Eating salad

jenniewb · 17 July 2017 at 5:48AM

You can get super low calorie mayos, they are different in taste to the real deal but may help with foods being smoother to swallow if this is the reason you'd want mayo.

ALL foods are ok in moderation or as a small treat, I'm sure you already know enough about portion control and that you can just have a slice etc and don't need anyone here to tell you about that.

What you could do is look at what your diet is lacking- are you getting enough vitamins elsewhere? If not then go for the salad (making sure you wash off the pesticides first...) vitamins from food is always better than vitamins from a pill and don't forget that you need a balance of vitamins not just one colour of veg, not forgetting there are nutrients and other important macro and micro nutrients such as protein, minerals such as iron and calcium and energy from things like complex carbohydrates among other things, all of which are essential and none of which are available from salad alone.

There is a reason you find you pick at your salad rather than finding you just as easily get through the whole thing.
If you had just a plate of tuna, no oil no seasonings no nothing, you'd get bored, you'd no doubt end up picking at it rather than eating it with any real enjoyment. Same with a loaf of bread but no butter, fillings or anything else, I doubt given a loaf of bread, plain and nothing to add to it, you'd not get halfway through the loaf. You'd never consider eating just a loaf of bread, you'd add things to make it more balanced- so why not add things to the salad to make that more balanced?

splishsplash · 17 July 2017 at 7:18AM

I would investigate other things that make swallowing easier but are a bit healthier.

Baba ganoush or hummus spring to mind. Plonk a big dollop in the middle of your salad and use it as you would mayo. Both are easy to make and use similar ingredients - grilled aubergine slices for baba ganoush or chickpeas for hummus blitzed with garlic, lemon juice and tahini. Tahini is also an excellent salad dressing on its own and easy to make (blitz toasted sesame seeds with olive oil - done!).

How about grating carrot, try sweetcorn, using cooked beetroot chopped small, finely sliced spring onion, maybe julienne your cucumber? Make a separate tomato salad ahead of time by marinating chopped tomato and red onion in olive oil, a touch of white or red wine vinegar, a little garlic and basil.

I also wouldn't dismiss a simple vinaigrette to make things more palatable (whisk 3:1 EVOO and white wine vinegar with a pinch of salt and pepper). Other dressing ideas: greek yogurt mixed with a couple of minced garlic cloves and a dash of white wine vinegar; blitz a handful of cherry tomatoes with a little wine vinegar and olive oil plus a dash of maple syrup and S&P, onion and garlic granules and a little smoked paprika.

I eat a lot of salad all year round. I couldn't eat it without dressings though, that's just hard work and very boring. It's the dressing that makes it interesting.

hemera_2 · 17 July 2017 at 8:57AM

Let me tell you something secret. When people eat so called unhealthy food, half of unhealth comes from your stress. Even if it's pizza or anything worse than that, if you just enjoy eating by not thinking about how unhealthy this food is, your body will get less stressed. Same with salad. you eat lots of mayo and salad at a same time. So don't think it's unhealthy. It's all about your mind set

JIL · 17 July 2017 at 11:33PM

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Make the pizza from scratch, really not difficult and you know exactly what goes into it.

I did make it from scratch, it was a very thin base, made in the bread maker,, tomatoes that were getting a bit squashy made into a sauce a load of griddled veg, peppers, aubergine, red onion, olives, mushrooms, a little feta, mozzarella and some cheddar. I also put a little left over pesto on it.

JIL · 17 July 2017 at 11:45PM

jenniewb wrote: »

There is a reason you find you pick at your salad rather than finding you just as easily get through the whole thing.
If you had just a plate of tuna, no oil no seasonings no nothing, you'd get bored, you'd no doubt end up picking at it rather than eating it with any real enjoyment. Same with a loaf of bread but no butter, fillings or anything else, I doubt given a loaf of bread, plain and nothing to add to it, you'd not get halfway through the loaf. You'd never consider eating just a loaf of bread, you'd add things to make it more balanced- so why not add things to the salad to make that more balanced?

This is spot on, I put the salad on my plate with every intention of eating it, I do vary it as we have salad so often it could get very boring. It does take me a while to chew and the rest of the family all tend to finish their meal and I seem to have quite a lot left, hence I give up. If I was enjoying it then I surely would not give up.If I squirt a bit of mayo on it, I have no problems eating it and I actually prefer the taste.
I suppose I was just looking for reassurance that I wasn't undoing the good part by eating it alongside something not so good. Cancelling out the good part for instance.
Thanks again for all the interesting replies.

teddysmum · 18 July 2017 at 5:22PM

When I was working I liked taking a plastic box of chopped up salad mixed with egg slices and ham cut into small pieces (just vinegar for dressing) and as it was kept in a fridge, anything not used could be eaten the next day.

trailingspouse · 19 July 2017 at 8:39AM

I'm with you all the way here. Pizza and salad is our regular Friday night treat (it used to be a full pizza each, now it's half a pizza each with salad. Go us!!!).

I've come to the conclusion that, although I like eating healthily, I basically don't like lettuce. So much better with mayo. Don't put more on than you need, and don't feel guilty.

squirrelchops · 19 July 2017 at 10:27AM

I agree- how amazing salad tastes with a bit of nice dressing! don't get me wrong I love all fruit and veg but a good dressing just peps it up.

bellanoisette · 20 July 2017 at 1:20AM

Hellman's fat free vinaigrette is nice. I never eat salad until I started using that to get all the salad wet and a bit of a garlic dressing for creaminess on top and red onion.

Eating salad

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