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By: Maria McConville, MS,
RDN*
Salads
have become a mainstay in many American’s diets, especially in the warm summer
months when people crave foods that are cool, crisp, and light. But salads
aren’t just refreshing. Incorporating more vegetables and fruit into your diet can
help you reach peak performance.
Salad
bars are a crowd favorite in many military dining facilities, and they’re a key
component of the Go For Green® initiative, which labels items
as green, yellow, or red to help you choose healthier options.
But
whether a salad is a healthy choice or not depends on the salad ingredients,
dressings, and the amount you eat. When ordering a salad out or tossing one
yourself, consider these factors to make the healthiest choices possible:
1. Build
your base with great greens.
Although many people avoid iceberg lettuce because it doesn’t carry the
nutritional punch of other greens, iceberg lettuce adds fiber and some vitamins
to your meal, and it’s low in calories. Still, iceberg
lettuce pales in comparison to the nutrients in darker greens like spinach and
kale. A cup of spinach gives you 3 times more calcium and iron than iceberg
lettuce. Dark leafy greens are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants,
and fiber, which can help to combat diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high
blood pressure, and cancer.
2. Boost the variety of
nutrients with other vegetables. Cucumbers, tomatoes,
peppers, radishes, onions, shredded cabbage, and zucchini are just a few
veggies you can add to lettuce to make your salad healthier and tastier.
Veggies are chock-full of fiber, potassium, and vitamins A, C, and folate.
3. Consider adding fruit. Fruit can add a colorful splash to salads any time of year. A
spinach salad loaded with antioxidant-boasting blueberries and strawberries is
a colorful and nutritious summer showstopper. A salad of greens, crisp apples,
pomegranate seeds, and mandarin oranges with a vinaigrette dressing is a fall
favorite of mine. Toss in apricots or dried cranberries any time of year.
Fruits are rich in nutrients and natural sugars. (If your goal is to minimize
calories from natural sugars, be careful not to add too much fruit.)
4. Add protein to make it
a meal. Protein provides staying power because it takes
longer to digest than the carbohydrates in fruits and veggies. For peak
performance throughout the day, add some beans, or chopped steak, chicken or
turkey, fish, cheese, or tofu.
5. Include some healthy
fats for flavor and nutrient absorption.
Avocados, olives, nuts, and seeds are all good options.
6. Don’t drown it in dressing. Prepackaged salad dressings are a
convenient way to eliminate some of the work of making salad. But check the
ingredients list on bottled dressings to make sure you’re not pouring on things
you wouldn’t include in homemade dressing, like saturated fat, sugar or
high fructose corn syrup, lots of sodium, and artificial additives. Some
store-bought dressings use lower-quality oils (such as soybean or mixed oils)
than what you’d use in your homemade versions. Use extra-virgin olive oil in
your homemade dressings for the healthy monounsaturated fats. In homemade
dressings you can also use the types of vinegar and seasonings you like.
Try these quick homemade dressing videos: DIY dressings from HPRC and vinaigrette dressing from the USDA’s MyPlate.
I love to visit my local farmers markets and challenge myself to try a fruit or vegetable that hasn’t been part of my diet in the past. Farmers markets are popping up everywhere and are a good option when exploring regional and seasonal produce. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has great information on farmers markets, including a seasonal produce guide and a directory to find markets near you. I started adding fresh figs to some of my salads recently. I love the flavor and crunch they add. I encourage you to get curious and creative with your salads this summer!
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