by Gail Isley

Created on: November 21, 2008   Last Updated: December 03, 2011

Salads are a wonderful addition or substitution to a meal. They are healthy and provide a number of many nutrients needed by your body.Often times though, they can be drenched with oily and fatty salad dressings that take away from a salads nutritional value.

When trying to maintain a healthy salad, you should take precaution when selecting a dressing. Read labels carefully. Most bottled salad dressings contain artificial flavors, preservatives, oils with dangerous  trans fats and contain a high amount of sugar. Even the salad dressings that say "Fat Free" still contain the same type of fat that is in a stick of Crisco or lard.

In addition to unhealthy ingredients, most bottled salad dressings have a small serving size and a large number of calories and fat grams. Serving sizes of most bottled salad dressings is about two table spoons. Take for example Hidden Valleys Original Ranch Dressing. The serving size is two table spoons. If you were to add this to your salad, you would be adding 140 calories and 14 grams of fat! Not so surprisingly, unless you are measuring your salad dressing precisely, you will more than likely use a whole lot more than just two tablespoons on an average lunch or dinner salad.

Fortunately, there are other healthier "dressing" alternatives that provide the same great taste as the traditional bottled salad dressings. If you like a little garlic taste on your leafy greens, you just might find that a Garlic Spray is a way to keep your salads healthy. Priced at just $5.95 , Garlic Valley Farms offers a juice spray that is a great substitute for some of the high calorie salad dressings. One serving size consists of 8 sprays and does not contain fat, artificial flavors/ sweeteners, preservatives or chemical additives. This spray can also be used to flavor other foods such as meats, seafood, pizzas, sauces and soups.

Other healthy alternatives to creamy and oily salad dressings are Salad Spritzers. Wish Bone makes a well known and loved brand of Salad Spritzers. They offer spritzers in the following flavors: Red Wine, Caesar Delight, French Flair, Raspberry Blitz, Asian Silk, Ranch and Honey Mustard Buzz. No matter what flavor you choose, your taste buds will thank you! Wish Bone spritzers have a serving size of 10 sprays for just one gram of fat or less (depending on the flavor). Salad spritzers are becoming the new fad for salad eaters and grocery stores are finding it difficult to keep them in stock.

An additional way to keep a salad tasty and healthy is to forgo all juice sprays and spritzers and just add fruit to your salad. Such fruits as pineapples and peaches create their own sensational juices that will delight your taste buds. In addition to adding fruits to your salad, you may also want to sprinkle your salads with citrus fruits such as oranges, limes and lemons. This will give your salad an even more pleasant taste.

When deciding on a salad dressing make sure to read labels carefully. Be aware of artificial flavors/sweeteners and harmful trans fats. A healthier option is maybe a juice spray or a salad spritzer. If you a are die hard fan of the bottled dressings; choosing a dressing with a high concentration of olive oil and/or vinegar will be your best bet for cutting calories and keeping your salad healthy.

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