Your diet's enemy: Salad?

When many people go to a restaurant, if they are on a diet or are trying to eat healthy, the first part of the menu they skip to is the salad section to choose from a selection of fried meats slathered in cheese with decorative accents of lettuce. Tasty – yes. Healthy – no. Check out the nutritional facts on a few salads and their calorie equivalents. (source: today.msnbc.com)

Wendy’s BLT Cobb Salad with Croutons and Avocado Ranch Dressing

740 calories
50 grams fat (15.5 grams saturated)
2,140 milligrams sodium

Calorie equivalent: 2 Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers (700 calories)

Quiznos' Chicken Caesar Flatbread Salad (with bread)

920 calories
66.5 grams fat (20.5 grams saturated, 0 grams trans fat)
2,090 milligrams sodium

Calorie equivalent: Three White Castle Bacon Cheeseburgers with 3-piece Chicken Rings (860 calories)

Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

1,310 calories
93 grams fat (15 grams saturated, 2.5 grams trans fats)
1,470 milligrams sodium

Calorie equivalent: Almost as much as a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Medium Fries and Medium Coke (1,330 calories)

California Pizza Kitchen's Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

1,570 calories
30 g saturated fat
2,082 mg sodium
Calorie equivalent: Wendy's 1/2-Pound Double with Cheese, Medium Fries and Medium Chocolate Frosty (1,570 calories)

T.G.I. Friday's Santa Fe Chopped Salad

1,800 calories

Calorie equivalent: Burger King Double Whopper, Medium Fries and Small Chocolate Shake (1,800 calories)

Yikes! Those are some scary numbers. However, most of these salads have the same high-fat and high-calorie culprits. When aiming to eat a healthy salad, avoid:

• Salads that use lots of fried and processed meats – Instead of adding deep-fried chicken strips or slices of processed meats, add strips of grilled chicken breasts to create a filling salad.

•  Lots of dressing – I am a salad dressing lover, but salad dressing adds a lot of fat and calories to an otherwise healthy meal. So choose vinaigrette, lemon juice, or salsa to add some flavor to your salad.

• Too much cheese – Cheese is a good source of protein and calcium, but is also calorie heavy, so try to hold back on using too much of it.

• Using only iceberg lettuce – Iceberg lettuce has almost zero nutritional value, so include kale, spinach, and other darker greens to add both flavor and nutrients.

• Piling up on croutons and bacon bits – These also add no nutritional value, but they do add lots of calories, salt, and bad carbohydrates.

• Adding candied or flavored nuts – These add a lot of unnecessary sugar, so instead add raisins, dried cranberries, or plain nuts.

It will be very hard for me to cut back on my beloved Caesar salad dressing and croutons – however, I hope that vinaigrettes and raisins will find their own special places in my heart.

For a list of more incredibly unhealthy salads, click here.

Eat beautiful everyone!