Building a Better Salad

If the word "salad" makes you think of a little limp lettuce, a pale slice of tomato and a glob of bottled dressing, you're missing a whole lot of taste, and an easy way to get a lot of important nutrients without fat.

But if you take advantage of the variety and the nutritional value found in a colorful spectrum of fresh vegetables, you'll get benefits that no single ingredient can provide and end up with a picture-pretty salad that's a pleasure to eat.

You can't live by salad alone, of course. But many of us consume too much fat and too many calories. Salad's a tasty way for you to fill up without overeating.

Add a glass of skim milk and a whole-grain roll, and you can make salad a meal that's packed with nutrition.

Let's build a salad, looking at the nutritional values of each ingredient as we go:

Lettuce

Practically every salad starts with greenery. A cup of iceberg lettuce has 5 calories, 1 gram of protein and 2 mg of vitamin C. Not much there. Switch to the same amount of romaine, and you get 10 calories, the same gram of protein, but five times as much vitamin C. Romaine also adds more vitamin A value -- 1,060 IU, compared with 180 IU in iceberg.

Endive

Also called escarole, endive is in the middle, nutritionally speaking. Now, for a really big green boost: Switch to spinach. The same amount (one cup) also has 10 calories, but doubles the protein to 2 grams, and adds calcium, iron, potassium and vitamin C. It adds color and crunch, too.

Broccoli

Is broccoli the perfect vegetable? Maybe so. Of all our salad possibilities, one 40-calorie spear alone contains the most protein (4 grams), calcium (72 mg), phosphorus (100 mg), potassium (491 mg) and vitamin C (141 mg -- a tie with the red pepper). Only mushrooms have more riboflavin and niacin.

But tired broccoli that's a long way from the farm won't necessarily have the same benefit. Make sure it's fresh.

Options

Options can include mushrooms, which have the B vitamins, niacin and riboflavin, in larger amounts; radishes, which add color and crunch; celery, which adds some vitamin C; and bean sprouts, which put in some more protein and calcium. Other options:

• Carrots. This is a big addition, any way you slice it. A cup of grated carrots (about two medium) tops the chart for calories (45), carbohydrates (11 grams) and vitamin A value (30,940 IU). One carrot can give you four times the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Vitamin A for an adult male.

• Peppers. A sweet pepper puts in 20 calories, no matter what color it is. For a real nutritional boost, opt for the red, which has 4,220 IU of vitamin A instead of 390 IU for the green. Its 141 mg of vitamin C (instead of 95 mg for green) make it the vitamin C champ.

• Cucumbers. Cucumbers have a pleasant taste but not much else. An average cucumber has only 5 calories and nutrients that barely show up on the chart... and that's with the peel. By itself, not much, but in concert with the rest, a bit of taste.

• Tomatoes. One average tomato has 25 calories and a reasonable amount of vitamin A (1,390 IU) and vitamin C (22 mg).

• Onions. A cup of sliced white onions has 40 calories. It also has a little more calcium (33 mg) than a tomato and a lot more than lettuce alone.

Now for the topper

Perhaps the best part about a salad lies in what it doesn't contain -- fat. Americans get too much fat in their diets, and any dish that provides nutrition without fat is a plus.

But all your work in constructing a healthful salad can be lost if you smother that salad in a fatty dressing. Try one of the many low-fat or no-fat dressings on the market. If calories are not a major concern, you might want to use a dressing containing olive oil, which is 100 percent fat but which contains little saturated fat, the prime culprit in heart disease.

Olive oil has a great taste, but use it in moderation. One tablespoon has 125 calories, more than an entire bowl of salad. Try it with its traditional companion, vinegar. Vinegar has a trace of calories and not much else, except lots of flavor.

Create a Salad Dressing

Bored with bottled salad dressing? Making your own dressing can be easy and better for you.

Here's a recipe for a low-fat creamy mustard-garlic dressing:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon mustard (Dijon or whole-grain adds tang)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon water

1 clove crushed garlic

1 tablespoon minced onion

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons nonfat yogurt

Mix all ingredients in small bowl or jar. Pour over salad.

The Salad Recipe

1 cup romaine lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces

1 cup spinach, broken into bite-size pieces

1 cup tomato, diced (approximately 1 large tomato)

1 cup red pepper strips (approximately 1 large pepper)

1 cup shredded carrot (approximately 1 large carrot)

1 cup cucumber slices (approximately 1 large cucumber)

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup sliced onion

Toss and serve with mustard-garlic dressing. Serves 4. Each two-cup serving, with dressing, contains approximately 86 calories, 4 gm protein, 11 gm carbohydrates, 51 mg of calcium, 11,000 IU vitamin A value, 3 gm fat, and 89 mg vitamin C.

Source: U.S.D.A. Nutritive Value of Foods