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Guess what?  Don’t shoot the Easy Skinny Life messenger, but I rarely order salads at restaurants.  Instead, I ask for a double portion of whatever interesting vegetables are offered with a lean grilled or baked protein entrée.  Ask for the vegetables steamed or lightly sautéed, and keep the protein pure.  It’s a more substantial and filling pick than the salads, yet surprisingly much lower in calories and sneaky sugar.

Big, beautifully pictured salads are offered on menus everywhere, but the portions are getting out of control in calories, especially with the ”healthy sounding” items like candied nuts, dried fruits, and cheese.   Don’t be fooled.

Another big culprit is restaurant salad dressings, including “light” and “fat-free”, often with corn syrup, sugar, salt and empty, useless calories.  Toss it all together and it can turn into a 1000 calorie sugar bomb disguised as a skinny selection.  No thanks.

Even if I contain the salad monster by getting the tasty nuts and cheese on the side to portion it myself, the commercial or restaurant salad dressings are a continued source of mystery and annoyance while dining out.  Many contain an incredible amount of unnecessary calories, bad fat, additives, sweeteners and sugar.  It’s just too hard to play guessing games, and I’m all about the Easy Skinny Life.  If I’m going to consume 1000 calories, I don’t want it to be wasted on lettuce leaves for goodness sakes.

Unless you sneak in your own homemade salad dressing or eat your restaurant salad dry with lemon on it, a tiny touch of dressing or vinegar, it’s just not worth it to me.  And I can’t stomach dry salad personally.

Make your own beautiful, big gorgeous salads at home, grabbing as many different leafy greens from the market as you can during your every-three-days trip to the store.  Add a portion of crumbled cheese and a small portion of plain or toasted nuts (not candied!).  Gain inspiration from innovative ingredients offered at the restaurants, but keep your version pure and controlled.  Top it with a hard-boiled egg, crab meat, or any lean protein source.  Make your own fast, simple and pure salad dressings or at least know exactly what you are putting in your body when using a store-bought brand.  Avoid the salt, sugar, fat, additives, corn syrups and high calorie trap, so read the labels carefully before you buy it.

Bottom line:  Who needs a Big Mac outcome when eating rabbit food?  I don’t.  My calories are worth every wonderful bite.

For an easy, homemade salad and basic vinaigrette, see my Recipes category.  Enjoy!