5 REASONS YOU SHOULD LOAD ON SALAD THIS EVENING’S IFTAR

Of course, no amount of healthy eating sermons can ruse one away from munching down on scrumptious pakoras and samosas. But really, deep-fried cholesterol-inducing morsels shouldn’t stand in the way of you eating healthy. For many, salads may seem like an unusual addition to the iftar routine, but, again, it takes one to know one. You don’t have to be a nutritionist to realise that eating healthy is the universal panacea to prevent most ailments; and that copious servings of salads are crucial to embark on the fitness journey.
Make one simple change to your diet – add a salad to every iftar, skipping the multiple rounds of pakora serving. Here, we give you some more reasons.

1 Loaded with fibre

A plate of green salad is fibre overload. A high-fibre diet, disguised in fruit or vegetables salads can greatly lower your cholesterol levels and avoid constipation. Eating fibre makes you feel fuller, eat less and ultimately helps you lose weight.

2 A source of antioxidants

Salad greens have good proportion of vitamin C and vitamin A in the form of antioxidant carotenoids. In addition to 7 milligrams of vitamin C, 1 cup of spinach has 93 percent and green leaf lettuce has 88 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A. Add half of a medium-sized carrot and you'll gain more than 100 percent of your daily vitamin A. Vegetables that have a better mix of both antioxidants include sweet red peppers, tomatoes and broccoli. Inculcating a bowl of these in your regular diet, allows you to enrich your body with antioxidants, prohibit (and in some cases even prevent) the oxidation of other molecules in the body, preventing a number of diseases.

3 High protein content

A regular supply of protein is crucial for your body because protein cannot be bodily stored. Leafy greens make for a rich source of protein. Low-fat cheese and lean meat such as chicken or turkey can be added in the salad, in small portion sizes so the calories don’t add up. The end of the meal is protein personified.

4 Low calories to boost satisfaction

Aiming to lose weight this Ramadan? You may want to start your meals with a green salad. A bowl of green salad at an average have 150 calories or less, which enhances satiety (feelings of fullness), automatically reduces the total count of calories eaten during the meal.

5 Smart Fats

Yes, there are a few good fats too, like the monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, avocado and nuts. You can add these to your vegetables allowing your body to absorb protective phytochemicals, like lycopene from tomatoes and lutein from dark green vegetables. A recent study shows how well phytochemicals were absorbed by the body after people ate a salad of lettuce, carrot, and spinach, with or without 2 1/2 tablespoons of avocado. The avocado-eaters absorbed eight times more alpha-carotene and more than 13 times more beta-carotene (both of which are thought to help protect against cancer and heart disease) than the group eating salads without avocado.


Are you sure about that salad dressing?

Dressing your salad may add a punch of more flavours, but you need to be on the guard, since they're often high in calories and fat. However, dressings can have some benefits too. One tablespoon of vegetable oil has about 120 calories, but as long as you watch the serving size, salad dressings have nutritional benefits. Your body needs some dietary fat to properly absorb vitamins A, E and K, so vegetable oil helps you get the most nutrients from your salad. One tablespoon of vegetable oil has about 14 grams of fat, but it has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. Instead, vegetable oil provides healthy unsaturated fats that lower cholesterol. If you use canola, olive, soybean, flaxseed or walnut oil, you'll also gain omega-3 fatty acids.


SALAD BAR AROUND TOWN

Nestled in a petite premises at Khayaban-e-Sehar is ‘Evergreen’. It is said to be Pakistan’s first ready to eat healthy food venture. Boasting a clean-eating menu, combinations of salad bars and more, the restaurant proves that healthy food, too, can be scrumptious to eat. If you choose to swing by, do order Feta and Shitake Mushroom salad, Sesame Crusted Snapper and the very yummy Caesar Salad Wrap.

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