Over the course of my palate's evolution, shaped in part by my expanding knowledge of the immediate and long-term consequences of my dietary habits (weight gain and chronic disease, respectively), I have come to enjoy salads for what they are and not for what I put on top of them. But, I am pretty confident that many adults and certainly the majority of children share my former viewpoint. Evidence supporting my theory abounds. Think about how many times have you been to a restaurant that had all of 3 salads but 15 choices for dressing. Or had a salad served to you that was so drowned in dressing you couldn't tell there was anything green underneath. The problem with these practices is that most salad dressings contain 70-100 calories per tablespoon. They also are typically high in sodium and/or sugar.
So why do people use so much dressing in the first place? My guess is because the salads we buy or make for ourselves tend to include only bland, low-quality ingredients; think iceberg lettuce, underripe tomatoes, and commercial croutons. I'm bored just typing it. I think the key to enjoying salads without turning them into disguised junk food lies in careful selection of ingredients. Here are some simple strategies you can use to make a low-calorie salad you'll actually look forward to eating.
Step 1: Keep it simple
Whether you're at a salad bar or making a salad yourself, it can be tempting to throw everything you like in the bowl. The problem with this approach is twofold. For one, the more ingredients you put in the salad, the more likely it is that you're adding multiple high-calorie items-some nuts here, cranberries there, a little cheese, etc.- and before you know it your "light" meal has more calories than a burger and fries.
Secondly, by mixing so many flavors together, you may create an inefficient salad; that is, one that is unable to satisfy both the stomach and the brain without providing excess calories. This is because appetite-- the desire to eat food, not to be confused with physiological hunger-- is stimulated by variety. The more flavors we have in a meal, the more we tend to eat. Food manufacturers often use knowledge of this phenomenon to their advantage, combining sweet and salty flavors to enhance our liking and consumption of products. I think the best salads are those that contain only 3-5 components. Such simple salads allow you to taste each ingredient fully and become satisfied more quickly. They are also less expensive and time-consuming to prepare.
Step 2: Use herbs and salt
This part is easy to explain. Fresh herbs are virtually calorie-free yet contribute a great depth of flavor to salads. Adding some chopped dill, chives, or basil can completely transform a ho-hum salad into something that tastes complex and expensive. Although salt isn't exactly known for its nutritional value, it can be used judiciously to greatly improve the flavor of healthy foods. Sprinkling a few dashes of salt on a salad will add relatively little sodium to the meal but will really help bring out the natural flavors of the vegetables. Just think of what salt does for a ripe slice of tomato. It can do the same for greens.
Step 3: Add *a little* fat
If you are trying to create a healthy salad, you may assume that certain foods with less than stellar nutritional reputations are off limits. Cheese, bacon and other meats might come to mind, and maybe even healthy but high-fat foods like avocado, nuts, and seeds. The popularity of low-fat and fat-free salad dressings attest to a widespread fear of full-fat salad dressings as well. But avoiding these foods completely can make your salads bland, boring, and utterly incapable of satisfying your stomach or your brain. Instead, use these items in small quantities to enhance, rather than overpower, the other salad ingredients. And, in keeping with my first bit of advice about simplicity, choose only one high-fat food to include. What constitutes a small quantity? I would suggest 50-100 calories. This amounts to about 2-4 tablespoons of cheese or nuts, 2-3 slices of bacon, or a quarter to half of an avocado. Aim for the lower end of the range for the less-healthy items or for an appetizer or side salad, and the higher end for the healthier items or when making an entree-sized salad.
Step 4: Make your own dressing
If you follow steps 1-3, you may find that you don't even need dressing or that you need very little. But if you do, I recommend making your own dressing. It can be a simple mixture of oil and vinegar or oil and lemon juice; use a 1:1 ratio if you can tolerate more acidity or a 2:1 ratio for a more traditional vinaigrette. Alternatively, you can try a homemade yogurt dressing like this one. If you must use a bottled dressing, choose one that is made with olive oil or canola oil. Whether you use your own dressing or one from a bottle, try not to use more than you need. Add it to the salad little by little as you need it rather than dousing it all at once. Or, dip your fork in the dressing before each bite. Minimizing your use of salad dressing is important if you are trying to lose weight. If you are one of the lucky few who want to gain weight, you can disregard this part.
If you're wondering what a salad that meets these guidelines might look like, it could be a slighlty modified caprese (tomato, mozzarella, and basil) salad. Typically, a caprese salad might contain half a tomato, a few shreds of basil, and several large slices of cheese. It is often topped with a liberal drizzle of olive oil. It's not junk food by any means, but it's not the most nutritious of salads either. It is a lot of cheese with a little vegetables. To maintain the salad's flavor but improve its nutrition profile, I would add a generous handful of mesclun greens and substitute mini fresh mozzarella balls for the thick cheese slices so that I could use less but still have some mozzarella in every bite. If I wanted dressing, a small amount of balsamic vinegar and olive oil would suffice. A recipe for another one of my favorite salads can be found here.
