Free Diet and Weight Loss Plans

A Salad Is A Perfect Diet Food, Right?

It depends.

Are you having a salad or a tossed meal?

Does the salad dressing you?re using have a lot of calories in it, and are you using so much of it on your salad that you have the caloric equivalent of a McDonald?s burger on your salad in dressing alone?

Many people think that if they are having a salad for lunch or dinner, or even breakfast ? that they are having a healthy meal. And yes, a salad can be a very healthy food choice. It can also be just as bad of a food choice as a fast food burger and fries depending on what is put on that salad.

Here?s an example of a salad a friend of mine who was dieting recently made for herself when we were having lunch at a restaurant with a salad bar. I watched her make a huge salad and this is what it contained: ? Iceberg lettuce ? Shredded carrots ? Tomatoes ? Cucumbers ? Hard boiled egg ? Diced ham ? Diced turkey ? Diced salami ? Bacon bits ? Shredded cheddar cheese ? Shredded Parmesan cheese ? Croutons ? Sunflower Seeds ? Regular ranch dressing ? lots of it ? On the side of the salad but on the same plate she piled servings of potato salad, pasta salad, and cottage cheese.

I think I remembered all the ingredients. I may have forgotten one two, but I?m pretty close to having them all. I remembered her salad because she talked about her diet a lot during lunch and was so proud of herself for not ordering the hamburger she really wanted and instead having the salad. When I pointed out that the hamburger would have been less calories, she laughed at me. I think she thought I was joking but I wasn?t.

My friend did not have a salad. By the time she finished making her salad it was hard to see the lettuce. She had a tossed meal. And she had several high fat items in that salad like the processed deli meats, the cheddar cheese, and the bacon bits.

On the other hand, a salad can be a very healthful choice. Some good choices are: ? Dark leafy greens although iceberg is okay too ? Raw vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, green pepper (or any other color pepper), celery, radishes, and onions ? A low fat or vinaigrette dressing (raspberry vinaigrette has big flavor without having a lot of calories)

A salad can be whatever you want it to be. But a salad piled high with high calorie and high fat foods in a not the perfect diet food. In fact, what it might be is the perfect diet wrecking food because it fools people into thinking they are eating a low calorie meal when they aren?t.

Dorrie Ruplinger is a featured writer for http://www.LoseWeightForChristmas.com. Visit the website for a free report on how to lose 10 pounds before Christmas.

MORE ARTICLES:

Weight-loss Tip: Add Extra Calcium to a Low-Fat Diet
Got milk? New research suggests you should if you want to lose weight. The weight loss study shows that calcium, three or four daily servings of low-fat dairy products, can help adjust your body's fat-burning machinery.

Mayo Clinic Misinformed: Nutrition Expert Sides with Parents and Science on Autism Diet Issue.
Significant data and overwhelming anecdotal parental experience, including celebrity Jenny McCarthy, indicate a link between Autism symptoms and diet.

Lip Smacking Recipes of Alkaline pH Diet
An alkaline pH diet is extremely important to keep the body healthy and help it perform daily activities. Balance is a very important aspect when it comes to maintaining a healthy body.

High Blood Pressure Diet and Vitamins
2005, the year the worlds fascination with taking Multivitamins died? Sounds controversial I know and may be a slight exaggeration but actually it is not too far from the truth. 2005 and latterly 2006 have not been good years if you happened to be in the Multivitamin Business as not one but a whole series of reports emerged from one Scientific Research Establishment after another about the apparent uselessness of taking mass amounts of Multivitamins as forms of dietary supplements to aid and support a poor dietary regime.

Info About Gout Diet: Why Going Natural May Give You Relief
Gout affects about 2 million adults in the U.S. alone and it's a disease that doesn?t have a good connotation. Mention gout and people will admit to associating it with excess, intemperance, overindulgence and even gluttony. Why all these images of consumption? Simple. Gout is associated with a bad diet and in the past, when the balance of wealth was excessively tipped in favor of the royalty and the elite, gout only made its appearance in the very rich. Is it any wonder why people are clamoring to change their diets in order to prevent this disease?

The Lowdown On Low Carbohydrate Diet Plan
With the sudden boom of dieting in the country, different diet programs have been introduced in the country. Although many experts believe that proper exercise and not only diet can lose those pounds in a healthy way, many people still believe in the power of diet programs and diet plans. One of the most controversial kinds of diet plans is the low-carbohydrate diet program, which focuses on the reduction of carbohydrate consumption in the body.

Dieting Strategy -- Stop Diet Drop Out
Diet drop out, a significant problem for all types of diets, requires a new dieting strategy. Exchange it.

Using Diet Patches
More than 75% of the population fights with issues that relate to weight loss. It may be a few pounds or a case of obesity but either way there is no magic bullet for curing obesity or weight gain. But using diet patches seems to be the latest hope for an easy solution to the problem. The diet patch is the latest and greatest craze to make it to the weight loss market in recent months. And it certainly is the most attractive diet plan to come along in ages.

Eat Your Way To Clear Skin With An Acne Diet?
Dermatologists normally treat acne but often you can use some homemade recipes to prevent severe acne. You should wash your face at least thrice a day with cold water and a mild cleanser. Using essential oils like lavender, chamomile, calendula, juniper and mint with almond oil on your skin will give effective results. You should also start adding zinc supplements to your diet and avoid caffeine, junk food and salty foods. Other than these homemade recipes, you can also take prescribed medicines that contain benzoyl peroxide, salicyclic acid, sulfur, Azelaic acid, vitamin A, and OTC topical medicines to recover fast from acne.

Oregon State Research Links Diet During Pregnancy to Prevention of Childhood Cancers; Chemical in Sauerkraut Protects Young Animals from Cancer Later
Pregnant women who eat cruciferous vegetables like Sauerkraut, cabbage, and broccoli may be improving their child's resistance to cancer, according to a recent study conducted at Oregon State University. Scientific evidence pointing to Sauerkraut as an important ingredient in a healthy diet continues to grow.

World's Biggest Health and Diet On-line Forum Launches at Dietnoni.com
Introducing the newly launched, newbie-friendly, world's biggest on line forum at www.dietnoni.com. The Diet and Fitness research Friends Forum includes discussions on "let food be your medicine" and "let medicine be your food" with additional topics including nutritional, therapeutic, health, weight loss, fitness and more.

15 Good Foods and 10 Things For Your Diet
Diet is a tough challenge for many people. I will give you some useful tips for your diet. These tips are good to read but extremely useful if you really practice these tips in your real life.

6 Tips For A Healthy Weight Loss Diet
Many people today are looking for a healthy weight loss diet and one way this can be achieved is by actually modifying the diet you are already on.

Gen Y Expert Lindsey Pollak to Speak this summer at Camp Shane: Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts At The Nevele
Camp Shane announces that Lindsey Pollak, an acclaimed expert providing career advice for young professionals, will be speaking at Camp Shane's newest program this summer: Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts at the Nevele Grande Resort & Country Club, a weight loss and fitness vacation program for young men and women ages 18 - 25.

Diet Pills - How To Choose Your Right Diet Pills?
Speed up your metabolism Burn those excess fats