Salads may not be a low-calorie
meal option after all
January 28, 2005
You might think that eating salad is the key to shedding
pounds. But that might not always be the case. Experts
say some salads are packed with more calories and fat
than McDonald’s Big Mac. For instance, a cheese-layered
salad bowl can run more than 870 calories. A less caloric
alternative? A Tuna snack salad, which runs only about
252 calories with its flaky tuna, cherry tomatoes, and
low-fat vinaigrette. If you find this article interesting,
be sure to also read 'Dietary fat is necessary for absorption
of vitamins, nutrients and phytochemicals from fruits
and vegetables.'
- Many are loaded with more than a Big Mac's 493 calories
and 22.9g fat, discovers Alice Hart-Davis.
- The baddie: Cheese layered salad bowl, 874 calories,
64g fat per 450g tub.
- Colourful layers of mixed vegetables and lightly
dressed pasta, topped with mayonnaise and Red Leicester
cheese.
- What you see, when you look at this salad, is a
solid layer of cheese and that is, largely, what is
doing the damage here - helped out by the mayonnaise
that coats the pasta and the vinaigrette that has
soused the vegetables (does a salad really need both?).
- The healthy option: (from the same place) Healthy
Living Tuna Snack Salad, 252 calories, 2.7g fat per
300g pack.
- Pasta topped with mixed leaf, sweetcorn and chunky
cucumber, flaked tuna and cherry tomatoes with a pot
of low-fat vinaigrette - and a lemon wedge to garnish.
- One third of the pack is pasta, so it doesn't feel
too insubstantial (the thing about lettuce leaves
is that they take up a good deal of space in a plastic
pack, but don't fill the stomach for very long), and
there is a good helping of tuna, the protein in which
will slow down the rate at which the carbohydrate
in the pasta is utilised by the body, so it should
keep you feeling full until teatime.
- It looks as fresh and appetising as all Pret's offerings.
- But, bless 'em, they're generous with the cheese
- - there are three sizeable folded strips of it and
there is a good scattering of bacon before you start
to consider the calories that may be lurking in the
pot of dressing in the middle.
- It looks like an insubstantial bowl of lettuce leaves,
but there is a fair proportion of borlotti, cannellini
and butter beans, with a touch of roasted pepper,
tomato and parsley.
Source:www.newstarget.com
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