Change Your Habits: A Salad (or Veggie) a Day

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How did your first week of focusing on habits instead of resolutions go? Ready for week two? If you’ve established the habit of drinking more water (keep it up!) and are ready to move on to adding a second habit, I have a new one for you. This week we will focus on eating a salad a day. If you’re not a salad person, consider the habit of eating an extra serving of veggies a day instead. (Don’t worry, next week has nothing to do with food or drink.)

The idea behind this habit change is not necessarily to keep it up long term (I love salads, but I think even I’d be bored with a salad a day for the rest of the year). The intent is to help you to get started on the right path to eating healthy (or healthier if you already eat pretty well), especially if you indulged during the holidays (I know I surely ate and drank foods I don’t regularly eat!). It’s a great way to get in some extra nutrients and a kind of “gentle reset” for our bodies.

Personally, I find rules like “no more desserts!” or “no snacking between meals!” do not work for me. I prefer, instead, to focus on adding in something healthy. This will usually help to “train” your taste buds (for lack of a better term) and by adding in something new, I usually end up dropping a bad habit (or at least lessening how often it occurs). If you do want to keep this one throughout the year, I’d suggest changing it to adding a serving a veggies to the amount you normally eat (unless you are already getting enough vegetables in your diet) because most of us are not eating the right amount.

Not sure where to start? Salad kits make it easy (but you may want to skip the included dressing – sometimes they aren’t so healthy), so grab a few if you’re short on time. If you’d rather make something from scratch, you can use these lists as a great place to start and try new combos until you find your favorites.

Start with Greens

• Romaine Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Spinach
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Kale
• (any other greens you love)

Add Some Protein

• Chicken
• Steak
• Bacon
• Tuna
• Ham
• Shrimp
• Crab
• Boiled Eggs
• Beans
• Crabstick
• Chia Seeds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Pecans

Then Add Some Vegetables

• Carrots
• Onions
• Bell Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Mushrooms
• Celery
• Radishes

And/Or Fruit

• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
• Apples
• Oranges
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Mango
• Dried Fruit
• Tomatoes
• Avocado

Other Toppings

• Blue Cheese or Feta Crumbles
• Shredded Cheddar, Mozzarella, or Parmesan Cheese
• Soy Sauce
• Oil & Vinegar
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Lemon or Lime Juice
• Pesto
• Salt & Pepper
• Parsley
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Mint
• Honey
• Croutons
• Homemade Dressing

Tools for Convenience

If you regularly make salads, you may have a few of these items already. These are the tools I use the most when I make salads:

• Collapsible Salad Spinner (I love that it folds smaller so that it doesn’t take up much room in my cabinet).
• Salad Lunch Container Now that I’m home during the day, I prefer glass containers, but when I worked outside of the home, I used BPA free plastic containers like this one.
• Mason Jars These are another great alternative to store salads in. I also use small mason jars for my homemade salad dressings.

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To help you with this habit this week, I’ll share a few of my favorite salad combinations and recipes. If you want to keep up with me daily, follow me on Facebook and Instagram, where I’ll share my salad everyday. Don’t forget – I love to see what you’re doing for this habit this week, so share your salad pics or salad combos with me in the comments below. I can’t wait to see how this one goes for everyone!

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