Just One Salad a Day

Fewer than half of US adults eat the daily amount of vegetables recommended for healthy living. And this means they may not be getting enough water-soluble vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, and C, as well as folic acid. One way to change this, according to Dr Lenore Arab of UCLA School of Public Health, would be to eat just one salad a day. This would help satisfy the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends eating 2½ cups of vegetables a day for a 2000 calorie diet.

Other benefits of salad: added fiber and added antioxidants. It’s interesting to hear that using salad dressing isn’t all that bad, either. It helps with the taste, but also increases the absorption of nutrients such as lycopene, and alpha- and beta-carotene. You can see a video, and learn more about the benefits of salad dressings, at the ‘SaladaDay’ website.