Salad Days

Normally salads are a smart nutritional choice – packed with health-promoting nutrients that make us feel good and satisfied. Many times, though, salads can be packed with more calories, salt, and fat than your average cheeseburger. Yuck!

Full-out divorce isn’t the answer. After all, salads full of colorful vegetables are our best defense against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses caused by an excessively rich diet. Here, then are four of the most caloric, unhealthy salads and suggestions for transforming them into health-promoting power houses.

Caesar Salad

What’s bad: In theory, a Caesar could be good for you – full of romaine, garlic, anchovies and lemon juice. In practice, the salad is often swimming in heavy dressing, covered with a mountain of Parmesan and croutons. Just one serving of Caesar dressing is up to 1,274 calories. Yikes!

Make it healthy at home: Go light on the croutons or eliminate them all together – white bread, olive oil, and salty seasoning contain virtually no micronutrients, adding nothing but empty calories. Try finely chopped almonds instead of Parmesan. (Trust me, this is actually really good!) Nuts – and almonds in particular – are some of the most beneficial foods for decreasing heart disease risk. A 2009 meta-analysis confirmed that daily almond consumption is associated with a 7 mg/dL decrease in total cholesterol.¹ In addition, almonds contain vitamin E and a large and varied collection of phenol antioxidants. Finally, try a dressing upgrade. This vegan version - based on a recipe in Veganomicon - contains only 33 calories and 6 mg of sodium per tablespoon. The tofu gives it a protein and fiber boost, as well.

Caesar Dressing
Yield: approximately 1 cup

3/4 pound silken tofu
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp capers
4 tsp caper brine
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp mustard powder
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Combine the tofu, olive oil, and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to combine.

Taco Salad

What’s Bad: Where do I start? The fried tortilla shell? The piles of greasy meat, cheese, and sour cream? A taco salad from Taco Bell can range from 770-910 calories and is a sodium bomb.

Make it healthy at home: It is so easy to make a guiltless version of this salad at home. By substituting savory, spiced beans for meat you lose all that saturated fat and gain weight-loss promoting, cancer protection.² This version was adapted from Vegan on the Cheap:

Taco Salad
Serves 4

1 ½ cups cooked pinto beans (1 can, rinsed and drained)
1 ½ cups cooked black beans (1 can, rinsed and drained)
1 cup tomatoes, diced
½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp onion, finely chopped
1 ½ tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 tsp chili powder
tortilla chips, optional
8 cups shredded lettuce
Optional toppings: pitted black olives, canned chopped mild or hot green chilis, shredded cheese, guacamole

In a sauce pan, combine the beans, tomato, jalapeno, onion, cilantro, and chili powder. Use a fork or potato masher to mush everything together. Cook over medium heat until heated through.

To serve, divide a small portion of tortilla chips among plates or shallow bowls. Top with lettuce and bean mixture. Pass the desired toppings at the table.

Cobb Salad

What’s bad: Calorie-dense ingredients like bacon, blue cheese and ranch dressing put this salad over the top when it comes to calories and fat.

Make it healthy at home: Keep portions under control by limiting your toppings to 1 tablespoon (total) per cup of greens and make this satisfying, yet healthy, creamy dressing:

Ranch Dressing

6 ounces silken tofu
3 dates, pitted and chopped
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 dash cayenne pepper, optional

Place tofu, dates, garlic, water, lemon juice, and soy sauce in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and pulse to combine. You want little green flecks to remain!

Chicken or Tuna Salad

What’s bad: Mayo, mayo, mayo.

Make it healthy at home: Best to eliminate the mayo. One idea: Mix drained tuna with a few splashes of light dressing (e.g. one of the ones above or Italian) and some chopped celery and tomatoes. If you simply must have the creamy goodness, try Vegenaise made without eggs, sugar, corn syrup or preservatives. Alternately, you could make the meat-free version on this web-site which is packed full of crunchy veggie and nut goodness.

Resources:

¹ Phung OJ, Makanji SS, White CM, Coleman CI. Almonds have a neutral effect on serum lipid profiles: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 May;109(5):865-73.

² Bazzano LA, Thompson AM, Tees MT, et al. Non-soy legume consumption lowers cholesterol levels: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2009 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Aune D, De Stefani E, Ronco A, et al. Legume intake and the risk of cancer: a multisite case-control study in Uruguay. Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Nov;20(9):1605-15.

I lived through the Jack In the Box E. coli outbreak when I was younger and have lived through many recalls of E. coli infected foods since then. This week’s spinach recall really hit a nerve though and got me wondering just exactly how this bug gets onto our produce. Here’s my attempt at distilling what I learned.

What is E. coli?

It is a bacterium commonly found in the intestines of man and animals. We depend on this bacteria to break down cellulose and assist us in the absorption of vitamin K, the blood-clotting vitamin. Truly, you have billions of “friends” that you never knew you had.

E.coli O157:H7 is a mutant form which lives in the intestines of some cattle, sheep and goats but is not naturally found in the intestines of man. It produces toxins which can be potentially fatal when the bacteria is ingested in very small amounts. As as few as 10 E.coli O157:H7 organisms can cause a person to develop symptoms. (Contrast this with salmonella, which requires concentrations of up to 1 million organisms before symptoms will present.)

If the mutant, toxic form lives in animals, how the heck does it get onto our produce?!

Admittedly, the supply chain from field to supermarket is a long one, with many potential points along the way for contamination to occur. Because the pathogen is found primarily in cattle and wildlife feces, however, epidemiological experts tend to start with three possibilities: dust and mud contamination, wildlife intrusions, and irrigation water. 

Dust & Mud

Cattle feedlots naturally have a high concentration of cattle manure. The muddy, fecal manure mix is a very happy place for E. coli bacteria to thrive. If the location of the feedlot also happens to be dry and windy, mud turned to dust can carry the E. coli to neighboring farms.

Wildlife Intrusions

If cattle feedlots are producing muddy E. coli soups, then its possible for migratory birds to pick it up and deposit it on neighboring farms. Similarly, feral swine and other wildlife could excrete or carry the E. coli.

Irrigation water

Finally, dust, mud, or wildlife can contaminate irrigation water headed for a leafy field. Shockingly, there are no protections against this either. FDA provides no specifics, critical limits, or metrics based on indicators or pathogen prevalence in a standardized sample volume of any size. Producers are held to self-determination of the broadly applicable position that water should be “of appropriate quality for its intended source, or treating and testing water on a regular basis and as needed to ensure appropriate quality.” Whatever that means…

Should I stop eating salad?

According to the CDC, most illness from E. coli O157:H7 has been associated with undercooked, contaminated ground beef. So the short answer is no!

It is always important to be careful when handling any food, however. If you insist on preparing meat in your home: Always clean any surface that has come in contact with raw meat before any other item is placed on that surface. Always thoroughly wash hands after handling raw meat and before handling any other utensil or food item. Prepare meat and poultry separately from fruits and vegetables, and use separate clean utensils for cutting and mixing.

In addition, the Produce Marketing Association recommends the following:

At the store: trust your senses. Look for fresh-looking fruits and vegetables that are not bruised, shriveled, moldy, or slimy. Don’t buy anything that smells bad. Don’t buy packaged vegetables that look slimy. Buy only what you need. Keep meats separate from produce.

At home: Handle fresh fruits and vegetables carefully. Put produce away promptly, and keep it in the crisper. Remember to keep all cut fruits and vegetables covered in the refrigerator, and throw away produce you have kept too long. Wash all fruits and vegetables in clean drinking water before eating. Do not use detergent or bleach when washing fruits and vegetables. Store prepared fruit salads and other cut produce in the refrigerator until just before serving. 

A college friend of mine had a great post on her blog recently about sunscreen, so I thought I’d take a moment on this first day of summer (it starts a little late here in Seattle) to write the corollary on diet. 

While most people know to wear sunscreen, avoid tanning beds, and cover up when they go outside, it is less commonly known that a high-nutrient diet is a powerful force in the prevention of all types of skin cancer. Cancers, in general, flourish in the body when cells that undergo free radical damage and the subsequent DNA damage are unable to be repaired by the cell’s DNA monitoring and repair tools. Natural, plant based foods are rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals, substances that are needed for these repair mechanisms to function most optimally.

Researchers in Australia confirmed the protective benefits of a high-nutrient, plant-based diet. They analyzed the diet, skin color, and sunlight exposure of 1,360 adults, aged 25-75, who participated in a community-based skin cancer study from 1992-2002. Two main eating patterns were identified: a meat and fat pattern and a vegetable and fruit pattern.

Not surprisingly, the meat and fat pattern diet was positively associated with development of skin cancer, and even more strongly associated in participants with a skin cancer history. Increased consumption of the vegetable and fruit dietary pattern reduced skin cancer occurrence by 54%, with the protective effect mostly attributed to the consumption of green, leafy vegetables.

In conclusion, the researchers deemed that a dietary pattern characterized by high meat and fat intakes increases skin cancer odds, while a dietary pattern characterized by higher consumption of green vegetables decreases it.

Care to join me for a salad?