[CIELOARGE]

I've been eating refined carbs and whole grain like crazy, but I am finally feeling normal again so I thought I could go back to eating "healthier". So today, my stomach is growling, I'm super hungry and all I want is a sandwich. Instead I made myself a hefty salad with all kinds of goodies but unfortunally, it just doesn't cut it!!! Biting lettuce is like eating air no good feeling whatsoever...

So here I am, not hungry but very, very unsatisfied!

The other day, I got a nice oven roasted chicken sandwich from subway and it kept me full and happy for a long time! Maybe I need to go back to that!!!

[1987]

What do you have on your salad?

Jazz that thing up - accessorise it with lots of the good stuff. Meat, fruit, nuts, veggies, low cal dressings, egg. Whatever, go to town and think outside the box! A salad doesn't have to be boring.

I love adding lots of colour to my salads, it makes it look more exciting and appetising. Bell peppers, carrots, beetroot, cucumber, tomato etc. all work!

[lin43]

I say eat the sandwich if you're not satisfied with the salad.

I often feel the same way about salads except if I eat them with a full-fat creamy dressing (e.g., real, chunky blue cheese or creamy Italian garlic or even a delicious vinaigrette---w/ real olive oil).

[RavenWolf]

Maybe switch the lettuce out for something with more texture and nutrients like kale? I use a lot of spinach and kale in my salads.

What else are you putting in it? Is it the lack of bread that is causing you to feel unsatisfied?

I really love my salads, so not sure how to make that more pleasing to someone unhappy with them.

[CIELOARGE]

I put: lettuce, tomatoes, chicken breast, little cheese, croutons and ranch. Not the bestest but not just plain lettuce either...

Maybe is just my hormones, I usually love salads but this time around they just feel soooo empty.

[Arctic Mama]

Yikes, where are the veggies? What about some mushroom, cucumber, bell pepper, avocado, red cabbage, scallions, celery, toasted nuts, or anything else to make it interesting and tasty? What about a cheese that packs way more flavor for the calories, like feta or gorgonzola (and yes, I eat them while pregnant with no concerns ).?

Why not turn your ranch into a bacon ranch or chipotle ranch? You need texture and CRUNCH to have that be satisfying, and there are so many veggie that can add nutrition AND interest to your standard fare without deleterious effects to the flavor profile. I chop up some veggies each week if I'm going to be too crunched to do it the day of, and just portion them out of baggies. You could even pre-make the salads in a jar and just take one each day, adding dressing and any items that could get overly soggy from refrigeration.

I'd be bored with those salads, too! My normal one is lettuce, mushroom, cucumber, bell pepper, scallions, some feta, miniature pepperoni slices, and my favorite homemade dressing. It's zesty, flavorful, and extremely filling for around 400 calories.

[CIELOARGE]

I only had those ingridients available...
I can't eat raw mushrooms or bell peppers. The salad that I made is usually very yummy for me, but today just wasn't the case.

[amandie]

Blasphemy!!!!! Lol, seriously though.. I understand but change it up every time!

My personal favorite is baby spinach, spring mix or romaine lettuce and some crumbled bacon/parmesan/imo's shredded cheese mix or mozz then topped with homemade sweet italian dressing (red wine vinegar with zesty italian dry mix, sugar/sweetener and bit of oil.)

I love using dry ranch mix mixed into some cottage cheese to use as "dressing". Great with pretty much any greens/veggies etc. Also good as a dip.

[CanadianCutie]

I usually put avocado, roma tomato, lettuce (spring mix or baby spinach is my favourite), sliced black olives, Italian dressing. Leftover chicken/fish/beef if I happen to have it on hand. Maybe a little parm, or other strong cheese. And I don't care for raw mushrooms, but sometimes I will saute them and put them in my salad too.

[Elladorine]

I never use iceberg lettuce, it's boring.

This is what one of my typical salads look like (and yes, this is my photo):



I make a big new batch every few days and scoop a serving out to go with my meals. I use spinach and other various greens, and add sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, melon, mango, strawberries, blueberries, and whatever else I'm in the mood for, like cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, onions, etc. I never realized until relatively recently that adding a small amount of fruit to a salad like this gives it an amazing flavor.

I top it with parmesan cheese and a small amount of dressing (typically olive oil and balsamic vinegar). Sometimes I add grilled chicken, bacon, turkey pepperoni, or hard-boiled eggs for some protein. Walnuts make a great topping too.

I love my salads! If I just stuck with the plain old iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, croutons, ranch, and chicken (typical restaurant salad), I'd get bored with it pretty quickly.

[dstalksalot]

I love my romane lettuce but can't live without my salad including things like sunflower seeds, cherry tomatos, carrots, cabbage, turkey bacon bits and a couple if croutons.....it is my meal really and I love it. You have to make it interesting.

[Xan]

I'm very bad about eating salads. Changing that is one of my ambitions!

I ate lunch with a colleague today who had a salad that looked wonderful, constructed from our salad bar. It looked like a healthy serving of lettuce, with several slices of cucumber and buds of broccoli over top, as well as about 2 spoonfuls of corn, a few slices of beets, and 2 tbl of hummus on the side, all with a vinaigrette. It was so green and springlike, I was actually jealous and determined to try to make one just like it tomorrow! (The hummus should make it last.) Elladorine, your salad looks tempting, too!

[hopebewild]

Tonight my salad consisted of leetuce mix, shredded cheddar (wanted feta but I was out), freshly cooked steak, salt, mediteranean seasoning mix that I put on my steak as well, olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette. It was heaven in my mouth!

Otherwise my daily salads are random lettuce mixes with cottage cheese as my dressing. Ill thraw whatever raw veggies I have on there usually cauliflour and peppers but some days its just lettuce and cottage cheese. Very filling for me. But I understand that somedays you just need heavier foods.

[IanG]

I love salads. And I have only just started to eat them. After all this time...

[SouthernMaven]

Originally Posted by CIELOARGE

I've been eating refined carbs and whole grain like crazy, but I am finally feeling normal again so I thought I could go back to eating "healthier". So today, my stomach is growling, I'm super hungry and all I want is a sandwich. Instead I made myself a hefty salad with all kinds of goodies but unfortunally, it just doesn't cut it!!! Biting lettuce is like eating air no good feeling whatsoever...

So here I am, not hungry but very, very unsatisfied!

IMO you should have eaten the sandwich.

Then you would have been satisfied.

Some days, I absolutely crave salads. Nothing else will do. I want a salad more than a big juicy burger and fries. So that's when I eat them.

Other days, I can add everything in the world to them, but it's still a salad. And a salad is NOT what I want. That's not what my body is telling me that I want.

Maybe I want a hot fudge sundae. Maybe that means my body wants it. Wants it the point that I know I won't be satisfied until I eat it. So you know what I do? I eat one. I eat enough of it to reach satiety. And then I stop. More often than not I just want something more substantial than a salad, and that's what I eat. But occasionally it might be something as "forbidden" as a hot fudge sundae and if so, I just go ahead and eat it. Then I can forget about it.

After you ate the salad, did you really want something else to eat? Like that chicken sandwich? Did you eat anything else, not because you were hungry, but because you just weren't satisfied? Or did you do the "right" thing and fight the temptation to eat something "you weren't supposed to eat?"

I don't know if this is what you want to hear or not. There are lots of great people here giving you all kinds of wonderful ideas about ways to make your salad more appealing. And that is just grand, but I think you just wanted to vent a bit about your frustration.

If so, I'm here to tell you - It's okay to want something else besides a salad.

The other day, I got a nice oven roasted chicken sandwich from subway and it kept me full and happy for a long time! Maybe I need to go back to that!!!

If you know that's what you'd rather have, and you know eating it will keep you from eating something else ... and then something else... and then something else, just trying to meet the need that the salad didn't....then why NOT eat it?