Is it healthy if you only eat salads?

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Salad is identical to vegetables or fruits. So, many people want to lose weight or who want to be healthy prefer to eat salad instead of eating other foods. The composition of the salad which usually consists of vegetables or fruits is certainly healthy. However, if you eat a salad every day does it guarantee your health?

What is a salad?

Before starting further, we should first know what is meant by salad. Salad is usually not a main dish, usually served as an appetizer or a side dish. However, salads can be used as main dishes, with larger portions of course.

The salad is usually served in cold conditions and consists of various mixtures of food ingredients, usually raw foods. Different mix of food ingredients, different names of salads. For example, a Caesar salad whose main ingredients consist of green vegetables (especially Romaine lettuce) are added garlic vinaigrette dressing.

Salad is served by only mixing food ingredients. You can create your own mix of food ingredients in your salad according to your taste. The ingredients in salads can consist of vegetables, pasta, beans, seafood, tuna, eggs, chicken, fruit, and others. Don't forget to always add salad dressing. Yes, salad dressing is one of the important parts of a salad. Without salad dressing, salad won't be a salad.

Salad dressing can be interpreted as a spice in a salad, so salad dressing useful for enhancing the taste and texture of salads. There are many types salad dressing. Usually salad dressing consists of basic ingredients, such as oil, milk products (cream or yogurt), and mayonnaise. One type salad dressing is vinaigrette dressing, which is made from a mixture of olive oil or canola oil, vinegar, mustard, and spices can be added.

Is it healthy to eat salad only?

Based on the explanation above, we know that the composition of salads can consist of anything. Not only vegetables or fruits, salads can also consist of protein sources, such as eggs, tuna, shrimp, chicken, meat, and others. In addition, every salad is also added salad dressing, which can be a source of fat.

A complete salad usually consists of basic ingredients, main ingredients, garnish, and salad dressing.

Basic material, used as a base for salads. Usually in the form of green vegetables, such as lettuce (lettuce).
The main ingredient, this is a salad filling. Usually consists of vegetables, such as green vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, and others. Can also be added with boiled eggs, tuna, boiled or baked chicken, or can also be added with potatoes.
Garnish or decoration, added to enrich the taste, texture and color. Whatever can be used as garnish. For example, just grilled chicken on a Caesar salad.
Dressings, this is an ingredient you can't miss. Dressings can be mayonnaise, olive oil, vinaigrette dressing, and others.

If the salad consists of a complete composition, there are sources of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, salads are certainly a complete and healthy nutrition food.

Source carbohydrate can be potatoes, pasta, vegetables, or fruits
Source protein can be found in fish, chicken, meat, eggs
Source fat you can get from dressing, in the form of mayonnaise or oil
Source vitamins and minerals, found in vegetables and fruits

If the salad contains complete nutrition like this, you don't have a problem if you eat salad only, provided your nutritional needs are still met. Consequently, you may need to increase your salad portion.

However, if your salad consists of only vegetables, of course the salad does not meet the nutrients needed by you. If you only want to eat salads in a day, you should still pay attention to the nutrition in the salad you eat whether it's complete or not. You can create your own salad that contains various nutrients.

What are the benefits of a salad?

The abundance of vegetables or fruits in salads can keep you full longer, so you eat less, and ultimately can help you lose weight. In addition, vegetables and fruits also contain lots of fiber which can help you reduce cholesterol and can also prevent constipation.

Salads consisting of lots of green vegetables also contain lots of antioxidants (from vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, lycopene, and alpha and beta-carotene). These antioxidants can help protect the body from damage caused by free radicals.

Salads also contain good fat. These good fats can be found in olive oil, avocados, and nuts which are usually found in salads. Eating good fats along with vegetables can help your body absorb phytochemicals that are good for the body, such as lycopene from tomatoes and lutein from dark green vegetables.

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