Make Salad Your Meal Plan ideas. It’s a fact: if you are overweight, your knees pay the price. One way to eat better and lose weight is to put salads front and center on the dinner menu more often. Creative and strategic combinations of vegetables, fruits and proteins make salads satisfying and tasty and ensure they are packed with nutrition but not calories.
How do you make a meal out of a salad?
Start with a foundation of salad greens. Experiment with nutrient-rich darker greens like arugula (a tangy, peppery flavor) and spinach, and mix them with butter lettuce (creamy and sweet), lamb’s lettuce (sweet and nutty) and radicchio (slightly bitter).
Then add a hearty base. Leftover cooked pasta, rice or barley or sliced cooked potatoes or beans work well. Next, add protein: leftover grilled chicken, fish or lean meat, canned light tuna, salmon or sardines; or chopped hard-boiled eggs, nuts or legumes.
Add color to your salad to brighten up your meal and make it healthier.
Red: red peppers, tomatoes, apples, oranges, cherries, strawberries, beets, plum, purple grapes
Yellow: cantaloupe, mango, peaches, papaya, pineapple, squash, corn, sweet potatoes
White: bananas, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, parsnips
Green: avocados, green apples, green grapes, kiwis, honeydew, melon, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, celery, green onion, green pepper, zucchini
Finally, top with fruits and vegetables. A colorful salad is a healthful salad, so try to add a veggie or fruit from each of these major color groups.