🥗 Lots of vegetables: It’s a cliche, but try to eat the rainbow. Start with a solid base of greens with varieties of lettuce; considering spinach, kale, and cabbage for variety. Then add more veggies on top of that: carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, even broccoli. With a diverse array of vegetables, you’ll consume more antacids (which help you avoid indigestion and heartburn), nutrients, phytochemicals, and also a lot of fiber, which is really filling.
🥗Protein: A lot of times people skip the protein on the salad. No. Protein helps you stay satisfied and build muscle, which helps keep your metabolism humming. Try protein sources like hard-boiled eggs, fish, and marinated and sautéed tofu, as well as meats like chicken, turkey, beef, or pork. Try to get about three or four ounces, about the size of your palm.
🥗Carbs: Try to include complex carbs; they take longer to digest, which means they’ll keep you full for longer. Vegetables are complex carbs, but also try a half-cup to a cup of beans, like chickpeas, black beans, or kidney beans, which are sources of not just complex carbs but protein and fiber as well. You can also use grains, such as quinoa, farro, or even pasta, but in that case, think of it like a handful of grains as a garnish. Pasta is more like a condiment on the salad rather than the whole base of the meal.
🥗Fats: You want to have some fat in your salad not only for digesting your fat-soluble vitamins but also for satiety (which is how full one feels for how long) Fats signal fullness in our guts and in our mouths. Using a vinaigrette or yogurt dressing adds fats. Measure before you pour, though. It can get really heavy really fast. I recommend using a one or two size dressing container to measure your serving. Just look at the nutrition facts, and do one to two servings of the dressing, depending on your calorie needs. It’s important to remember that if your fat is going to come from your dressing, then this is NOT the time to also start adding avocado, cheese, or nuts. That is when you make your salad have the same amount of calories as a bacon cheeseburger with a side of french fries.
