Super Foods - Salad

For me, incorporating a fast and simple salad as a side dish with most meals is a convenient method to not only increase feeling fuller which will help with weight loss, but also to introduce nutrient-rich foods that can enhance our well-being and energy levels. 

You could crazy when it comes to adding things to Salads but lets keep this as simple as possible so you can get some nutrient bang for your buck with limited effort.

Leafy Greens 

Green leafy vegetables are packed with a variety of vitamins and minerals, yet are super low in calories.

Spinach and kale, for example, are rich in vitamins A, C, E, and K, along with fibre, iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium whilst greens like Swiss chard and kale provide essential nutrients such as folate and B vitamins for healthy red blood cells, as well as fibre for good digestive health.

Baby Spinach - 100g uncooked - 27 calories 

Kale - 100g uncooked - 43 calories 

Swiss Chard - 100g uncooked - 19 calories 

Rocket - 100g - 25 calories 

I like to keep it easy and use supermarket pre packed salad bags. 

You could have a full 110g baby leaf salad bag from Aldi for around 20 calories. 

Peppers 

You will find lots of our recipes have Peppers in them but I also find them an excellent and easy addition to a Salad for a good boost of healthy Vitamins and Minerals. 

Bell Peppers come in different colours due to how early or late they are picked. 

Out of them all, Red Peppers have the best vitamin and mineral profile and they just happen to taste the best (IMO)

In a typical Red Pepper around 120g, they can give us a huge amount of Vitamin C and a good amount of Vitamin A and B6 as well as Folate and Vitamin E. 

Red Pepper - 100g Raw - 26 calories 

Green Pepper - 100 Raw - 20 calories

A full Pepper can easily be chopped up and thrown on a Salad for a tiny amount of calories and a huge boost to health.

Broccoli - If you can add Broccoli to something, you should as it's a good source of calcium, fibre, iron, potassium and a brilliant source of vitamin C and vitamin K - 100g Raw - 34 calories 

Tomatoes - These are high in vitamin C and lycopene, which has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer - 100g Raw - 20 calories

Red Onion - These are rich in Vitamin B and C as well as being an excellent source of antioxidants that can help with cell damage - 100g Raw - 38 calories 

Carrot - These are high in Vitamin A and an amazing source of Phytonutrients and antioxidants which can support better health and reduce the risk of some diseases - 100g Raw - 41 calories

Need a quick and easy salad to add as a side dish?

Serves 1 - 115 calories

100g Carrot - grated 

50g Red Onion - thinly sliced 

100g Red Pepper - thinly sliced 

1 whole bag of baby leaf salad 

1 tbsp Balsamic Glaze 

Mix and serve