Starchy vegetables, such as corn and peas, may seem pretty healthy, but these veggies "make the calorie content of that salad zoom up pretty fast," says Barbara Bergin, M.D. Starchy vegetables have a higher amount of carbs, and when cooked, the starch turns into sugar. Moreover, starchy vegetables tend to raise your blood sugar levels more than non-starchy vegetables, which means carb cravings later in the day.
Swap it: Top your salad with bell pepper slices or fiber-packed edamame.
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Sautéed Veggies
OK, so you skipped the starchy veggies, but what about saut�ed veggies of the non-starchy variety? "Saut�ed vegetables soak up oil, which only adds to the fat content of your meal," says Rachel Berman, RD, a dietitian and director of nutrition at CalorieCount.com.
Swap it: No brainer here, stick to the raw versions of your veggies. Add crunch and texture with onions, broccoli, and celery, or sprinkle on some antioxidant-packed parsley to amp up the zest factor.
Sometimes, there's nothing more rewarding than mustering up the strength to say "I'll just have a salad" come lunchtime. It makes me feel all high and mighty. And, in fairness, my "I'll have a salad" days are usually preceded by a string of drive-thru trips, late night pizza, and back-to-back birthday parties. A pat on the back for bypassing French fries for a plate of lettuce seems appropriate, no?
Food guilt aside, I've also upped my salad consumption because a salad is easy to assemble on a lunch break. Just pack some lettuce and a few salad toppings and bam, insta-meal.
Now, I don't sprinkle bacon bits over my bed of lettuce, but when it comes to salad toppings, my motto is "the more the merrier." Olives? Why not! Corn? Pile it on! If I'm at the salad bar at Whole Foods, my salad always weighs in above an acceptable weight class for a plastic container full of vegetables. And so the rationalizations begin: It's still technically a "salad," so I'm good to go, right? Wrong.
I asked a dietician to analyze my typical salad and she told me it's just a fat salad in disguise. Sure, it's (mostly) green and contains some vegetables, but if I don't step on the brakes to really consider all of my salad toppings, I might as well just be eating a burrito or burger.
Of course, we all know to avoid cheese, creamy dressings, and everyone's favorite offender, the crouton. But there are plenty of other, more sneaky salad toppings that can sabotage this supposedly healthier meal option. So I asked nutritionists and dieticians to reveal the unassuming salad toppings that are making my salad (and yours!) a total fat bomb, as well as what to toss on top of that baby spinach instead. How many of these ingredients are making your current go-to salad a fat bomb?
