is italian dressing healthier than ranch dressing

We all know we should eat our veggies, yet a plain salad tastes so much better when the leafy greens are drizzled in a flavorful dressing. The problem is that most salad dressings arent necessarily the most nutritious way to finish greens if #health is your goal. Often devoid of nutrients, they add nothing nourishing to your salads. From Thousand Island to ranch, store-bought dressings are generally either high in fat content, full of sodium, overly sugary, or loaded with additives. The best way to avoid turning a healthy salad into a nutritional nightmare is to whip up light dressings yourself. Luckily, most are a cinch to prepare. Between opting for homemade dressings and skipping a few of the more notorious commercial types, youll be well on your way to enjoying better salads. Heres a brief roundup of the good guys and the bad ones.

Lower-Calorie Alternative to Creamy Dressings Italian dressing makes a better alternative than many other higher-calorie options. It adds taste to salad and offers good fat. Though many calories come from fats, it is better than primarily cream-based dressings like ranch, a thousand island, or blue cheese.

Skip the ranch dressing

Made with buttermilk, salt, onion, garlic, and herbs, ranch dressing (and most ranch-flavored foods) have me hypnotized like the rest of America. That said, the wildly popular salad accompaniment simply isnt a great choice if youre trying to maintain a relatively low-caloric diet geared toward weight loss or even weight maintenance. While its noble to incorporate more vegetables into your diet, drenching your lettuce or dipping your carrots in copious amounts of ranch dressing doesnt add any vitamins or nutrients to the experience. Since eating too much fat—especially saturated fat that your body has a hard time ridding itself of—leads to weight gain, you want to avoid fatty dressings like ranch. Moreover, commercial ranch dressings like Hidden Valleys The Original Ranch contain as much as 22 grams of fat along with disturbing additives like MSG for enhanced flavor and a whopping 260 milligrams of sodium. If you have the inner strength, just say no to the creamy, tangy allure of this buttermilk siren.

Say no to Thousand Island

Thousand Island is a dressing that can be prepared in a variety of ways, however, most versions will have a base of mayonnaise, ketchup or tomato puree, and egg. Consider how much mayo you ought to be eating in one sitting and that will give you a good idea of how much Thousand Island dressing you want to consume as part of a single serving of salad. While its possible to make a slightly healthier version of this topping at home, most commercial varieties will be loaded with preservatives, flavorings, and colorings. Since this dressing is void of essential vitamins and minerals, there are no real benefits, only a whole lot of saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, and sugar—all of which put you at risk for health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. If you love the taste of Thousand Island, try making a small batch at home and enjoy in moderation.

Everything You Need To Know About Buying Salad Dressing At The Grocery Store

FAQ

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