Healthy Salads and Side Dishes
The
simple joys of a salad! The sensational mingling of fresh green
leaves with colorful crunchy vegetables. A drizzle of olive oil
and balsamic vinegar, or perhaps a creamy avocado dressing... there are
so many possibilities:
As once raw foodies we became well acquainted with the salad. Surprisingly, raw food extends far beyond merely salads. But it is a powerful homebase. We've moved on from all-raw, but salads remain an integral part of our healthy food repertoire. Today for lunch we served up a sublime combo: fresh fish grilled in a tomato herb sauce accompanied by a delicate spinach and avocado salad and pesto dressing. All in 15 minutes, with the help of my beloved blender.
The salad is the one most important thing most people need more of in their daily nutrition plan. Especially when experiencing poor heart health and other degenerative diseases. After a time of incorporating at least one salad into your healthier eating day, you will miss them if you go without. Our bodies 'ask' for them. Especially in summertime. The joyful explosions of raw corn kernels amidst tomatoes, grated carrot and beetroot. So sweet, juicy and delicious. Plus, vegetables are gluten free and dairy free.
Kids and salads?
Chop the vegetables into dippers, and serve with hummus or guacamole.
Make little rolls out of lettuce leaves and fill with a protein choice
and grated vegetables.
Grow sprouts: make it a science project for the kids and let them look
after their own jar. If you live in an apartment this is a fabulous way
to learn about growing plants. Lead by example and really savor your
own salad. Eventually, even the 'weird' foods are attractive to kids,
if you celebrate them personally.
If all raw vegetables get the thumbs down, add lots of vegetables to
your cooking. This is easy in stews, stir-fries, and meat dishes like
rissoles (grated carrot and chopped parsley).
Of course the benefits of more fresh vegetables are well documented:
Eating vegetables provides health benefits — people who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet have a lower risk of developing chronic disease.
- Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce risk for stroke and perhaps other cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and may protect against certain cancers, such as mouth, stomach, and colon-rectum cancer.
- Diets rich in foods containing fiber, such as fruits and vegetables, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
- Eating fruits and vegetables rich in potassium as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and may help to decrease bone loss.
Weight loss by eating vegetables
Substituting part of your meal for a salad is a great way to reduce calorie intake. Not only that, the high levels of enzymes in raw food will assist you in getting more nutrients from your food. So you may need less. Chewing raw vegetables burns more calories than a soft easy to swallow meal.
In case you haven't guessed, we love salads! We make up new salad
recipes all the time, and would like to pass them on to you.
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