It is better to exclude these dishes from the daily diet. And think twice if it’s worth it to strain your body on holidays.
For many, salad is synonymous with healthy eating. After all, these are vegetables! But Russian salads, merciless and high-calorie, may well compete in energy value with fast food.
Let’s figure out with a nutritionist which salads are best to eat only on big holidays and in small quantities. And even then if you try and make them at least a little more useful.
Boiled carrots, potatoes, beets – all of these foods have a high glycemic index, and together they seriously increase blood sugar levels. This salad is really best eaten only on major holidays. And people who have high uric acid, stones or sand in the urinary tract or kidneys, gout, it is better to refuse it altogether. Because there is even more oxalic acid in herring under a fur coat than in sorrel itself.
What to do: do not salt the salad, the salt that is already in the herring is enough. Too much salt can lead to swelling. And limit yourself to a small portion of salad, so as not to go over your daily calorie intake.
Rice, the main ingredient in this salad, is a high-calorie product. On the other hand, chilled rice produces more resistant starch (starch that is not broken down by pancreatic enzymes), which is beneficial for the intestinal microflora. Adds carbohydrates and sweet corn, which the hostess loves to add to the salad. Do not forget about crab sticks, which do not contain a single gram of crab meat, but they do contain a lot of flavorings. Mayonnaise is used as a dressing for such a salad, which cannot be called useful either. So I would not recommend including crab salad in your diet.
What to do: Before boiling the rice, you can soak it by adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to a glass of water. Thanks to this, the cereal will cook faster, and its glycemic index, that is, the ability to increase blood sugar levels, will decrease. In the process of steeping, the phytase enzyme becomes active, which helps to release useful trace elements and vitamins from phytic acid – calcium, magnesium and iron.
Boiled potatoes are included in the Mimosa salad, which adds calories. But, as with chilled rice, resistant starch forms in cold potatoes. Yes, not all starch will be useful. But cold potatoes are more beneficial than hot ones.
In addition, canned fish contains a lot of salt. If maintaining heart health is not an empty phrase for you, you should not abuse salt. Choose canned food carefully: the jar should not be damaged, give preference to trusted manufacturers, so as not to run into fish of “second freshness”. And in general, you can take canned food with you on a hike, but you should not abuse them in everyday life and regularly make a salad based on them.
What to do: replace canned fish with smoked, but smoking should be natural, not chemical. Potatoes, like rice, can be soaked before cooking, which will reduce the amount of starch in the product.
I would not say that this salad contains super-harmful foods. However, mayonnaise dressing is a serious burden on the body, including due to various food additives to improve taste. High-calorie doctor’s sausage also contains many food additives – soy, starch, non-natural products. But there is little meat in the sausage.
What to do: mayonnaise can be replaced with sour cream, and sausage can be replaced with beef heart, which has very few calories. In addition, it is the richest product in coenzyme Q10. Q10 is a beneficial enzyme that improves the functioning of the heart and mitochondria – the cells in which the process of burning fats and carbohydrates occurs. This version of the popular salad will be justified and useful.
Feta cheese is used in the salad. Therefore, it is not recommended for people with lactose intolerance. And so many people have it. In addition, vegetable oil used as a dressing adds calories. One teaspoon of oil per serving adds 50 calories, and a tablespoon adds 200 calories.
What to do: if you are intolerant to dairy products, exclude them from the diet for two months, after which you can consume them in small quantities, say, once or twice a week. Season the salad with a minimum amount of oil so as not to increase its calorie content. Much also depends on the amount of salad eaten. If you put in a small amount of ingredients, the calorie content of a serving will be 300-400 calories. This salad will be useful as a snack or as a substitute for a second course during lunch.
If you do not take the classic dressing for this salad, which is sold in the store, but make them yourself at home, then the Caesar can even be included in the diet menu.
What to do: Do not fry the chicken for salad, but stew it. Combined with eggs, lettuce and hard cheese, the salad is perfect for a snack. In addition, poultry meat can be substituted for shrimp.