Keep Salads Healthy

Eating vegetables and salads is healthy. And it seems that we're all getting that message loud and clear: salad consumption is at an all-time high. More than two-thirds of American households report serving salads at least once a day, according to the USDA. Unfortunately, the same report indicated that children who eat salads obtain as much fat or more from salad dressing as from any other food source. After adding salad dressing, croutons, cheese, bacon bits, egg, and anything else that tastes good but is not so good for us, a salad can end up being higher in fat and calories than a meal of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies!

So what can you do to keep up the flavor so as to encourage children to eat salads at all? Regular dressing can be high in calories and fat, and very often salads are drenched in it, so when eating out, ask for dressing on the side and use only one to one and a half tablespoons.

The choice of dressing is also important. Try switching to a low-fat or fat-free dressing. Believe it or not, your kids will actually like some of them. Mix balsamic vinegar with honey-mustard for a homemade low-calorie dressing. You can also make fat-free, low-cal dressing from fat-free, sugarfree yogurt mixed with fat-free ranch powder purchased by the pack from your grocery store.

More on: Healthy Meals for Families

Excerpted from:

From Raising Healthy Eaters: 100 Tips for Parents by Henry Legere, M.D. Copyright © 2004. Used by arrangement with The Perseus Books Group.

To order this book visit perseusbooksgroup.com.