Is it right to eat the sauce? 2 tablespoons of Thousand Island dressing = 1/3 bowl of rice

The heat of midsummer is oppressive, and a bowl of lettuce salad can cool you down and stimulate your appetite. It is not high in calories when eaten alone, and is a light meal loved by many people who want to lose weight. However, nutritionists remind us that the calories of fruits and vegetables in lettuce salad are low and can provide the body with necessary nutrients. But if you accidentally add too much Thousand Island dressing, two spoonfuls can be as high as 90 calories, which is about one-third of the calories in a bowl of rice. In addition, Caesar dressing is not bad in calories either. Even the lower-calorie Japanese-style or vinaigrette dressings still have at least 50 calories.

Although lettuce salad is low in calories, if it is topped with Thousand Island dressing or Caesar dressing, the calories will still be off the charts. (Photography by Huang Zilun)

A comparison of 5 light meal sauces: Thousand Island sauce wins

Light meals such as cold noodles and lettuce salad are good for cooling off in the summer, stimulating appetite, and reducing calorie intake, said nutritionist Lin Ziyou, head of the nutrition department at Taian Hospital. However, beneath the refreshing and low-calorie appearance, there are actually unknown traps. Even though the vegetables and fruits in the lettuce salad are low in calories and nutritious, if they are topped with delicious Thousand Island dressing, the calories will instantly increase exponentially.

Nutritionist Lin Ziyou pointed out that Thousand Island dressing is made by mixing mayonnaise and ketchup. One tablespoon of mayonnaise, which is about 15 grams, has 45 calories. If we calculate based on about 2 tablespoons of a normal salad dressing, minus the calories from fruits and vegetables, the sauce alone will consume 90 to 100 calories, which is about one-third of the calories in a bowl of rice, making your weight loss efforts fall short. Caesar dressing also contains mayonnaise, and its calories are close to 90 calories.

Even Japanese-style sauces or vinaigrette sauces, which are generally considered to be low in calories, have at least 50 calories and may contain chemical additives. Eating too much of them may increase the burden on the body. In addition, you should not only pay attention to the dressing in the lettuce salad, but also pay special attention to the sesame paste in the cold noodles that you often eat in the summer. Sesame is a nut and is rich in oil. Combined with additives such as peanut powder in sesame paste, the calories are close to 90 to 100 calories.

Calories of five kinds of sauces are counted and ranked as follows: Thousand Island sauce > sesame sauce > Caesar sauce > vinaigrette > Japanese sauce

Homemade Low-Calorie Tofu and Orange Sauce

Nutritionist Lin Ziyou added that if you want to eat healthily and safely, in addition to making your own salad with ingredients such as corn, cucumber, carrot, tomato, tofu, etc., as for the salad dressing, you can use lemon juice, orange juice, salt, cashews, etc., which is relatively refreshing and low in calories.

I recommend a "Tofu Orange Sauce". Just prepare 80 grams of tofu, 60CC of orange juice, 15CC of lemon juice, 22 grams of cashews, and 2 grams of salt. Wash and cook the tofu, cool it, and mix it with orange juice, lemon juice, cashews, and a little salt to make a salad dressing before serving.