The benefits of salad
Some can't do without it, others nibble at it. Wrong because the salad is a concentrate of good health. But not all of them have exactly the same virtues ...
The salad: diet, but not only! The salad is made of 95% water and has only 15Kcal / 100g. Difficult to find a lighter food! But satisfying ourselves without weighing in on the scales is not his only asset. It also offers us ...
High in fiber: essential for ensuring good transit, detoxifying the body, nourishing the microbiota (and preventing the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria), slowing the glycemic load and quickly bringing you to satiety.
A wealth of vitamins and minerals: especially vitamin B9 (folic acid), essential for cell renewal, cardiovascular protection, mood and memory disorders; and vitamin C necessary for the immune system. On the mineral side, it mainly houses calcium and iron.
A good supply of antioxidants: in particular carotenoids and more precisely lutein and zeaxanthin, essential for eye health. But also anti-cancer phenolic compounds.
Each season, its salad!
There are 2000 varieties of salad in the world, around 250 in France. To better enjoy their benefits, the ideal is of course to taste them in the right season. The PNNS * reminds us that three large families thus make it possible to vary the pleasures all year round:
Escaroles, red or green curls, endives or chicory ... appreciated for their bitterness
- Lettuce, from May to September: sucrine, rougette, iceberg, batavias, oak leaves, romaine ... These are the most consumed
- Small salads, from October to April: lamb's lettuce, watercress, arugula, purslane, dandelions, sorrel, spinach leaves, mesclun ...
Not all salads are created equal ...
Whatever it is, salad should be a part of every meal. But besides seasonality, here's what you need to know to do your market well:
The least interesting: the iceberg. This very white type of lettuce found in store-bought sandwiches is the least nutritious. For example, it contains 10 times less carotenoids than curly.
The best: All salads are good to eat. But some are richer in antioxidants (red or green curly), richer in calcium (romaine) or richer in vitamin C (lamb's lettuce). Hence the interest in juggling different varieties.
Note that small salads are particularly rich in good nutrients from all sides.
Those subject to precautions: small salads. Full of benefits, they can sometimes be irritating for the intestines sensitive in particular to Fodmaps and cause bloating. In this family, it is therefore better to avoid dandelion (king of detox) and prefer lamb's lettuce, much softer and better tolerated.
How to eat well your salad
To do us good on the inside, a salad must look good on the outside: no yellow or wilted leaves, but firm and well colored, a sign of the presence of very long-lived antioxidant pigments. Then remains at:
Wash it well: remove the leaves and let it soak for a few minutes in cold water with the addition of white vinegar. This is to remove the potential traces of germs and pesticides. Ditto for the salad in a bag (practical, but not very ecological) to eliminate traces of chlorine.
Store it well: dry the leaves well, place them in a cool place in a bowl protected with cling film.
Season it well: lipids allow better assimilation of nutrients. So you shouldn't ban oil from the dressing. But choose it well: rapeseed oil (rich in omega-3) or olive (vitamin E) rather than peanut or sunflower oil, rich in omega-6 already too present in the rest of the diet. But be careful, whatever its nature, 1 tbsp of oil = 90Kcal, so no abuse!
Enjoy it well: preferably as a starter because the salad then helps lower the glycemic load of the meal to follow. And its satiating effect due to its high fiber content, avoids eating more than reason.
0 Comments