HEALTHIER SALAD DRESSING
We all love a BAS (big a** salad), full of fresh veggies and loaded with protein. We often recommend a BAS for lunch for our nutrition program members. It’s easy to pack and take on the go, all while hitting our veggie and protein goals for the day. But nobody likes plain salads. If you’re going to take them out, you got to dress them up!
The problem with most store-bought dressings is that they are highly processed, high in calories, include added sugar and sodium, and are made from a base of harmful vegetable oils.
When you’re looking for a great salad dressing, keep the following in mind:
CALORIES
Calories are not evil. They provide us energy and help fuel our day. However, when it comes to eating healthy we’d like to get the majority of our calories from the main macronutrients of our meal like a chicken breast, avocado, nuts, veggies, etc. Rather than from the dressings and sauces. When choosing a salad dressing, check how many calories are in the dressing per serving. Estimate how many servings you’d need for your salad and try to keep your total calories <150 for dressings.
INGRIEDIENTS
After determining if something is in the right caloric range for your needs, check the ingredient list. The less ingredients listed, typically the better the option it may be. The ingredients are always listed from most to least, meaning the first few ingredients are what the dressing is predominantly made from. Try to avoid dressings that include sugar, any word ending in “ose” (which is also sugar), words ending in syrup (like high fructose corn syrup), and refined vegetable oils (like canola, corn, soybean being the worst). Watch for words that you can’t pronounce, if you don’t recognize the word, do you really want to put it in your body?
Instead choose dressings that you recognize the ingredients because they are made out of natural foods rather than chemicals. Choose dressings that have a shorter ingredient list and are olive oil or yogurt based. Choose a low sugar (<3g) and sodium dressing (<150mg).
SALAD DRESSING RECIPES
JOLT NUTRITON METHODS
Did you learn something today? For more detailed and custom nutrition help visit our Jolt Nutrition Methods program. Join our expert coaches in our 3 step process of Lifestyle Overhaul, Metabolic Restoration, and Fat Loss Activation. This will be the last “diet” you ever need. We teach basic lifestyle and eating skills, restore metabolisms after years of dieting, and help you achieve the health and body you desire once and for all.
