Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Why Salad?

Salad is often touted as a healthy diet food, but the benefits of eating a salad go well beyond dieting and weight loss. Choosing to eat a salad today instead of something else can improve your overall health, make you feel better about yourself and inspire you to continue to make healthy food choices.

Hydration

Eating a salad will help to provide you with your necessary daily intake of water. The vegetables and fruits used in salads contain high amounts of water. Adequate water intake throughout the day is necessary to keep your body healthy, properly functioning and warding off fatigue. Eating a salad can help you remain hydrated. A salad will not provide all your hydration, but it can provide a beneficial amount.

Add Fiber

Vegetables and fruit provide a significant amount of fiber, and fiber is important to your overall health. Eating a salad will increase your fiber intake making you more likely to consume the necessary amounts of daily fiber. The minimal amounts of fiber you should consume vary slightly depending on your age, gender and size, but it is generally between 20 g and 30 g per day.

Improve Digestion

The mixture of high fiber and water contents found in salads can help improve your digestive system. Having a properly working digestive system will reduce constipation and help to remove toxins from your body before they can do any harm.

Reduce Calories

Salads can be a lower calorie option to other foods you might eat instead of a salad. Therefore, by eating a salad you can reduce your daily calories and help yourself achieve weight loss. It is important to note that not all salads are lower in calories. Items that tend to make salads higher in calories include breaded or fried meats, red meat, cheese, high calorie dressings and croutons.

Increase Vitamin and Mineral Intake

Getting a variety of vitamins and minerals in your daily diet is important to your overall health and eating a salad can help you achieve this. HelpGuide.org reports that green leafy vegetables contain an assortment of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K. Therefore, eating salads full of leafy greens, such as spinach, kale or mustard greens, will help increase your vitamin and mineral intake.

Help Get You Daily Servings

Making a salad apart of your day will increase you intake of fruits and vegetables and help you eat the recommended daily intake. Harvard School of Public Health reports that most people should get about nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day; that is about 4 and a half cups. Eating a salad can help ensure you get at least a couple of these servings.

No comments:

Post a Comment