The Shocking Truth About Salads

When trying to lose or simply maintain your weight a salad may seem the obvious choice. Especially this time of year when the weather is warmer salads are a great choice - or are they?

We've all done it before, myself included. You want to lose some weight or have lost some and want to keep it off. You go out for a bite to eat with friends and happy to be spending time with them.

You look at the menu and think, "Geez, I'd love to order that hamburger but I want to eat something healthy and fit in to my new shorts, so I'll just have the salad." Your friend orders the burger and you secretly wish you could too, but you're a "good girl" and think you're doing the right thing. So you order the salad and are proud as you made the right choice. But did you?

More often than not that so-called "healthy" salad is further from the truth. Getting a salad at a restaurant or fast-food place can pack on more fat, calories and sodium than you bargained for.

Take a look at this:

At Panera Bread, their Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad has 28 grams of fat, 120 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol and 1040 mg of sodium - and that's without the dressing! The Caesar Dressing adds an additional 16 grams of fat and 190 mg of sodium.

Then there's the Greek Salad which packs a whopping 39 grams of fat and 1370 grams of sodium - again, that's without the dressing. The Greek Dressing has 24 grams of fat and 380g of sodium. So if you get the Greek Salad WITH the dressing you're looking at 63…. yes that's sixty-three…. grams of fat and 1750 mg of sodium. Not exactly a "healthy" meal.

Isn't that incredible?!

Or check this out - a

t Chili's restaurant a Southwestern Cobb Salad (without dressing) has 60 grams of fat and 2590 mg of sodium (and it's 970 calories!). No, you did not read a typo. Then add on dressing. Let's just say you choose the Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette. Sounds healthy, doesn't it? That packs on another 33 grams of fat and 340 calories. And that's in addition to the salad.

So if you were to order the salad WITH dressing you're looking at a meal of 93 grams of fat (and you didn't even eat from the bread basket). Wowza!

Looking at the Chili's menu there are only 2 dressings with 10 grams of fat or under. The rest are 35 grams and up. The Caesar Salad with Lime Grilled Shrimp WITH Caesar Dressing has an unimaginable 77 grams of fat and 1900 mg of sodium! This is for a SALAD!

"So What's a Girl (or Guy) To Do?"

Well for starters, don't just assume that a salad at a restaurant (and the same goes for fast-food places) is a healthy choice. Often the items that pack on the calories are the dressings, chicken (which is often fried), bacon, tortilla strips and other items.

Often it's best to go with a "basic" salad. They're often smaller and have less extra (read: calorie & fat laden) stuff in them. For example, at Panera Bread their Classic Cafe Salad has 11 grams of fat, and Chili's Dinner Salad has 7 grams.

But watch out for the dressing. Best to ask if they have oil and vinegar that you can put on yourself.

Other choices (generally) are those labeled as vinaigrettes. But as we saw earlier, that's not always the case. When in doubt, be one of those people that ask for dressing on the side. It's okay, really. Many people today order on the side and for good reason. So just do it and add a bit of the dressing at a time to your salad.

And if you're really concerned, many chain and fast-food restaurants post the nutritional info on their website. Before heading out, check the nutritional info and see what's the best choice for you. (Though some of them do "hide" it so you may need to dig a bit).

That may seem a bit overboard and time consuming for you. But think of it this way: you can either spend 5-10 minutes checking out a restaurant's website beforehand, or you can spend 3-4 hours (or more) at the gym working it off later. I don't know about you, but the first choice seems better to me!

Besides, your body doesn't need all of that sodium and extra calories.

Remember, an informed consumer is a smart consumer. The same goes for your health. Informing yourself is the first great step to any health or weight-loss goals. So take control of your health and get informed so you can really make the "healthiest choice."

© Dinneen Diette, 2008

Dinneen Diette is founder Eat Without Guilt™. She takes a non-diet approach to weight loss and helps women change their relationship with food, and thus their life! She shows you how to live a life that's both healthy and fulfilling, while eating the foods you love. She is an expert in the slimming secrets of the French and Italians, and adapting them for todays fast-paced lifestyle. To receive your FREE Report, "Top 5 Slimming Secrets of French & Italian Women" and your FREE weekly how-to articles & diet tips visit http://www.EatWithoutGuilt.com