Making healthy salad choices

We’re entering the season of fresh fruits and vegetables, so what better time than now to enjoy a healthy salad for lunch or dinner. When you fix your salad it’s important to make good choices or your calorie count can skyrocket.

Assistant Director of Recreational Sports Amanda Jillson recommends you follow the 50/25/25 rule for a healthy salad. She says 50% of your salad should be made up of vegetables and whole grains, followed by 25% healthy fats and 25% lean protein.

“We have a great variety of salad choices right here on campus at the Food Emporium,” said Jillson. “Some of your choices for healthy greens would be your spinach, lettuce or your mixed romaine or iceberg lettuce.”

Jillson recommends adding lettuce first, and then slowly start to add on your health fats like cheese. A healthy salad should have no more than a sprinkling of cheese, which is equivalent to two pair of dice.

“Another great healthy fat would be sunflower seeds or almonds, which is a good alternative to dressings if you want to pack it full of healthy monosaturated fats,” she said.

Salad dressings often pack on the most calories when it comes to salads. She recommends using a side of salad dressing to dip your fork in, rather than spreading dressing over your entire salad.

“Instead of your salad going from essentially 300 calories, by putting on that dressing you can easily add up to 500 or 700, which is the same as eating a Big Mac,” she said.

For more information on healthy salad choices contact Amanda Jillson at ajill2@uis.edu.