Why is Salad Good For You?

We all know by now that it is important to eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day and salad can count towards this. But have you ever wondered what is actually contained in those lettuce leaves that is so good for you? Studies have been carried out to investigate the link between the amount of salad and raw vegetables eaten by both men and women and the nutrients present in the blood stream after this. From this is has been shown that those who eat these foods on a regular basis have a higher level of vitamin C and E, folic acid and beta carotene in their bloodstream. Before this there had been concerns about the body's ability to absorb nutrients from salad, but the levels present in those tested proved that regular salad eaters were benefiting from the nutrients and were obviously able to utilise them in the body. Vitamin C is a useful antioxidant for humans and helps your body to perform certain function such as protection of cells and maintaining healthy cells and aiding the absorption of iron into the body. It is found in a lot of salad and vegetable items such sprouts, peppers, broccoli, kiwi fruit and oranges. Vitamin E has a number of functions and one of these is to act as an antioxidant within the body. Vitamin E can be found in the wide range of foods and the richest source of this is in plant oils such as soya or olive oil. However, it is also very rich in nuts and seeds which are particularly good in salads! Beta-carotene is actually changed into vitamin A when it enters the body and thus performs all the same functions such as maintaining the health of your skin, helps to protect you from infections and also assists sight in dim light. It is found mainly in yellow and green coloured vegetables and this is what gives these veg their colour! For instance spinach, peppers and mango are high in this nutrient.

Word History: Salt was and is such an important ingredient in salad dressings that the very word salad is based on the Latin word for "salt." Vulgar Latin had a verb *sal re, "to salt," from

Latin s l, "salt," and the past participial form of this verb, *sal ta, "having been salted," came to mean "salad." The Vulgar Latin word passed into languages descending from it, such as Portuguese (salada) and Old Provenal (salada). Old French may have borrowed its word salade from Old Provenal. Medieval Latin also carried on the Vulgar Latin word in the form sal ta. As in the case of so many culinary delights, the English borrowed the word and probably the dish from the French. The Middle English word salade, from Old French salade and Medieval

Latin sal ta, is first recorded in a recipe book composed before 1399. Salt is of course an important ingredient of other foods and condiments besides salad dressings, as is evidenced by some other culinary word histories. The words sauce and salsa, borrowed into English from French and Spanish, respectively, both come ultimately from the Latin word salsus, meaning "salted." Another derivative of this word was the Late Latin adjective sals salting," which eventually gave us the word sausage. cius, "prepared by

Salads are a category of dishes whose prototype is raw vegetables served with a sauce or dressing including oil and an acid as a light savory dish, with a a minimum of three ingredients. Salads also include a variety of related dishes, including ones with cold cooked vegetables, including grains and pasta; ones which add cold meat or seafood; sweet dishes made of cut-up fruit; and even warm dishes. Though the prototypical salad is light, a dinner salad can constitute a complete meal. Green salads include leaf lettuce and leafy vegetables with a sauce or dressing. Most salads are served cold, although some, such as south German potato salad, are served warm. Salads are generally served with a dressing, as well as various garnishes such as nuts or croutons, and sometimes with the addition of meat, fish, pasta, cheese, eggs, or whole grains. Salads may be served at any point during a meal, such as:

Appetizer salads, light salads to stimulate the appetite as the first course of the meal. Side salads, to accompany the main course as a side dish. Main course salads, usually containing a portion of protein, such as chicken breast or slices of beef. Palate-cleansing salads, to settle the stomach after the main course. Dessert salads, sweet versions usually containing fruit, gelatin or whipped cream.

Contents Etymology

A Crab Louie with peppers on the side.

The word "salad" comes from the French salade of the same meaning, from the Latin salata (salty), from sal (salt). In English, the word first appears as "salad" or "sallet" in the 14th century. Salt is associated with salad because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-andvinegar dressings during Roman times.[1] The terminology "salad days", meaning a "time of youthful inexperience" (on notion of "green"), is first recorded by Shakespeare in 1606, while the use of salad bar first appeared in American English in 1976.[1] The term "salad" is commonly mistaken as the term for prepared lettuce.

History
Food historians say the Romans and ancient Greeks ate mixed greens and dressing.[2][3] In his 1699 book, Acetaria: A Discourse on Sallets, John Evelyn attempted with little success to encourage his fellow Britons to eat fresh salad greens.[4] Royalty dabbled in salads: Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over salad covered with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, and slices of hard-boiled eggs. The United States popularized salads in the late 19th century and other regions of the world adopted them throughout the second half of the 20th century. From Europe and the Americas to China, Japan, and Australia, premade salads are sold in supermarkets, at restaurants (restaurants will often have a "Salad Bar" laid out with salad-making ingredients, which the customers will use to put together their salad) and at fast food chains. In the US market, fast food chains such as McDonald's and KFC, that typically sell hamburgers, fries, and fried chicken, now also sell packaged salads to appeal to the health-conscious customers.

Types of salads

Green salad

A Green Salad

The "green salad" or "garden salad" is most often composed of leafy vegetables such as lettuce varieties, spinach, or rocket (arugula). Due to their low caloric density, green salads are a common diet food. The salad leaves may be cut or torn into bite-sized fragments and tossed together (called a tossed salad), or may be placed in a predetermined arrangement (a composed salad).
Vegetable salad

Vegetables other than greens may be used in a salad. Common raw vegetables used in a salad include cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, red onions, carrots, celery, and radishes. Other ingredients, such as avocado, olives, hard boiled egg, artichoke hearts, heart of palm, roasted red bell peppers, green beans, croutons, cheeses, meat (e.g. bacon, chicken), or seafood (e.g. tuna, shrimp), are sometimes added to salads.
Bound salad

American-style potato salad with egg and mayonnaise

A "bound" salad can be composed (arranged) or tossed (put in a bowl and mixed with a thick dressing). They are assembled with thick sauces such as mayonnaise. One portion of a true bound salad will hold its shape when placed on a plate with an ice-cream scoop. Examples of bound salad include tuna salad, pasta salad, chicken salad, egg salad, and potato salad. Bound salads are often used as sandwich fillings. They are also popular at picnics and barbecues, because they can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

Main course salads

Main course salads (also known as "dinner salads"[5] and commonly known as "entre salads" in North America) may contain grilled or fried chicken pieces, seafood such as grilled or fried shrimp or a fish steak such as tuna, mahi-mahi, or salmon. Sliced steak, such as sirloin or skirt, can be placed upon the salad. Caesar salad, Chef salad, Cobb salad, Greek salad, and Michigan salad are types of dinner salad.
Fruit salads

Fruit salads are made of fruit, and include the fruit cocktail that can be made fresh or from canned fruit.[5]
Dessert salads

Dessert salads rarely include leafy greens and are often sweet. Common variants are made with gelatin or whipped cream; e.g. jello salad, pistachio salad, and ambrosia. Other forms of dessert salads include snickers salad, glorified rice, and cookie salad popular in parts of the Midwestern United States.[5]

Examples of salads

What Is A Salad?
Salad is from the Latin meaning salt and true salads are abundant in organic salts. They are also abundant in vitamins. They are of prime importance and should not be neglected. Such salads as potato salad, shrimp salad, etc., are not to be classed with green vegetable salads and are not substitutes therefor. Fruit salads are usually made of canned fruits, hence are not true salads. Cooked salads do not serve the true function of a salad. A macaroni salad is a travesty on the fair name of salads. Dr. Maurice Shefferman very appropriately calls potato salad, tuna fish salad, salmon salad, chicken salad and like concoctions, "unreal salads." He says they are "concoctions" devised by "old-time tea-room operators" that have been appropriated by the restaurant and drug-store counters. He says a restaurant owner once told him: "You can make a much better chicken salad out of pork than you can from veal." The restaurant and drug store salads commonly consist of a small quantity of tuna or salmon or some similar substance, with chopped celery, cole slaw, and mayonnaise, a couple of leaves of wilted lettuce, vinegar, salt, with, often, the addition of various spices. French dressing may be used instead of mayonnaise.

The usual vegetable salad served in hotels, restaurants and drug stores consists of two leaves of wilted lettuce, one or two thin slices of a half-ripe tomato, a spoonful of greasy dressing and a radish or a pickled olive. Such a salad is not worthy the name and, even if it were good, would not meet the salad needs of a canary. The Hygienic rule for eating salads is to eat a tubful of it. A few simple rules for salad making will be observed by the Hygienist. 1. Salads should be made of fresh vegetables. If these can be had direct from the garden, this is better. In purchasing vegetables in the market for salads, choose the freshest and crispest vegetables obtainable. Wilted and shrunken vegetables have lost both palatableness and food value. The green, outer leaves of plants--those parts that are exposed to the sunlight in growing--make the finest salads. Leaf lettuce is superior to head lettuce. Green celery is superior to white. Lettuce, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, etc. make excellent salad vegetables. Raw turnips make a splendid addition to a salad. Fresh radish leaves also make a tasty and valuable addition to salads, as do spinach leaves. 2. Vegetables and fruits used in salads should be well cleaned. Products, such as apples, that have been sprayed with arsenic, should be carefully washed and dried. Delicate green leaves, after washing, should be permitted to dry slightly before using. Carrots, beets, etc., should not be scraped, or peeled before using, but should be carefully scrubbed with a brush. Cucumbers should never be peeled. The peelings of the cucumber should be eaten with the rest of the fruit. 3. Salad vegetables should not be broken, diced, hashed, cut, sliced, etc. This causes vital losses by oxidation. While we have long observed that foods lose their palatableness and undergo obvious changes upon being cut, sliced, shredded, etc., as a result of oxidation, only recently has it been shown that these measures, so popular with those who like their salads shredded and their peaches sliced, cause a loss and destruction of vitamins. The results of some of these latest tests will help us to appreciate the value of natural foods in their natural state. Analyses for vitamin C showed that approximately 10% of this is lost during the six minutes required to shred the cabbage and an additional loss of 4% occurs in the 10 minutes required to mix a dressing for the salad. The additional loss when the cabbage was chopped rather than shredded was 4%,. The finer the cabbage is shredded or chopped and the longer it stands before being eaten, the greater is the loss of this vitamin. Dr. Fredrick F. Tisdall of Toronto, Canada reported astonishing losses of vitamin C from foods as a result of processing. His report was made before the American Institute of Nutrition. He says the mere act of grating either raw apples or raw potatoes causes a complete disappearance of vitamin C. The mere act of chewing these foods causes the destruction of half their vitamin C. "Thank God for the tomato and the orange!" he exclaimed. "They don't act in the same way."

Other investigators reported comparable losses from other foods. For example, when Savoy cabbage is chopped it loses much of its ascorbic acid. Even the type of chopper makes a difference. One chopper destroyed thirty per cent of this vitamin in a few minutes, while a different type of machine destroyed sixty-five per cent. Recent reports state that two British scientific workers, Doctors Frank Wokes and J. G. Organ, of Kings Langely, England, have discovered that vitamin C is destroyed by ascorbic oxidase-ascorbic acid oxidase. Ascorbic oxidase is produced in large amounts when fresh fruits and vegetables are cut. The report tells us that "being set free, through cutting, the oxidase attacks vitamin C contained in these chopped up vegetables and fruits." Then it also reports that "In tomatoes, for example, the oxidase is present in the skin. If a tomato is sliced into large pieces much less oxidase is freed than if the pieces are small." The "report," as it comes to us through the newspaper, is a bit confused or garbled. We interpret it to mean that oxidase is present in certain parts of the fruits and vegetables and is released in the shredding and cutting processes and mixed with the general substance of the food. Coming in contact with vitamin C the oxidase causes it to unite with oxygen--the familiar process of oxidation--and, thus, destroys the vitamin C. The British investigators found that when lettuce is shredded it loses 80 per cent of its vitamin C in one minute. Using oranges, cabbages and other fruits and vegetables in these experiments they found the same thing. They found that ripe tomatoes lost much less vitamin C than did the green ones on being chopped into small pieces. In all green leafy vegetables destruction of vitamin C was very marked. It was found that mincing of fruits and vegetables is harmful in that it deprives the body of vitamin C. From these findings it is evident that foods lose more than color and flavor when they are chopped, grated, ground or mashed in the preparation of salads and juices, or in being cut up for cooking purposes. These facts are expected to result in a complete re-examination of all of our vitamin-food standards. Heretofore these standards have been concerned only with the amount of vitamin in the food. They have taken no account of the actual amount of vitamin that reaches the body. The destruction of vitamins by processing and cooking, and by chewing, has been more or less ignored, especially in practice. There is nothing new in the discovery that cutting fruits and vegetables into small pieces and permitting the air to reach them, results in oxidation. That the foods undergo changes in color, flavor and odor is apparent to all. These changes are results of chemical changes in the foods and these changes result largely from oxidation. In 1928 when, Dr. Shelton's Health School was founded, the rule was instituted that fruits and vegetables are not to be shredded, diced or cut into small pieces and this rule is rarely varied from. Fruits are served whole, even tomatoes are served whole, or in large pieces. We have avoided oxidation of foods as much as possible. Our refusal to grate salads, slice peaches and to

follow the fad of extracting juices from vegetables here at the Health School has been fully justified by the results of these experiments. Much of the damages of foods that result from cooking are due to oxidation--heat instead of oxidase being the catalytic agent--and we have at all times served most foods in their natural or uncooked state. Every real advance in knowledge of foods confirms the wisdom of our "return to nature" in diet. To compensate for the lack of vitamins in our conventional cooked and over cooked diet we are offered vitamin concentrates and synthetic vitamins. These things are of little to no value, are expensive and fail to compensate for all of the food losses caused by cooking. How much better and simpler would be the use of raw foods! Better nourishment for less money and costing less time and effort in preparation may be had from raw foods. If you do not want to completely abandon cooked foods, if you still desire a baked potato or steamed spinach, make up your diet of at least three-fourths uncooked foods. Have a large raw vegetable salad with each protein and each starch meal. Do not skimp on the salad. Eat a tub of it. 4. In making fruit salads, the fruits should be used whole or cut into large slices. No sweetening substances should be added. Apples, peaches, etc., when sliced soon become brown and undergo a change of taste from oxidation. They also lose vitamins. 5. Vegetables to be used in salad making should not be soaked in water. They should be carefully picked and thoroughly cleaned, care being taken not to bruise them in these processes. Soaking them in water leeches minerals and vitamins from them and reduces their value as foods. 6. Make salads simple and do not try to put the whole garden into a salad. The object in making a salad is not to try to see how many ingredients can be jumbled together. Salads should be simple and composed of but few ingredients. Three ingredients should be the limit. The practice of cutting up, shredding and otherwise wrecking a dozen or more articles of food and mixing them all together in a salad is pernicious. The loss of vitamins from such a salad, by oxidation, makes such a salad incompetent to serve the purposes for which salads are eaten. Salads may be simply prepared and yet served in ways to tempt the most fastidious tastes. They require a minimum of activity in the kitchen. 7. Salads should be made pleasing to the eye, but at no time should nutritive value and wholesomeness be sacrificied to artistic appearance. Salads should be daintily prepared, beautiful and appetizing when seen, and fresh and crisp to eat. But the value of the foods making up the salad should not be sacrificed to eye-appeal as is so often done. Important as is eye-appeal, it is not as important as wholesomeness and nutritive value. If the eater is truly hungry he will scarcely notice the occasional lack of eye-appeal. If garnishing is required a small amount of cress, parsley or cabbage may be used for this purpose. The addition of a radish or two or of a few sprigs of mint to a salad is not objectionable from the Hygienic standpoint. Adding pickled olives is objectionable.

8. Do not violate the rules of food combining within the salad or with the salad and the rest of the meal. A tomato salad with a starch meal violates the rule not to take acids with starches. Lemon juice on a salad taken with a protein meal violates the injunction against taking acids and proteins together. The addition of cheese or nuts to salads is permissible only if these foods are to form the protein part of the meal. If eggs are to be added to a salad this should be done only when eggs are to be used as the protein at a protein meal. Most published salad recipes, even those carried in the health journals and in books on nutrition, are unhygienic concoctions. Here is a sample taken from the pages of a magazine devoted to diet: VEGETABLE SALAD 3 medium sized carrots. 1 cup tiny--cooked peas. 1 cup shredded cabbage. 1 cup grated hard boiled eggs. 2 teaspoonfuls vegetable salt. 1 cup lemon vegetable jelly. With what kind of a meal can such a concoction be beaten? Why the salt? Why the cooked peas? Why spoil the cabbage by shredding it? Why the hard boiled egg? The true Hygienist will steer clear of such unwholesome concoctions. This salad is a whole series of bad combinations within itself and will not combine with either a protein or a starch meal. 9. Do not use salt, vinegar, lemon juice or dressing of any kind on a salad. Salad dressings are comparatively very new things in the arts of the cook and are for the most part abominations. No intelligent person acquainted with the first principles of nutrition will ever be guilty of using them. They almost invariably form incompatible combinations with other parts of the meal. Salad dressings, made of olive oil, or soy oil, and lemon juice (with sometimes the addition of egg-yolk; at times, honey is also added), are not wholesome additions to a salad. Both the fat and the acid inhibit protein digestion, while the acid inhibits starch digestion. The natural flavors of foods are much more delicious than the taste of the dressing. No one who desires the best of digestion will violate the laws of correct food combining by using so-called "health-dressings." Read more: http://chestofbooks.com/health/natural-cure/The-Hygienic-SystemOrthotrophy/What-Is-A-Salad.html#ixzz29ohkalOq

Home - Why is salad good for you? - Types of Salad - Salad Recipes - Newsletters - Contact Us

Welcome to sidesalad.co.uk
Salad is very good for you (to state the obvious!) it can offer a range of nutrients and vitamins that are essential for the wellbeing of your body and health. Some of these include vitamin C, E and beta-carotene. These work as an antioxidant within the body and help to prevent infection and skin health to name a few. These can be found in many salad ingredients including peppers, oranges, mangos and tomatoes. There are many different types of salad that you can make and this does not need to be the classic (and lets face it boring!) lettuce, tomato and cucumber! Salads can contain potatoes, nuts, pasta, rice, fruit, seeds and vegetables (book cooked and raw!). On this site you will find just a couple of the many types of salad you can enjoy. Some of these are variations on salads from around the world such as Caesar salad or Greek salad.

Salad varieties
Most of us don't eat our recommended five servings of vegetables per day. So a lunchtime salad can be a great option. The problem is that many of us, especially those of us who are trying to be healthy, can unknowingly be eating a lot more fat or salt than we think we are. An article from the UK questions whether your lunchtime salad is less healthy than a Big Mac or a Mars bar and while some salads do contain more fat or calories than burgers, it is important to remember that they also contain a lot more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. Nutritionist Kristen Beck joined TODAY to look at the different salad varieties and to advise on the healthiest option. Garden Salad Mix of lettuces and other vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, onion, cucumber, mushroom, capsicum). The only issue with a garden salad is what you put on the top. The traditional dressing used for a garden salad is a fatty French/Italian or vinaigrette salad dressing. Many of the commercially available salad dressings have a very high fat and sodium content. The most important consideration is how much is used. A healthier dressing option to use is the juice of a fresh orange. Creamy Potato Salad Potato salad is going to be high in carbs, and traditional potato salads will also be very high in fat due to the creamy mayonnaise dressing. Many deli-style potato salads can contain up to 55 percent fat. The traditional option of mayonnaise is not a great choice because it has a high saturated fat content (as it is made from egg yolk and oil). A healthier option is low fat yoghurtbased dressing seasoned with a little bit of oil and herbs. Caesar Salad Most of us know that Caesar Salad is not a great option in terms of fat content. The fat content

does have to do with the traditional Caesar salad dressing, but also the addition of egg, bacon pieces, croutons (which contain around 30 percent fat even before you have mixed them into the salad to soak up more dressing). Each of these ingredients has a high fat and salt content, so being selective with your additions is important. The addition of chicken to the salad can also add even more fat if the chicken has been fried. The traditional option is the full fat Caesar dressing containing eggs, mustard, vinegar, oil and anchovies. A healthier option is to choose a low fat Caesar dressing which is sure to be still high in sugars and salt, but still an improvement as it has less calories and saturated fat. It is advised that you skip the bacon and croutons, but then this doesn't really a resemble much of a Caesar salad at all by this point. Rice Salad Depending on the base, rice salad can be a nutritious, low fat option or a caloric nightmare. Rice salads are also deceiving because you do not "see" the oil because the rice soaks it up. The traditional option is an oil based dressing - rice salads that have an oil-based dressing are going to be very high in fat (some rice salads can contain up to 50-60 percent fat) because the rice literally soaks up the oil. A healthier option for rice salads with a lemon juice-based dressing (or a mix of lemon juice with a small amount of sesame oil) Greek Salad The good thing with Greek salad, you "coat" the salad with the oil, as it settles to the bottom of the bowl so really (just as long as you don't guzzle the dressing from the bottom of the container), the salad isn't that bad, it's the feta you have to be careful about, full fat feta is bad for you, whereas low fat feta is good for you. Humans have taste preferences for sweet, salty and fatty foods. Fat tastes good because it increases the palatability of the foods that you eat. The best option for salad consumption is to prepare your own, that way you are a lot more in control of what is going in it. A good all round dressing is olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Otherwise, choose a green coloured salad and ask for the dressing to be given to you separately so you can control how much you use.

Types of Salad
As salad is so good for you, it is just as well its so versatile and varied! A salad can consist of many things and is so much more than wilted lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber! It can contain vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, pasta, potatoes, meats and cheese to name just a few! Of course there are a range of well known salads such as:Garden salad - Ah the humble garden salad! This is also often called a green salad and is usually presented on some leaf lettuce; it contains items such as mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, carrots and radishes. There may also be some meat with the salad. These types of salad

are usually served with a dressing for enhanced flavour and these could be ranch, Caesar, honey and mustard or mayonnaise to name a few of a very exhaustive list! Other types of salad may be based on a food product rather than on salad or vegetables. In a traditional Greek salad lettuce will be omitted from the dish. This will be sliced tomatoes and cucumber with red onion. This will be seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano and finished with olive oil. Feta cheese, peppers, capers, anchovies or sardines may also be added. A potato salad is another version of salad without lettuce and is prepared differently around the world. Some people will cook small salad potatoes and others will cook larger potatoes and chop them up. Mayonnaise is the usual dressing for potato salad but vinegar dressings are also used. Other items may be added including bacon or herbs such as dill. There are different types of lettuce that you can use in a salad as well as different types of salad. The Chinese Leaf is a slightly bitter tasting leaf which is long and tapered. It is quite a pale green leaf in colour. Iceberg is another popular type of lettuce and is fresh and crisp tasting. It is usually prepared sliced and is good with a tuna fish salad. They have a mild flavour and their name actually comes from the method that they used to be transported in the early part of the 19th century - packed in ice.

Some Salad Recipes

Hopefully by now you are ready to try some delicious salad recipes for yourself! The salad is a very versatile meal or accompaniment to a meal and these are just some of the recipes that you can make:Mixed leaf Caesar salad

Cos lettuce Iceberg lettuce Rocket leaves Anchovies Parmesan cheese

For the dressing: Egg, garlic, lime, mustard powder, Worchester sauce, olive oil, salt and pepper. Warm lentil and walnut salad

Puy lentils Walnuts Olive oil Red onion

Bay leave Garlic clove Fresh thyme Salt and pepper

For the dressing: cheese (goats cheese is best), garlic, sea salt, mustard, balsamic vinegar, walnut oil, olive oil, rocket leaves, black pepper.