Read This Before You Order A Salad
Most people have a battle of the bulge. They would do everything to lose weight. One of them is by eating right. But sometimes, we make poor choices when it comes to eating "healthier alternatives". Some foods that might deem healthy turn out to be a Trojan horse. Instead of becoming a panacea, the healthy food that we might be wreaking havoc on our diet. When we go to fast food restaurants, we try to order a "healthy alternative" such as salads. But did you know that salads are more fattening than burger with fries? That is a startling fact. We often think that salads are a healthier choice because it has greens and lean meat. But health experts say, that is a misconception.
Lisa Lee Freeman, a health expert say that most salads sold in fast food chains contain too much fat, sugar, and calories. According to Freeman, there should be guidelines in picking a healthy salad. Here are ways to choose a healthy salad. The right salad should only contain less than 500 calories, less than 5 grams of saturated fat, less than 1,000 grams sodium, and less than 15 grams of sugar. Most salads that we buy in famous fast food chains have loads of calories that make us fat and unhealthy.
Health experts tested some of the salads that are being sold at fast food chains. They checked the calories and the fat content of salads namely from TGIF, California Pizza Kitchen, Chili's, and Mc Donald's.
Let us start with TGIF Chicken Salad. It contains candied pecans, and sweet dressing. According to Freeman, this is a diet disaster. It has 1,000 calories, 16 grams of saturated fat and 71 total grams of fat. This is equivalent to eating 17 KFC hot wings and corn. So they concluded that this salad is not a healthy meal. Instead of using a creamy ranch dressing, ask for oil and vinegar.
California Pizza Kitchen offers Moroccan salad. According to the health experts, devouring this is equivalent to eating 16 spoonfuls of sugar. It has 1,500 calories, 10 grams of saturated fat. It is equivalent to eating 5 tasty chocolate cupcakes. The health experts advised to order a Chinese Chicken salad instead and ask for Balsamic vinegar for the dressing.
Moving over to Chili's Quesadilla salad. This is exploding with fat and calories. It is filled with so much trans fat. This is a no no since food shouldn't have trans fat. It has 1,470 calories and 30 grams of saturated fat. This is equivalent to eating 2 bags of potato chips.
Now here is a big surprise for fast food lovers and salad aficionados alike. Mc Donald's offers Ranch Bacon Salad. According to health experts, it only has 320 calories and 6 grams of saturated fat. This is the best fast food salad by far.
Now you might be wondering how many calories are in a salad with all the ingredients such as bacon bits and cheese. Here are some toppings to avoid when making or buying your own salad.
One item to avoid is creamy dressing. You should only put two tbsp of creamy dressing. This is the right amount of dressing that we should put on our salad. To control our portions, we should use a portion control cap which is only for $5.
Some people use tortilla chips on their salads. A healthier alternative would be sunflower seeds to provide some crunch. Another mistake that we put on our salads is candied pecans or dried fruit. For salads to have a sweet taste, we can put on pomegranates or wasabi peas. These contain fiber and protein.
Most people are guilty of putting bacon bits on their salad. Use coconut flakes instead. Drizzle the flakes with tamarind and maple syrup and bake it. These would taste like the bacon bits. Another unhealthy topping that we should avoid is cheese. We can use feta because it is not high in calories. Unlike shredded cheddar cheese and other cheeses that are fattening.
Don't let a salad's healthy exterior fool you. We should be discerning as to what salads to buy in fast food restaurants. Or better yet, make your own salad. It is better to concoct your own salad to avoid gaining weight.
