A healthy lunch?

[Andre98]

Weighing about .6lb, this was today's lunch. I have been trying to hit the salad bar everyday. I usually make it 3 out of 5, 4 on a good week. The routine varies but this picture today has pretty much the norm:

A tong pinch of fancy greens (Arugula, radicchio, hedge clippings...etc)
A tong pinch of Romaine lettuce
Three cherry tomatoes
Three or four chick peas
Three or four kidney beans
Three or four small black olives
Sprinkle of chopped celery
Sprinkle of grated cheddar
Four strips of ham
One half boiled egg (with yolk)
One half of boiled egg white (no yolk)
Small scoop of cold tuna macaroni (today's variation)
Sprinkle of nuts (okay, I pick out mostly cashews)
Sprinkle of croutons
Fat free honey diijon dressing on side

water (or water and diet snapple/soda)

I feel it's a hefty enough volume to make me feel I've eaten something satisfying. This is my third day out of four this week.

Comments from our resident nutritionists?
( besides the ham...I need my meat!)

[que90nek]

man...that looks like a chicken wing under there!!!

[Andre98]

I must admit, I was weak passing by the Sour Cream and Onion "Dirty Chips". But I held my ground. As I type though, i am polishing off a pack of Twizzlers ( no, not a family pack!)

[misha]

ooooh you just had to post a picture of food when I am so damn hungry I could bite somebody!!!!

Mr Wonderful is assisting me in changing my Taco Bell lunch habit...he has been making me lunch for the last couple of weeks and well....I'm starving!!!!! It's so sweet of him to make me those 2 sandwiches, that little baggie of pretzels, a bananna, and a diet iced tea, buttera, where da snicker bar!!!!! Where da FRITOS?????

[mystkev]

That's a lot on one salad, dang. I am no nutritionist, buuuuttttt here goes.

Let's see:

You have a lot of protein: Egg whites, kidney beans, ham, nuts, and the tuna from the tuna macaroni (what's that?).

Isn't ham a fatty meat though?

Your veggies:

I don't see much lettuce on the salad, but I guess it's underneath all that other stuff, huh? Your salad could use some more lettuce.

Cherry tomatoes (are tomatoes a fruit or vegetable? I always get confused by that one, either way it's basically the same category), chick peas (i don't think i've ever had a chick pea, what's that?), celery, and black olives (mmm yum yum).

Your Bread, Cereal & Pasta:

Croutons and Macaroni (from the tuna macaroni, i presume it has macaroni in it, not unless that's just a name). I can't really see them sooo.

Your milk category:

Cheddar

Your fats, oils & dressings:

Honey dijon.

Why did I list all the stuff? I have no idea I just wanted to break them down.

Okay, I wonder though, why do you need the honey dijon dressing when you have all that other stuff already on the salad?

I would cut out the dressing. I also would cut out the ham, eat grilled chicken (if they have) instead. Why do you need ham AND tuna?

Add more tomatoes too (I like tomatoes).

I can't really tell how much of everything you have, b/c although you have a lot of stuff, the salad looks small.

I would say you have about 1.0 - 1.5 servings of protein
Maybe 2 servings of veggies
1 serving of bread cereal & pasta (if that).
Less than 1 serving of milk
And I guess you used the dressing sparingly.

So all in all it's good for ONE meal, but it depends on what you are eating for the rest of your meals.

Hope this makes sense.

[mystkev]

Oh yeah aren't cashews fattening? Sunflower seeds are better if they have.

And add more veggies.

[Brightness]

I see potentially high content of fat and/or sodium in relation to the volume (serving size) of the salad in the following items:


cashews
olives
ham
grated cheese (if it's not low-fat)
fat free honey dijon dressing (typically has more sodium)


You have to be very careful when it comes to salads and the fixins. . .you can end up dishing yourself up something that's more than you bargained for.

[que90nek]

it's a first step...

and i'm proud of u, dre....

tell them that that salad is BETTER than the philly cheesesteak that you could have gotten!

[Brightness]

HE doesn't need to tell THIS ONE of THEM any such thing.

I responded to the inquiry of "comments'? with truthful and factual information.

I guess that's the risk you run when you try to share some knowledge, huh?!?!? :rolleyes:

[que90nek]

i guess i should have put a smiley face or somethin....

[Andre98]

Yes, I am soliciting the remarks, and it's true that it's a big step from what I would eat at lunch in the past. I could start into what I have for breakfast or dinner, but for now, the splurge opportunity has been the lunch, and believe me, it has taken some effort to head to the salad bar first. I long ago learned not to look down on smokers. An addiction to bad habits of any kind is a hard monkey to buck. This joint has raw cuts of burgers and steak, chicken breasts, tuna and salmon steaks on display, that you can pick, and they will throw on the flaming grill to cook to order. They have chefs carving prime rib, or baked ham... it's brutal!

In the morning there's breakfast pizzas, made when ordered pancakes/waffles/french toast, whopping plate sized omelets... I bring in a lite yogurt and kiddie box of raisins and avoid that joint altogether in the A.M.

Here's my salad of another day... because of the cole slaw, I skipped the dressing. I might close the lid and shake it up, then transfer it to a plate.

[dejavu]

Looks like your're doing low carbs...good for you keep up the work. Always do what works best for you.

[que90nek]

lol

are u sure that's a salad?

lol

man...that's a MEAT FEAST!

[Andre98]

Three strips of ham, three of turkey... is that too much?

[que90nek]

i can't say if its too much...

depends on what u r trying to do.

if u r looking for a low carb diet....it may work.

if u r lookin for a low fat diet...it probably won't.

i think that the ladies have provided some good information.