Having a vegetable salad or just a green salad for lunch can leave you hungry and cranky before your lunch hour is even over. It is our good-intentioned salad crunching mid day that kills many of our weight loss efforts. We try to go through the day on a bran muffin for breakfast and a salad for lunch but we know that no active adult can do anything of the sort.
Eating a salad is very much like eating Chinese food. You will be hungry a half hour later. Knowing this is half the battle. The biggest problem with trying to get through the day on a salad made of only vegetables is that your body will digest the vegetables quickly and use the energy they provide just as quickly. The key to making the energy last is adding protein to the mix. Protein will slow your digestion and the energy release of the vegetables, add flavor to the meal, provide you with sustained energy to get through to your next meal, ensure that you don’t lose lean body mass (muscle) on your diet, and satisfy your need to chew (if you’ve ever been on a liquid diet you’ll know that chewing is a real sanity saver).
Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
1 Grilled Chicken Breast, diced
1 Tomato, diced
1 Cucumber, diced
Fresh Parsley to taste
1/2 Clove Minced Garlic
2 Tablespoons Fat Free Italian Dressing
Lettuce Leaves
To Prepare:
Create a bed of lettuce on a plate or in a single serving sized, plastic, covered dish for traveling.
Toss all other ingredients together and spoon onto bed of lettuce.
Eat immediately or cover and refrigerate for traveling meal.
Whether you’re enjoying a meal at home or need something tasty and balanced to bring to work to get you through the day, this chicken salad may be just what the diet doctor ordered.
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Lisa Pietsch is a regular Families.com Blogger on Weight Loss. You can read more of her blogs by clicking here.