Earlier this week I wrote an article about how people thought salads were healthier than other fast food. And in that article I mentioned how fast food restaurants ruin your salad and did a little comparison, showing that salads were not healthier than the medium sized burgers from the same fast food restaurant. Today it’s the other way round and I’ll be showing how to spice up salads.
This post is a part of the “MrX said” series and as you might now, the post is based on a comment from a reader. The person who left the comment was hebridean, unfortunately he or she doesn’t have a website to point to, so I will keep his or her identity hidden and don’t point to her twitter account or something.
hebridean said the following in his or her comment:
Good post but only half the story. You’ve done a great job setting out the problems, but I’d liked to see solutions as well, for instance I use fresh squeezed lemon juice as substitute for salad dressing. It’s great that you’re getting the message out there!
In the other post about how fast food restaurants mess up your salad it was all about how bad the salads were for you. This time we’re turning the tables around and I’ll be writing about how healthy properly made salads are and what vegetables to put in the salads to spice them up.
Lettuce: Being the main ingredient for most salads, lettuce’s taste and health benefits can’t be overlooked. Lettuce is known to aid digestion and promote liver health. It can also reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and cataracts. It helps to reduce the risk of cancer, helps prevent spina bifida and anaemia and may ease nervous insomnia.
Basil: Lovely little plant that adds quite some flavor to the salad. Besides the favor basil is a source for Vitamin K, iron, calcium, vitamin A, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C, and potassium. It is good for the heart, because it helps to prevent build-up in the arteries and fights free radicals. The magnesium helps blood vessels to relax which increases blood circulation.
Bok Choy (Pak Choy): For people that like to have their salad a bit bitter, bok choy, also known as pak choy, is a great source for the bitterness in your salad. Bok choy is a source of folate and potassium. It also provides calcium for bone health. Carotenoids in bok choy act as antioxidants and can reduce free radical damage in the body.
Spinach: Just like bok choy, spinach adds a bit of a bitter taste to your salad. Spinach contains high levels of potassium and folate. Spinach may reduce the risk of cancer, helps to avoid and relieve anaemia and may protect against eye degeneration and heart disease. It’s also known that spinach is a nice source for iron.
Dandelion Greens: If you want to add a rich and sharp flavor to your salad, dandelion greens is the way to go. Dandelion greens are known to have no side effects. Dandelion greens prevent or cures anemia, assist in weight reduction, cleanses your skin and eliminate acne and prevents or cure various forms of cancer.
Legumes: If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know how much I love legumes. Besides the fact that I love them, they are also a great ingredient for your salads. Depending on the type of legumes, you can get all sorts of flavors, varying from sweet to spicy to bitter. Take a look here to see why legumes are your diet and wallet partner.
Tomatoes: Not only do tomatoes add a nice color to your salad, they also taste delicious. Depending on the type of tomato, the taste can vary from sweet to bitter. Besides the great taste and look tomatoes contain a high level of antioxidants. They are also linked to a reduced risk of heart attack and they are a good source of vitamin C and E. The main phytochemical found in tomatoes is lycopene.
These are just some of the many ingredients you can add to your salad. There are 10’s if not 100’s of other ingredients which you can add to your salad. Who knows I might do a post about it some other time.
To finish this post I’d like to thank hebridean for bringing this to my attention and I’d like to see many more of these comments.
And if anyone knows other delicious ingredients for a salad, please let me know and I might mention them in another post.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:59 am
I’m a big fan of spinach, and the numerous health benefits that it has, which is why it is a great salad additive. Osteoporosis and arthritis are other things spinach helps reduce. I really like using World’s Healthiest Foods website for discovering great healthy benefits for common foods. Also nice tip about dandelions. Didn’t even realize that. Thanks for the good tips!
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm