Light salad ≠ low calories, choose the right sauce and you won’t gain weight

When people have a poor appetite in the summer, many like to eat light meals such as salads. Many people think that salads are low-calorie foods that help you lose weight, but in fact, the calories in salads are not as low as you think. If you make the wrong choice, a plate of salad may taste higher in calories than a bowl of rice! How should we eat salad? How can we balance weight and deliciousness? Now let us learn more about salads and how to eat them so that we can stay healthy and fit.

How much do you know about salad bar food?

Salad bar food can be divided into three categories: main dishes (various lettuces and vegetables), side dishes (such as corn, boiled eggs and other staple foods or meat foods) and seasonings. Sometimes the salad bar will have some fruit salad, tuna salad or macaroni salad with salad dressing, but these salads are high in calories and it is best not to choose them. Below is a breakdown of common salad bar foods and how to calculate their calories.

＊Composition of common salad bar foods

How to Eat a Salad Bar!

Tips for reducing calories when eating a salad plate

Basically, except for side dishes, the calories of various raw vegetables can basically be ignored, and you can just calculate the calories one plate at a time. When eating salad, its calories mainly come from salad dressing. In other words, if you can control the calories in the salad dressing, you can control the total calories of the salad on your plate.

Of course, the best way is to eat salad without sauce, but for some people, they may not be able to eat it without sauce. In this case, you can do this:

1. Choose the right sauce:

Basically, the less oil you use in salad dressing, the lower the calories in the sauce. Simple Japanese soy sauce-based salad dressings, or Thai-style dressings with more vinegar, have less calories than Italian vinaigrette or Thousand Island dressing.

Many people think that Italian sauce has lower calories than Thousand Island dressing. In fact, the calories between the two are not much different. It’s just that in actual use, the amount of Italian sauce used is smaller, so there is such a saying. When actually comparing the differences between using Italian dressing and Thousand Island dressing.

You will find that because Italian dressing is less viscous, when you pour the sauce on the lettuce, most of the sauce will flow to the bottom of the plate (Thousand Island dressing is more viscous, so almost all of it sticks to the lettuce and is eaten by you). If you don't deliberately dip the salad dressing at the bottom of the plate, you will actually eat less salad dressing and reduce the calories of the whole salad.

2. Reduce dipping sauce

Reducing the intake of dressings is the most effective way to reduce the calories on a salad plate. The best way to reduce the amount of sauce is to use a separate plate or container to hold the salad dressing and dip the lettuce in it (instead of pouring the salad dressing directly on the lettuce). If the sauce you encounter is a thicker Thousand Island dressing, you can add some water to dilute it before dipping it in, which will reduce more calories.

Tips for controlling calories when eating a salad plate

You can choose 0.5 (such as 2 spoons of corn kernels), any vegetables you like, and then dip them in a small amount of salad dressing (take half a spoon of salad dressing and dilute it slightly with water). This way, the calories of a plate of salad can be controlled at around 100~150 calories.

This selection technique allows you to easily control the calories in the salad plate. Whether you use this salad plate as a light snack, a side dish for a meal, or a dish in a self-service buffet, it will not ruin your weight loss plan.

This article comes from: Nutritionist Stella's Weight Loss & Nutrition Blog

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