Chicago Wellness: Healthy Substitutions for Unhealthy Salads

The best way to offset over-consumption of unhealthy calories is enjoying a huge salad at the start of every meal - salads are superfoods packed with nutrition, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and fiber.

Yet, not all salads are created equal. Because it’s called a salad doesn’t mean it’s necessarily healthy. People’s definitions of salads have greatly expanded to now include all kinds. Some less healthful salad ingredients may be a little subtler and trickier to spot. At a salad bar, you can easily make these swaps, and when eating at a restaurant, you can ask the waiter to make these modifications to accommodate you.

Unhealthy Add-Ins

While most salads start out with fresh vegetables or fruit, they can quickly get out of control with some of these unhealthy add ins.

1. Croutons

Croutons are a processed food. They are usually made from white bread, which contains gluten, as well as refined oils. Many also contain artificial colors and flavors, as well as salt, high-fructose corn syrup, and dairy products.

Try this instead: Looking for some nice crunch in your salad? Try a few tablespoons of chopped raw walnuts or almonds, or crumple some gluten-free crackers or kale chips over your salad.

2. Mayonnaise

Commercial mayonnaise contains eggs, oil (often soybean, a polyunsaturated vegetable oil), salt, vinegar, artificial flavors, and usually some type of sweetener such as high-fructose corn-syrup. According to the Center for Food Safety, 91 percent of the soybeans in the United States are genetically modified. Genetically modified crops may pose real threats to human health. Mayo is pure, gloppy fat that makes your body look the same. Not what we want!

Salads such as coleslaw and potato salad often use mayonnaise as a dressing, and many other salad dressings (ranch, bleu cheese, thousand island) are mayonnaise-based.

Try this instead: Use a little extra virgin olive, some raw apple cider vinegar, and chopped fresh herbs to top your salad. If you’re looking for a creamy salad topping, try using avocado, lemon juice, water, and herbs in the blender or food processor, or make a simple raw tahini-lemon dressing. Or, horseradish will give it a kick!

3. Cheese

Cheese is high in saturated fat, salt, and calories. Most cheese is made from cow's milk. One of the main problems with cow’s milk is the main protein found in dairy: casein. In The China Study, researcher T. Coli Campbell Ph.D. found that controlling casein intake by significantly reducing or eliminating it helped prevent cancer. Casein is also notoriously difficult for humans to digest, and many people have sensitivities to the sugars in milk and cheese.

Try this instead: If you’re making the transition away from dairy, you may try swapping the cow’s milk products with a small amount (just an ounce) of goat cheese. You can also get a great cheesy flavor from sprinkling a little nutritional yeast on your salad, with the added bonus of pumping up your vitamin B12 intake.

4. Meat – bacon, ham, etc.

Meat adds fat and calories to salads. Likewise, processed meats like bacon and ham meats add chemicals, sugar, and salt. Adding bacon bits to a salad is one of the quickest ways to make that salad unhealthy. And the meat adds a heaviness to an otherwise light meal.

Try this instead: If you’d like a salty, umami flavor you get from bacon, try adding sautéed shiitake mushrooms to your salad instead, or sprinkle it with dulse flakes. If you want your salad to be bulkier, try adding seeds or a nut pate to it. You can even ask the waiter if they can top your salad with a veggie burger- no bun needed.

5. Cool Whip – Whipped Cream (fruit salads)

Cool Whip is a highly processed artificial food made from ingredients such as hydrogenated oil, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and other chemicals. Whipped cream is made from cow’s milk dairy (see discussion above). Neither are healthy and both have plenty of saturated fat and calories, turning a fruit salad into a high-fat nightmare.

Try this instead: Squeeze a little lemon on your fruit. If you really want something creamy, make whipped cream from full-fat coconut milk. Here’s how:

Coconut Milk Whipped Cream

Place full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight.
Drain off the liquid.
Scoop the coconut cream solids into a chilled bowl.
Using a chilled whisk or egg beater, whip until the coconut cream is light and fluffy.