Published on May 1st, 2013 | by Susan Bischak

Bringing Home The Salad Bar

Creating our own salad bar at home can easily be achieved with the help of a food processor. One big advantage is that soiling one bowl to clean, one blade and some shredding or slicing discs does not make for a lot of cleanup, and it probably can all go into the top rack of the dishwasher. Alternately, use a simple four-sided grater, cutting board and knife.

Creating a salad bar at home encourages the whole family to eat more raw vegetables. Raw is best nutritionally because heating foods above 118 degrees kills the natural enzymes that help us digest them. Without them, the body must expend energy creating them and digestion can suffer, leading to indigestion, lack of nutrient assimilation and constipation. Raw foods also supply needed fiber.

For home salads, romaine, arugula and spinach make a better base than pale iceberg lettuce, which that offers little nutritional value. Carrots are orange because they contain beta-carotene, or vitamin A. The more color in the salad, the more appetizing it appears. Peppers come in green, yellow, orange, red and purple. Textures maintain interest. Some foods are best used in larger chunks and others finely shredded. Use discretion according to how difficult it is to chew a vegetable when it is raw.

Be creative and explore new foods. Jicama is crunchy and sweet. Cut it into cubes, stick shapes, or thin slices. Raw beets taste very earthy and add color. Peel the outside and then put it into the food processor with a fine shredder. Store it separately from other vegetables because the color will bleed. Peas are great raw and with sugar snap peas or snow peas even the pod is edible. Vegetables we ordinarily eat cooked can be eaten raw if chopped or shredded.

Dressings can make or break as salad as to whether it will remain healthy or become a calorie or cholesterol disaster. While blue cheese, thousand island and ranch are popular choices, they are not healthy, nor are most of the bottled dressings in grocery stores. Read the labels and think about avoiding all the chemicals and preservatives.

Go for lighter vinaigrette dressings, preferably with cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Use all kinds of spices to suit personal taste preferences. Just remember that much of the soy and canola oil are genetically modified, unless labeled organic.

Lemon, olive oil and minced garlic make a very healthy dressing. Vinegar is acidic and to be avoided, but it is surprising that lemons do not have an acidic effect on the body. Lemon juice, unlike orange juice, becomes alkaline, which is a big plus, because the majority of us have bodies that are too acidic, which invites disease states.

Adding some protein to the salad will quell the return of hunger. Some cooked leftover salmon, chicken, beef, turkey, bacon or chunks of cheese may be added, but don’t use much. Beans, nuts, seeds or quinoa can be chosen to avoid animal protein or just for variety.

Eating should not be just about filling our bellies as quickly as possible with as much food as possible to stop the feeling of hunger that comes when our blood sugar lowers and prompts the brain to tell us to eat. What we choose to eat is extremely important in helping to maintain our bodies in a healthy state or inviting disease to manifest by not giving our body what it really needs to stay healthy.

As Hippocrates recommended many years ago, “Let food be your medicine.” That’s very sage advice we should be heeding in our world of fast and prepackaged convenience foods that fill our bodies with too much fat, salt, sugar and chemicals. People often take more care of their cars than their bodies, yet expect their bodies to keep on going in spite of the neglect. We depend on our body to take us where we want to go in life, and just like our car, we want to remain healthy and well-functioning for a long time.