sliced on the diagonal layered all around the top. I just grab whatever I feel in the mood for that day. I also add one small can Bumble Bee water packed tuna (it says 3 oz on the label, but in reality, if you put the meat on your own scale, it only weighs out to 1.5 oz. So I add 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese and it makes a perfectly wonderful lunch. I cannot eat all of it, so I save it for my PM snack. When I am finished with it, I give myself a high five for being so virtuous!

Add your preferred low fat dressing, measure it out, usually 2 TBS is the serving size.

I keep the fruit separate to make a PM or evening snack of it because this salad is really so satisfying you don't need anything else. It really keeps me going, and I look forward to having it almost every day. Also, believe it or not, I have this salad for breakfast if I am going out to lunch. So I am fortified, my tank is full, and I know my body is healing from years of overeating and being careless with my health. I have NEVER screwed up eating out if I do this, and feel so great not having anything to "undo". Yay me! Yay you! LeeAnn - lost 34 lbs., Have 103 left to go. Salads will be my friend for a long time!

My favorite additions to low cal salads are:
Cucumbers, Lentil sprouts, Wheat sprouts, Alfalfa sprouts
Bean sprouts, Red sweet pepper, Yellow sweet pepper
Kale, Celery, Parsley, Flax seeds (1/2 a tbsp), carrots
Any kind of sprout is great substitute for crutouns (crunchy)

For dressing I do lemon juice ( 1 lemon) salt and pepper or
Balsamic vinegar And a splash of brag aminos. Or
1 tblspoon Lemon juice, mustard and half stevia packet. Salt paper
And a splash of hot pepper seeds ( the kind served with pizza)
When you have a little more room for calories, I put orange peal in a jar
And fill it with olive oil. I do the same with lemon peel. Just a tablespoon
Of this oil with salt and paper enlivens any salad for me! : )