The main health benefit of lettuce and other vegetables in a salad is fiber. Salads are often full of fiber, which is a nutrient, but not for you! Fiber is really food for the microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live in your gut. Fiber is also the key to metabolic health. Bacteria in the gut convert fiber into short-chain fatty acids, which can regulate immune function and control inflammation.
To increase the fiber in your leafy green salad, add mixed vegetables, such as broccoli and green peppers, and add beans and lentils.
But the healthiest salads include lots of other good-for-you ingredients, like antioxidants. Antioxidants are chemicals that are essential to the liver, detoxifying virtually all environmental poisons that enter the body. To perform this magic trick, your liver needs these antioxidants.
For antioxidants, try chopped colorful vegetables (the darker the better), chopped fresh fruits, herbs (fresh or dried), and spices. Then add protein, such as free-range eggs, beef, fish, chicken, tofu, beans, or lentils.
Add fats and fermented foods to your salad
Now add some whole food fats, like avocado, olives, nuts, and seeds. Nuts and seeds (such as chia seeds and walnuts) are packed with anti-inflammatory alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid that has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.
For other sources of omega-3s, try small fish, such as anchovies (commonly found in Caesar salads). May also include other wild-caught fish (sardines, salmon, mackerel) or chicken (free-range chicken has fewer antibiotics).
Cheeses are a great addition because they contain odd-chain fatty acids, which protect against diabetes and heart disease. We’ve all been taught to avoid fats because they have more calories, but dairy fatty acids are unique in that they have a specific phospholipid at their end that prevents inflammation. Just don’t use American cheese, which isn’t really cheese. Instead, try varieties like feta, cotija, parmesan, and mozzarella.
Bonus points go to kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts—cruciferous vegetables that can boost your body’s energy. natural production of antioxidants and stimulate the production of detoxifying enzymes in the liver. Another plus: Fresh tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that supports eye function and prevents cataracts.
Adding fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut can give you a gut-healthy boost, as can homemade dressings made with unsweetened plain yogurt. And fermented foods already contain short-chain fatty acids.
Avoid store-bought salad dressings
Okay. Now let’s talk about salad dressings.. To make a great homemade dressing, focus on ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, tahini, vinegar, Dijon, herbs, spices, and low-sugar citrus juices (lemon, lime, grapefruit).
the Oleic acid in olive oil activate the liver to produce a factor that speeds up metabolism. the acetic acid in vinegar it inhibits an enzyme that breaks down starches in the mouth, thus reducing the rate of glucose appearing in the bloodstream. Some homemade dressings get additional antioxidants from spices and seasonings like ginger, garlic, turmeric, thyme, and oregano.
But the same can’t be said for most store-bought dressings. Store-bought versions are often made with canola and soybean oils, which are packed with linoleic acidan inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid.
They can also introduce large amounts of fructose (the sugar molecule), in the form of cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or honey, which damage mitochondria, the energy-producing factories that power each of your cells. When your mitochondria don’t work rightblood glucose and insulin rise, and your liver has no choice but to convert fructose to fat, leading to fatty liver and insulin resistance and potentially increasing your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
You might be surprised at how common it is for sugar to seep into bottled dressings. For example, high fructose corn syrup is the second ingredient in Kraft Creamy French Dressing, which has five grams of added sugar. And be careful with fat-free dressings; For example, Ken’s Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette has 12 grams of added sugar.
Store-bought dressings can also contain ingredients that are bad for your gut and the trillions of bacteria that reside there. These bacteria send chemical signals to your brain asking you to feed them. If you don’t feed your bacteria, you actually start feeding on you — by removing mucin, a protective coating, directly from intestinal cells. Over time, this can lead to irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and impaired intestinal permeability, what some people call “leaky gut.” It can also cause systemic inflammation.
Store-bought dressings often contain emulsifiers, such as carboxymethylcellulose, polysorbate-80, or carrageenan, which prevent fat and water from separating and can dissolve it protective layer of mucin in the intestine. Those pesky added sugars can also cause the bad bacteria in your microbiome to proliferate, which could lead to GI upset, gas, bloating, diarrhea, and bloating.
croutons and crunchy things
But that doesn’t mean you should skip the dressing. Studies have shown that fats, like those in avocados, actually help your body absorb nutrients from some vegetables. The key is choosing the right ingredients and, ideally, making your own dressing at home.
It’s also a good idea to avoid “crispy” things (like fried onions and tortilla strips), which are often fried in seed oils at high temperatures, risking the formation of trans fats and acrylamide, a carcinogen. known. I would also suggest being careful with dried fruits; some varieties and brands coat them with sugar to make them sweeter and more palatable.
And finally, be careful with processed breads. A Caesar salad is not a Caesar salad without croutons, but commercial croutons are often loaded with preservatives, sodium, and vegetable oils. Bake your own croutons or accompany your salad with a slice of sourdough bread. But please, don’t eat the fried tortilla.
Robert H. Lustig is professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco and author of “Metabolic: The Lure and Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine.”
