Only on DCUM will you find someone asking if salads are bad for you. All those vegetables are good for you. Some meat or cheese or croutons make it taste worth eating. Dressing too. Add a slice of pizza and you have a meal!

What?!

OP, think with your brain.

If you have a salad with balsamic vinaigrette, some veggies, and a few croutons, why would there be a lot of calories? Where would they come from?

Of course if you add bacon, a crapton of ranch dressing, etc. you’re going to add calories.

This isn’t hard.

Salads are awesome and oh so filling. Just learn the calorie dense salad items (like meat, cheese, nuts, croutons, fruit, beans, etc.) and use sparingly, or just use one or two in moderation. Use the low calorie food like the lettuce, veggies, etc to give your salad volume and color variety.

Dressing: measure out how much you use to not overdo it. I like a tablespoon or two of Italian with a splash of vinegar and a few shakes of hot sauce.

I almost never do both meat AND cheese in my salad, one or the other. Don’t eliminate the calorie-dense items altogether, they add to the fullness and satiation of the salad, but measure and moderate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Salads”, as a category, are neither good nor bad. It’s all about what you put in them out on them. Lettuce with a bit of dressing? Probably not all that high calorie, but also not very high in nutrient content. What mix of vegetables and/or other mix-ins are you using? Grains? Protein?

lettuce/cabbage mix, spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, green onion, cucumber, pepper, roasted chickpea, a couple croutons

We aren't going to do the work for you. Get a calorie counting app and figure it out. I personally wouldn't do croutons or carrots (starch). I use rotisserie chicken in mine. Red wine vinegar and a touch of oil. for dressing.

LOL that you're criticizing someone eating carrots but you're eating rotisserie chicken.

LOL (sarcasm) I wasn't criticizing- I was explaining why I don't.

You mainly want to avoid sugary dressings, croutons and tons of cheese.

You can make a nice vegetable salad (mixed greens, a few cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, onion) with some blue cheese crumbles and maybe grilled chicken on top and get a nice, filling, satisfying, low carb meal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Salads”, as a category, are neither good nor bad. It’s all about what you put in them out on them. Lettuce with a bit of dressing? Probably not all that high calorie, but also not very high in nutrient content. What mix of vegetables and/or other mix-ins are you using? Grains? Protein?

lettuce/cabbage mix, spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, green onion, cucumber, pepper, roasted chickpea, a couple croutons

We aren't going to do the work for you. Get a calorie counting app and figure it out. I personally wouldn't do croutons or carrots (starch). I use rotisserie chicken in mine. Red wine vinegar and a touch of oil. for dressing.

LOL that you're criticizing someone eating carrots but you're eating rotisserie chicken.

Salads aren't bad for you. It really depends what you put in them.

For example, I don't like salad dressing.
Here's a typical salad for me:
romaine
cucumber
carrot
red pepper
sunflower seeds
quinoa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Salads”, as a category, are neither good nor bad. It’s all about what you put in them out on them. Lettuce with a bit of dressing? Probably not all that high calorie, but also not very high in nutrient content. What mix of vegetables and/or other mix-ins are you using? Grains? Protein?

lettuce/cabbage mix, spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, green onion, cucumber, pepper, roasted chickpea, a couple croutons

We aren't going to do the work for you. Get a calorie counting app and figure it out. I personally wouldn't do croutons or carrots (starch). I use rotisserie chicken in mine. Red wine vinegar and a touch of oil. for dressing.

Anonymous wrote:“Salads”, as a category, are neither good nor bad. It’s all about what you put in them out on them. Lettuce with a bit of dressing? Probably not all that high calorie, but also not very high in nutrient content. What mix of vegetables and/or other mix-ins are you using? Grains? Protein?

lettuce/cabbage mix, spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, green onion, cucumber, pepper, roasted chickpea, a couple croutons

“Salads”, as a category, are neither good nor bad. It’s all about what you put in them out on them. Lettuce with a bit of dressing? Probably not all that high calorie, but also not very high in nutrient content. What mix of vegetables and/or other mix-ins are you using? Grains? Protein?

I mix blue cheese and goddess light dressing and add no cheese or croutons. It’s about 200 calories which is a very light meal but a pretty caloric snack.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see people mentioning this all the time on here, that salads are not really that low in calories. I get it when you're talking about bacon being added, lots of cheese, egg, meats, full fat ranch dressing, etc.

I'm talking about homemade salads with just dressing, maybe a few croutons, and a small amount of dressing. Can't be that many calories?

If you count calories, you can tell pretty easily. I'm not being snarky, but I use the noom app so I know that I am making healthy salads. It all depends on what you put in/on them.

lettuce, spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, carrots, green onion, cucumber, pepper, roasted chickpea, a couple croutons

Salads aren’t bad for you

Croutons are just fat and bad carbs, so I’d skip those.

Anonymous wrote:I see people mentioning this all the time on here, that salads are not really that low in calories. I get it when you're talking about bacon being added, lots of cheese, egg, meats, full fat ranch dressing, etc.

I'm talking about homemade salads with just dressing, maybe a few croutons, and a small amount of dressing. Can't be that many calories?

If you count calories, you can tell pretty easily. I'm not being snarky, but I use the noom app so I know that I am making healthy salads. It all depends on what you put in/on them.

I see people mentioning this all the time on here, that salads are not really that low in calories. I get it when you're talking about bacon being added, lots of cheese, egg, meats, full fat ranch dressing, etc.

I'm talking about homemade salads with just dressing, maybe a few croutons, and a small amount of dressing. Can't be that many calories?