Having a Salad for Every Meal
There is nothing inherently wrong with a big bowl of fresh spinach topped with tomatoes, onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Salads provide plenty of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which your body needs. But if meals only include veggies, they won’t supply enough calories to fuel you through your day and won’t cover all of your nutritional bases, says nutritionist Toby Smithson, an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokeswoman and expert on plant-based diets. Along with more calories in a meal, you also need protein, fat, and other vitamins and minerals that aren’t abundant in vegetables, such as B12 and zinc. When making green salads, add walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, garbanzo beans, quinoa, avocadoes, cheese, or other rich sources of protein and healthy fats. But also branch out from salads to shake up the monotony. Try lentil, feta, and spinach wraps or grilled portabella mushrooms with a quinoa salad.
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