Salads and salad bars? Couple questions

(Mark Kenyon II) #1

Hey guys, on week 3 of keto. First week I was losing about .5lb a day, from 210lbs, to 206. Past week, stayed around 206. I’m still using strips, haven’t gotten a meter yet, and I’ve been >15 on the strips most of the time.

At work, we get lunch in the cafeteria. Today is pulled pork. (YAY!) Wednesday is Grilled cheese. (Booo!) But we always have a salad bar. So, today, I can put some pork on my salad, but I think Wednesday, it’ll be a make my own salad.

What I’m wondering… I’ve been trying to stick to meat and salad. On my salad, I try to avoid carb veggies (tomatos, carrots, beans, etc) but add grilled chicken, bacon bits, hard boiled eggs, and cheese. (Olives too.) But I’m eyeballing my salads, and wondering if I’m getting good ratios on what should go on a salad. Can I ever have too much cheese? What would a good keto salad look like. Are the salads causing my stall? Or is this even a stall?

PS. We do have the pasta and potato salads, which I know are mayo laden, but CARBS! so I avoid them. But what about seafood salad?

(Brian) #2

Salad stuff… that covers a lot of territory. People can put almost anything in a salad.

Lettuces/greens are pretty much an eat all you want thing. Cukes are good. A few tomatoes won’t give you much in the way of carbs. Olives are good. Peppers are good. Sprouts are good. Something like a few sunflower seeds sprinkled on are fine. Some avocado mixed in is good, can add a nice texture, too, if you like it. A little onion in there is good. Most any of the meats and cheeses are good mixed in. I even like a little tuna salad or something like that mixed in but I try to be mindful that the part of the tuna salad that’s not tuna may not be so keto friendly. Yes, hardboiled eggs… they go well with green olives, to me, sort of a built in egg-n-olive thing going on, which I like.

If I have any beans, I go very light on them as beans are usually pretty carb heavy. Dressings can vary quite a bit.

As far as the pasta and potato salads, the mayo may not be the best, but the big concerns there are the pasta and the potatoes… both very heavy on the carbs. Mostly, the mayo would likely have an abundance of sugar and may not be the best of oils that it’s made out of. (Kinda like that saying about, “don’t blame the butter for what the bread did.”)

Enjoy your salad!

(Jay Patten) #3

You should be okay eating leafy greens with egg, cheese, bacon, etc.

I’d be careful about the chicken unless you are sure it is grilled plain (without sauce).

Be sure to use olive oil and vingar because most salad dressing has sugar.

(Mandy ) #4

I’ve become to love my Greek salad bowls. Contains lettuce, spinach, cucumber, cheery tomatoes, olives and feta cheese I add a tin of plain tuna to it or chicken and some dressing. Best filling and yummiest thing ever and a 250g bowl comes in under 1 carb…

(Brian) #5

Mandy, that sounds tasty!!

There was a restaurant I used to go to years ago that had a Greek salad that was just awesome. They had some kind of a dressing, though, that was different than anything I’ve ever had, before or since. Best I can describe it, it looked and tasted a lot like a tomato paste with garlic and a few herbs (maybe cilantro and basil, just a guess??), and maybe a little lemon juice. It was thick, not much like a traditional salad dressing. But I really, really enjoyed that.

#6

Cobb salad with blue cheese is a pretty safe choice. Especially if they will give you some cut avocado.

(Anne) #7

Be careful with the seafood salad… I went gluten free 7 years ago and found out my favorite salad bar seafood salad had bread crumbs (?!?) in it? Maybe to make it thicker? No idea. So I’d check the ingredients to be sure. You should be able to ask the staff for them.

(Cynthia) #8

The seafood salad usually found on salad bars is made with faux crab which is pretty carb laden. I’d be careful with that!

(Mandy ) #9

I buy the salad bowls already made lol they come with a dressing but I chuck it out and use a Kewpie sesame seed one… Absolutely delicious lol…