Do not get me wrong; I have nothing about salads and their ingredients (lettuce, celery, cucumber, radishes...). However, there are far more nutritionally dense produce that can easily replace them.

Let me explain: a recent article had me rethink how I eat and what I buy. Since I am more or less following the "paleo" diet (no grain, few carbs, lots of vegetables) I buy vegetables by the truckload (25 to 40 dollars per week at least, and does not include all the eggs). So I am always looking for ways to save on purchases, and ditching the classical salad is an excellent way.

Indeed, the ingredients I enumerated above are 95 percent water, making them rather empty nutritionally speaking. I believe that the article even said that a serving of lettuce contains more water than a 500 ml bottle of water (in mass). Just eating more spinach (that is clean, of course ) can easily replace all those vegetables since it is very rich in vitamin A and K while having 5 percent less water.

People who love sustainability should therefore think over what they eat. Favoring denser food would ditch eatable water and save on more land for something else more productive.

So, are you a salad addict? Do you eat a lot of vegetables

Well, I'm never having Spincah again after what heppened.

I love salad, but only when it's the right kind and still has some flavor, though I get salads for the taste instead of the health value. I love going to say wendy's and getting one of their salad because when I'm hungry, it's a much better way to balance between having a regular burger or something else thats unhealthy and just a plain salad.

zanderlex : Hence "clean" spinach . I usually buy them pre-washed and have not had any problems for 4 years (except when they turn bad after a week, and that is fairly minor).

And I agree that salads need flavor. I am not familiar with fast-food salad, but usually their salad dressing is full-fat which is a good think - vitamins A (lettuce) and K (celery, spinach) are fat soluble. Ever since I learned to appreciate it, everything tastes for much better.

Clean spinach could probably be just as bad. That last time that I had spinach, I kept choking.

I think generally it's a good rule of thumb to eat foods that are as dense in nutrients as possible. If whatever you are eating is mostly water, than that generally means that the food is not dense in most nutrients.

I will say though, that Greens like Kale and Spinach are greens that are pretty dense in nutrients per calorie. So they are something good to add into most dishes.

zanderlex : Chew on, do not swallow it whole

Jordanv78 : Indeed, those are much denser. I would not call them "miracle food" - it seems that there are too many of them anyway - but they do provide much more than an entire salad could.

Jordanv78 :

Good to know someone knows that Kale has nutrients and lettuce don't! We certainly can't ditch all leafy greens for just one bad set. As jordan seems to know quite well, and I've learned due to kidney problems and needing both H20 and nutrients, many a green veggie and many a veggie can hold a treasuretrove of nutients as well as keep you hydrated. Kale and spinach, as well as Tomatoes honestly have some nutrient value and caloric intake worth. You may also want to try carrots for their carotene. (misspelled?) It ain't 24k that gives you vision folks. Manic out!

It wasn't whole silly. That could have been the 1st sign that it was contaminated though. I've been getting the same thing a couple times a week and never had any problems with it being so stuck together. That could probably have been one of the main reasons that it choked.

zanderlex : come on, I am playing with you . And yes, "dirty" spinach (old one in my case) does seem to be sticky. You can also tell by the color of the leaves.

manicman66 : tomatoes are more potent when heated, I read. So while it may contain a lot of carbs, meatball spaghetti is not ALL that bad. Also, the vitamin-A-good-sight narrative is apparently a myth. The British (I heard) did not want to reveal how they knew about German plans through their technology, so they just said that their army ate a lot of carrots to see planes at night.

I like a nice salad. The lettuce is just a condiment though for the cheese, croutons, dressing, and whatever else unhealthy I put on it. I like some veggies. Love me some sweet peas. Corn on the cob all day. And cooked spinach from a can is yummy. Makes you strong like Popeye.

Ferdinand : Of course! Without flavor (i.e. fat) a salad is absolutely tasteless. And it is NOT unhealthy; you need the fat to assimilate the vitamins it contains. I personally prefer raw vegetables whenever I can; I find them more tasteful that way.

janus : Raw veggies more tasteful yes. More tasty is a matter of opinion. . Need my preservatives too.

I don't eat any vegetables regularly, but salad is one of my favorite meals. I don't care if it's healthy or not, it just tastes amazing.

Interesting points. I eat salads regularly and always use either romaine lettuce or spinach. I feed my pet birds greens every day, and iceberg lettuce isn't recommended by the vet, for the exact reason you mentioned, it's not very nutrient dense.

One of my go-tos is a strawberry, goat cheese feta, poppyseed and toasted walnut salad. Taco salad made with black beans, corn, corn chips and salsa is really good too.

Ferdinand : I was making an opposition to boiled, where the veggies lose all their vitamins and look disgusting. Except for broccoli, I usually eat everything raw.

TheFadedWarrior : That is why low-fat vinaigrette makes no sense. Not only do you need fat to digest vitamin A and K, but fat is what gives TASTE to food.

Annette : The difference in nutritional density between lettuces is marginal. Your favorite salad sounds very tasty

janus : Everything...?

yes, everything related to this discussion, i.e. vegetables. It is especially the care for leaves (spinach, kale), which takes a strange texture (and color) when cooked.

Don't forget the beet greens and swiss chard.  and the zucchini, broccoli, carrots, squash.  I love a good salad, with an egg perhaps sometimes.  You can get all nutrients you need from plants alone...And the ranch...hahahaha

lordbelial669 : I started eating leafy veggies like 2 or 3 years ago, and I went for the ones with the highest vitamin K content. Swiss chard is good (and can come in many colorful forms), but I prefer kale overall. And yes, I love the ranch nutrition

I actually just started eating salads a lot lately at my school because of all the health problems I have had lately but my friends keep saying that I should not. I has like 2 salads two days ago and 1 yesterday and it seems to be helping me our a lot ever since what happened before.