Making Nutritious Salads

After you finish reading this article head out to the local farmer’s market or your favorite grocery store and try your hand at creating lovely salads. The natural vegetables, fruits and grains provide tremendous nutrition as well as incredible flavor combinations.
Most salads are so high in flavor that it is easy to forget that they are usually quite low in calories. Salads also provide important antioxidants that make the body resilient, as well as vitamins and minerals that make bones, muscles and skin healthier. Start the salads with a base of dark greens. Although Iceberg lettuce is inexpensive, it is mostly water and nutrient deficient. Go for the darker lettuces like Romaine and other greens like Spinach.

Toss in some peppers, carrots, celery, onions and the like. The main thing is to have several bright colored vegetables in your salad. The colors are indicative of the amount of nutrients in the item. The longer they are in the sun, on the vine or plant the more vitamins they have from the sun like vitamins D and C. Citrus fruits and berries add a surprisingly fresh flavor to salads and provide additional vitamins and minerals. Berries are “super fruits” that provide antioxidants that help the body grow healthier cells and help prevent some cancers and slow down the effects of aging.
You can also help improve the function of your digestive tract by using some of these additions:  Cleanse your digestive tract by using apple cider rather than fattening dressings, reduce acid in the digestive tract with lemon or lime juice, garlic acts as an antiseptic cleanser, pumpkin will remove parasites. Medicinal herbs and spices not only improve your health, but improve flavor without adding table salt. Add a small amount of cayenne pepper to speed up the metabolism, which helps with weight loss if that is a goal of yours.

Prepare a salad the night before you go to work or school in a container that fits well in your briefcase or backpack and you will never go a moment without a healthy meal.