Salad veggie vitamins get boost from fat

Photo by Travis Yewell on Unsplash

By Heidi McIndoo
Posted on June 13, 2024

It’s no secret that a salad filled with bright, colorful fruits and veggies makes for a delicious start to your meal, or is the meal itself.

And you probably know that what we choose to top our salads — think beans, croutons, bacon bits, lean meats, etc. — can affect the health of said salad for better or worse.

Pros and cons of salad dressing

Salad dressings are another way to add interesting flavors to your raw veggies, but they do more than that.

Dressings can add extra calories, saturated fat, sodium and added sugar to your salad bowl. For this reason, it’s important to make informed choices when selecting your dressing and not go overboard as you pour.

But what dressings provide isn’t all negative. Depending on the ingredients used, dressings can be a good source of healthy fats in your day. Those healthy fats actually help make your salad better for you.

Many of the commonly-used salad veggies contain fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). These vitamins need to be eaten with fat to get the best absorption.

Choose dressings with olive, canola, avocado and other healthy oils as their base to maximize the vitamins and therefore health benefits you can gain from your salad bowl.

Helpful hints: Keep in mind the benefits salad dressing can provide the next time you’re choosing one:

Dip it, don’t drown it. You’ve heard it before, but having dressing on the side and dipping forkfuls into it maximizes flavor but minimizes the amount of dressing you eat.
Skip the fat free. To obtain the most nutritional benefits from your salad, choose a full-fat dressing made with healthy oil.
Make sure it’s not too sweet. Some dressings contain up to two teaspoons of added sugar per serving. Be sure to check the nutrition facts panel and choose those with minimal added sugar.

Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of Belvoir Media Group, LLC, 1-800-829-5384, EnvironmentalNutrition.com.