Salad Dressing Risks

I eat a small tossed salad as a side dish just about every day with lunch and dinner. Thousand Island salad dressing is my favorite. Unfortunately, it's high in calories and usually has bad oils. Finding a healthy bottle of salad dressing in the grocery store is tough. There are brands that seem healthy, but if you look at the ingredient list it usually has an oil like canola oil, sweeteners and preservatives that make it not a good option. If a bottled salad dressing does have suitable ingredients, it might not taste the greatest. The easiest thing to do is just make your own. It takes a little time, but in the end it's cheaper and better for you. You control the taste too. What I tend to do is drizzle olive oil and a vinegar over the salad. I alternate between red wine and balsamic vinegar. Apple cider vinegar would also work. A drizzle of juice from a real lemon or orange is also a healthy option. If you use lemon, don't use bottled unless lemon is the only ingredient. I use this bottled lemon juice when I don't have lemons on hand. For years I used bottled lemon juice without realizing it had preservatives in it because I never thought to look at the ingredient list. Another thing I do is add herbs to the salad. I just lightly sprinkle over my tossed salad any combination of herbs I feel like. I tend to use cilantro, oregano, parsley and black pepper. Sometimes I toss in basil or Italian seasoning. A little cayenne pepper, which helps improve circulation, would add some heat. Putting olive oil based homemade salad dressings in the refrigerator will firm up the dressing, so you have to let it sit out at room temperature a bit before using it. That's why I tend to just drizzle and sprinkle the olive oil, vinegar and herbs over the salad without mixing them all together. Honestly, if you use a good green base of something other than iceberg lettuce, a homemade salad is so much better than a restaurant salad. I have a hard time ordering salads out because a lot of restaurants don't tell you what the green base is and a lot of times it's iceberg lettuce, which ends up being really disappointing. Even some restaurants you wouldn't expect just use iceberg. I would much rather pay a little bit more for good greens. A lot of restaurants also don't have salad dressings that use healthy ingredients. It's so annoying when you get a packet of dressing full of bad ingredients. I try to go with a house salad dressing, vinaigrette or an oil and vinegar dressing. The dressing is what adds a lot of calories to a seemingly healthy meal like a salad. Many dressings also tend to be full of sweeteners, which I really don't understand. It's a tossed salad, if you need sweetness, adding some fresh or dried fruit would work and be more nutritious. Challenge: Assess the ingredients list of all the salad dressings you currently use. If they don't use olive oil, have preservatives or any form of sweetener, toss them. They are not a good option. Just make your own with ingredients you control. Add herbs to enhance the flavor. Resources: https://insights.ibx.com/healthy-salad-dressing/ https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2022/09/turn-over-new-leaf-ditch-your-salads-harmful-chemicals-healthier https://mommypotamus.com/5-scariest-things-salad-dressing/ #ads More Resources