You have decided to be good and have a salad for lunch instead of a burger and fries. Yay you!
However, before you go tap dancing off into Skinnyland, I have to share some sobering news with you. All salads aren’t good for you. In fact, in some cases, you can eat more calories and fat in a salad than you would with that burger and fries.
If you like your salad loaded with bacon bits, croutons, cheese, and lots of salad dressing, you are kidding yourself in thinking it is better for you. Oh sure, having the veggies such as lettuce and tomato are good, but take a look at how much fat and calories are in that salad dressing. While you are looking, see how much salad dressing one serving is – it’s not very much.
Here are a few fast food salad facts. The Wendy’s BLT Cobb salad contains 760 calories with 51 grams of fat. And the sodium is off the chart with 2,090 milligrams. Think that’s bad? I love the Taco Bell Fully Loaded Salad, but I can’t kid myself into thinking it is not bad. It comes in at a whopping 900 calories (I am supposed to have 1,200 a day), 57 grams of fat (I think I am supposed to have about 35 for the day), and 1,700 milligrams of sodium. Do you know what too much sodium does for you? Too much salt can cause high blood pressure and make you retain water.
Applebees has a grilled shrimp and spinach salad that not only looks healthy, it even sounds healthy. But, it’s not. It comes in at 1,050 calories, 11 grams of saturated fat and 2,520 milligrams of sodium.
What should you avoid in the way of salads? Check the dressing. Try to stay with a low fat or low calorie dressing and use it sparingly! Also, use the cheese sparingly. And that counts for cottage cheese too. Cut down on the croutons, sesame noodles, and nuts. But, do load up on the fresh, raw veggies.
A salad can be really good for you if you check out the calories, fat, and sodium in advance and know what to avoid.