12 Days of Self-Care: Day 4
By Brandi McMurry
Try something new in your typical healthy salad on the fourth day of self-care
Color your plate! Eat the rainbow to ingest a wide array of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to fuel your body.
It is easier said than done. The average person has approximately 17 go-to foods recycled through their diet during a week.
Humans become creatures of habits. We find foods that taste great, we know how to prepare easily, and become convenient staples for our routines.
It’s important to consider, however, that eating the same foods daily can limit the nutritional value of our diet.
On this fourth day of self-care, I invite you to try a new healthy food that you do not typically eat. It does not have to be fancy or extravagant. The goal is to give your body nutrition that it has not experienced.
A typical salad might consist of lettuce, be it romaine or maybe an iceberg carrot and cabbage mix, tomatoes, maybe a little cheese, and salad dressing. Perhaps you typically add deli meats and a hard-boiled egg for a chef salad. Or maybe you like a greek salad with kalamata olives and feta cheese. These are great options! But today our goal is to try something new.
Try a mixture of leafy greens for your base. Kale and spinach are both nutrient-dense.
# By the Numbers # Kale
Calories: 7
Protein: 0.61 g
Fat: 0.31 g
Carbohydrates: 0.93 g
Fiber: 0.9 g
Sugar: 0.21 g
Calcium: 53 mg
Vitamin A: 1011 IU
Vitamin C: 10.2 mg
Folate: 13 mg
#By the Numbers # Spinach
Calories: 7
Protein: 0.86 g
Fat: 0.12 g
Carbohydrates: 1.09 g
Fiber: 0.7 g
Sugar: 0.13 g
Calcium: 30 mg
Vitamin A: 141 IU
Vitamin C: 28.1 mg
Vitamin K: 144.9 µg
Folate: 58 mg
A 1:1 ratio of kale and spinach mix is a great first step for your Brand New Salad menu item to replace your normal lettuce. Try adding cruciferous veggies to your salad including broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, or Brussel sprouts. Shredded Brussel Sprouts are also an option for the base to replace your usual lettuce.
Nuts and seeds can add texture, flavor, and protein to your salad. Walnuts, almonds, and pistachios are a few of my favorites to top a salad. You can also try adding berries to your salad for additional anti-oxidants.
Blueberries are one of my favorites to add just a bit of sweetness to my nutrient-dense bowl. For a healthy salad dressing try the classic vinegar and oil, or for a sweeter dressing choose lemon juice and honey.
Quinoa Salad
Another option for a new-to-you salad is to swap out the lettuce for quinoa. Quinoa is rich in fiber and protein, which is great if you are looking to cut back on your meat consumption.
Quinoa is an excellent choice if you meal prep for the week, making it easier to eat healthfully.
In my quinoa salad, I typically include chopped broccoli, pinched off kale, red onion, grated carrot, sweet peppers, cilantro or scallions from the garden, and feta cheese. In a large bowl mix all ingredients and portion out for the week. I recommend waiting until you are ready to eat the salad and then adding dressing. You can use and Italian dressing, vinegar-and-oil, or go for a sweeter dressing such as a strawberry vinegarette.
