Here is a Method That is Helping the Swiss to stay Slim

Salad, comes from the Latin word herba salata and literally means salted vegetables. The Greek and Romans enjoyed salad often and ate the raw greens and vegetables with salt and herbs, hence the name salad – salted vegetables.

Growing up in Switzerland I never got the concept of eating your salad before your meal. It was just something my Hungarian family didn’t do. As a teen I started to understand why one should eat the salad first and follow it with soup and main course. You can cut calories by about 500. Another reason is, the vinegar in the salad dressing will get your stomach acid going so it can be ready to digest the main dish you are about to eat. Smart eh?

Raw salads should consist of:

• leafy greens
• raw root vegetables
• the fruit of the vegetable like tomato, zucchini and peppers
• as well as nuts and seeds

Switching your vegetables everyday is your best bet. You can switch also the colors and spices from spicy to sweet dressing and so forth.

Can you imagine how easy it would be for everybody to loose weight with eating a plate of raw veg salad everyday. Salads don’t have to be rabbit food. Salads are colorful, exciting, tasty, juicy and most importantly healthy and delicious. The crunch will satisfy your cravings and make your jaws work, the more you chew the more vitamins and minerals you get out of your food. It will also take you longer to eat your salad, since chewing raw vegetables is really hard work. Longer meals means less calories consumed and less calories consumed mean less pounds on the scale. Let me explain the last sentence, taking your time with eating means your stomach has the time it takes – about 20-30 min – to signal your brain that you are in fact full. Eating slowly also means that when your brain tells you that you are full you can actually stop eating before emptying the whole plate or bag of chips.

Salads as appetizers should always be on a vinaigrette base and not a cream, mayo or cheese base. Calories from the vinaigrette dressing is less than the mayo base and less will stick to your salad and vegetables as well to your thighs. Keep mayo and cream sauces to a minimum and replace them with a natural yogurt base.

How to put it all in action:

• eat fruit salads or fruit smoothies for breakfast
• serve freshly prepared salads as a appetizer
• introduce children to raw vegetables with hummus dips
• have a leaf and vegetable salad as dinner

Are you aware that raw vegetables are really inexpensive? Yes, I’m not kidding. In season vegetables and fruits are inexpensive and available in you grocery store as very fresh and delicious produce. Fresh and local produce is very high in vitamins and minerals. Always choose the local produce vs the imported ones, it’s healthier and the price is better. Buying a cart full of vegetables is less expensive than buying all the junk food and manufactured empty calories. Your body does not get any satisfaction from eating manufactured foods, so pile up your cart with lots of local veg and fruits the next time you go to the local market.

These days we love to start our main meals with some salad or have a raw salad as dinner. Even as a snack it’s great. Children particularly love the crunchy stuff with dips and sauces.

Stay Healthy!

Monika Baechler