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Salad dressings come in a wide variety of options. You can get low fat and even fat free varieties, but that doesn't mean that is healthy for you. In fact all salad dressing is fattening. There are however no fat, no calorie options that can leave your salad moist and full of flavor!

What Salad Dressing Is Made Of.
I am sure you have noticed that there are differences in salad dressing types. Generally speaking, salad dressing is made of oil, vinegar, and or cream products. Oil and anything made with cream is fattening. You can have fat free versions of salad dressing. All of these dressings contain calories though, some with more then others. These calories are turned in to fat within the body if the person consuming the calories isn't burning all of them off. These are also empty calories since the only benefits we get of consuming these calories is flavor.

Over Use.
Additionally, we often use a lot more dressing then a single serving. We like the moisture, texture, and flavor that salad dressing provides and as such, we make sure our salad is thoroughly covered. Some of us even make sure it is thoroughly swimming in dressing. A serving size of dressing is two table spoons which isn't much and makes it difficult to cover a salad of any size.

Choices.
If you are working to cut back on calories, try using less dressing and pick a fat free version. Before choosing the dressing, read the bottle and choose one with as few of calories per serving as possible, but make sure the serving sizes are the same so that you aren't just buying one with a smaller serving size.

Add a dab of water to your dressing. While this may seem odd, it will let the salad dressing go farther. Your flavor and moisture will cover more lettuce with less dressing. This technique is particularly useful for thick creamy dressings.

There are many options for skipping out on the dressing and finding lower calorie alternatives. Using lemon juice mix with a dash of water and season it with a salt free seasoning mix. This can make for a tasty and moist alternative with very few calories. You can do the same thing with a fancy seasoned vinegar, leaving you with no calories. If you frequently eat out, you can even toss a small supply of seasoning in your purse. Ask for lemon juice or wedges and toss with your salad and seasoning instead of dressing.

Just because dressing is always fattening, doesn't mean you have to worry about it. As long as you are counting on those calories being a part of your diet you can consume them without fear. Or you can use one of the many alternatives to consuming less dressing with less fat and calories, or even a tasty dressing alternative.

Learn more about this author, Danelle Karth.
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