The Benefits Of Eating Healthy Salads

Salad is a key food when dieting , but it should be on anyone’s daily menu. Healthy salads provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants,  among other nutrients. Know its benefits!

Nutritional and health benefits

The health benefits of salads were highlighted in a Journal Appetite publication . According to this medium, the consumption of these types of dishes can help prolong the feeling of satiety and reduce excessive calorie intake.

Therefore, they are preparations that can support weight loss diets. In addition, since they are based mainly on fruits and vegetables, they represent an important way to obtain nutrients.

Nutritional benefits

• Salads can include vegetables and fruits. They  provide lots of fiber, vitamins, and minerals without any fat.
• Increase its nutritional benefits by  adding small amounts of heart-healthy fats.  Those of nuts, seeds, avocado and olive oil are ideal.
• Choose vegetables of various colors (the darker the better) to get more vitamins and minerals in your salads.
• Eating more fruits and vegetables can lower your risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or obesity.
• Eat vegetables rich in potassium  that replace other less healthy and more caloric foods. With this, the risk of developing osteoporosis or kidney stones can be reduced.
• If you want to lose weight,  you must eat fewer calories than you burn during the day.
• Vegetables are low in energy density and low in calories.  In addition, they contain a lot of water and fiber and very little fat, which makes you feel full.

General considerations when making a salad

Adding red meat, sauces and dressings, or other high-fat foods will make your salad unhealthy.

If you do, it should always be in small amounts. However, instead of meat or sauces, it will be more beneficial to add nuts, seeds or seaweed.  In turn, use olive oil to dress salads as a substitute for sauces or creamy dressings.

How to make healthy salads

Healthy (and weight-loss) salads include green leafy vegetables; for example, lettuce, chard, spinach, arugula, and watercress. You can also add other watery vegetables, such as sprouts, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, cooked green beans, and bell peppers.

Use protein, such as those found in chicken breast, salmon, or tofu. You can add starchy ingredients like corn, peas, or raisins.

If you want to make a single meal and make it more caloric, we suggest the following ingredients:

• 1/4 of avocado.
• 7-8 olives.
• 2-3 chopped walnuts.
• 1 tablespoon of sunflower seeds.
• 1 handful of seaweed or 300 grams of low-fat fresh cheese.

Dress the resulting salad with salt, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic or lemon vinegar.

As we have seen, preparing healthy salads is not complicated, and the benefits they bring to your body are numerous. In addition, among the best ingredients, you choose the ones you like the most and how to combine them.