Hi everyone,

I'm somewhat new here. Trying to lose about 20 pounds. I have a question that's been bugging me. I've been eating salads as meals lately and although that's a good thing, sometimes I'm afraid if my salads are actually quite high in calories... Is that possible? I go to a salad bar at Mollie Stone's (supermarket) and make my own, and I have to add some parmesan cheese (a sprinkle or two), egg (one and a half, sometimes two whole) and (a handful) greasy croutons... or it just doesn't seem appealing... the rest is all veggies of all kinds. Then I top it off with quite a bit of balsamic dressing.

Do you guys think this sort of salad is unhealthy? Is that too much egg? But if that's all I'm having for lunch/dinner, it's not bad, right?

Ugh, sometimes I just don't know... Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Well . . . I don't think the egg is the problem . . . maybe you should cut out the 'greasy croutons' and opt for a low-fat, low-carb dressing if they've got one.

you might want to look up the nutrition info on the things you're putting in your belly. maybe buy a box of croutons that aren't greasy, and some light or spray dressing, so you can be in control of what you eat.
that's what i do -- salad bar, but i keep spray dressing at work so i don't have to use their mystery dressings.
s

Certainly it's possible that salads can be high-calorie, especially if you're including pre-made tuna salad/potato salad/other things that can have hidden carbs/calories/fats. Balsamic dressing isn't a bad choice (although balsamic vinegar does contain sugar, unlike regular vinegar).

Have you thought about trying sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds) as a happy and more flavourful alternative to croutons? 'Cause the croutons don't really have any redeming value. You can sprinkle your salad with something tasty like lemon pepper or mixed herbs or garlic salt, without using fried bread to carry the flavour.

Wouldn't worry about the egg or the cheese, though. (But then I'm low carbing, rather than calorie counting.)

Hi
I put a tablespoon of pecans for the crunch in my salad and a tablespoon of dried cranberries - just a dash of oil and vinegar along with the greens, carrots, radish, and celery. Quite filling

tossed salad = 20 calories for one cup, 1 tbsp unsweetened dried cranberries is 50 calories, 1 tablespoons of pecans = 100 calories,

so it makes it a 200 calorie meal which is my goal for mini meals

I use anthemrewards.com for calorie counter.

trailgroomer

One of my DH's relatives is trying to get her whole family to lose weight so she's serving them lots of salads. Unfortunately most of her salads have combinations of oil, bacon, mayo, and cheese on them so they're really quite high in calories.

broadabroad Replacing the croutons with sunflower seeds is brilliant ! Crunchy, salty, and healthy alternative to the greasy bread. I bet you're eating absolutely killer Thai food in Bangkok .

chickennuggets Changing what you eat is a matter of breaking a lot of habits. I don't usually even put dressing on salad now, just top the greens with a variety of interesting things like herbs, vinegar, seeds, etc. I have grown to like just the plain veggies with a small hit of flavour, rather than drowning them in some creamy, oily guck like I used to do. You can really re-educate your brain and body to like different, lower cal foods. It just takes time .

Dagmar (plain salad is beautiful salad)

I read it takes 6 weeks to change your taste buds. For me, the problem is lasting the six weeks.

Thanks everybody for the suggestions!
Yes I like a lot of "stuff" in my salad... but I'm realizing I really don't need the croutons.
Here's to healthy salads!