Keeping Salads Healthy
Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
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Cheeseburger Unfairly Judged by Weight Loss Gurus
Pizza and cheeseburgers are currently being stoned to death by newly-erupted Health Gurus circling the planet these days. 'Wonderland' suddenly pops to mind for some reason, because one must wonder what these tutu's find so gagging about the Official Food Pyramid.
After all, both pizza and cheeseburgers contain foods which are housed within the Official Food Pyramid - in fact, they both contain ALL the healthy food groups.
The big deal is the manner in which they are prepared, right? Given such, then why not stage a Salad Attack? A salad prepared on the Diet Naughty Side can be more lethal than a smartly prepared pizza or cheeseburger. Let's examine more closely.....
The Healthier Cheeseburger
Many unhealthy, fat versions of cheeseburgers exist in the world today, many containing well-over 1,000 calories and a plethora of fat grams. HOWEVER, when prepared with 2 ounces of extra lean ground beef, fresh veggies (lettuce, onions, tomato, pickles), a slice of reduced-fat cheese, a small hamburger bun, ketchup and mustard OR light Miracle Whip, a cheeseburger contains about 350 calories.
The Unhealthy Salad
The basic salad is very low in calories with minimal fat. It's difficult to squeeze a lot of fat out of lettuce, baby spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers. HOWEVER, when the following foods are added, the calorie count mounts, as does the fat gram count:
Full-blown shredded cheeses, croutons, salad dressings, nuts, seeds, meats - particularly meats that are not from the leanest cut OR when meats arrive on the salad in their Fried Glory!; dried fruits such as cranberries which
are commonly found in gourmet-type salads; olives which are also high in sodium content; bacon or bacon bits...and oh my, this is starting to get scary, isn't it?
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Diet Fact: An unhealthy salad can contain far more calories than the most unhealthy cheeseburger or pizza.
With many full-blown salad dressings coming in at about 200 calories (or more) per serving (generally two Tablespoons) (AND if you haven't measured-out two Tablespoons lately, please do such), it doesn't take a Diet Rocket Scientist to know that sooner, rather than later - the calorie count of a healthy salad can explode (or at times, implode) into a million little Diet Pieces, taking the well-intended dieter with it......
And most individuals don't use the '2 Tablespoon' serving size as recommended on the label. In fact, in such instances, perhaps the following might be applicable on the salad dressing label: "WARNING - EXCEEDING RECOMMENDED SERVING SIZE CAN BE LETHAL TO YOUR WEIGHT LOSS PLAN".
In Weight Loss Summary
Strive to keep your salads as close to Mother Nature as possible. Raw foods equal minimal calories. When it comes to salad dressings, reach for the low fat, lower calorie options such as balsamic vinegar for a tiny 5 calories per serving - with full-bodied flavor OR try a raspberry-walnut concoction for about 30-60 calories per serving. So many delicious, lower fat options.
And the next time you hear a Weight Loss Guru griping about cheeseburgers and pizza OR even sodas - going as far as to propose taxing said items to reduce obesity statistics (crazy, crazy, crazy), tell them to add Unhealthy Salads to the mix......
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