Qualitaly_116

APR. MAG. 2020 XVI AT PAGE 50 FEELING GOOD AT THE TABLE It’s salad time. As long as... In the post-lockdown restart phase, we will focus on large salads, given the imminent good season. But as long as you learn to balance the ingredients, so they don’t turn into a calorie bomb. by Barbara Panterna Like many of my patients, most people are convinced that a large salad is the lightest choice you can make during your lunch break. But that’s not always the case. Often, in fact, in salads are mixed ingredients that are caloric or that contribute to give us that annoying sense of post-prandial swelling that makes us say: “I feel like a balloon and yet I only ate a salad”. Here, so as not to fall into this error, I would like to give you some suggestions so that the salad of the lunch break does not turn into a calorie bomb. To begin with, the important thing is to choose the right type of salad. In almost all bars/restaurants you can find lettuce or mixed salad in a bag with lettuce, radicchio, endive, for example. From experience, I recommend you to focus instead on other qualities such digestion. These green leafy vegetables can be combined with others such as fennel, cucumber, radish, courgette, celery, always for the same concept of draining / purifying “anti-bloating” properties. I did not mention tomatoes, sweetcorn and carrots, which are usually found in salads in bars, as they are more “sugary”, especially sweetcorn (wrongly considered a vegetable or legume and is instead a cereal rich in carbohydrates or sugars); if you want to slim, at least in the early stages I advise my patients to avoid it as caloric and for those who have a “delicate” intestine as it causes very frequently annoying swelling. The avocado, a fleshy tropical fruit little used in our kitchen, can instead be a good ally in a balanced diet (as long as it does not exceed the quantities, being very caloric), as it provides carbohydrates (so in a big salad never combine it with potatoes, cereals and legumes) and “good” monounsaturated fats, as well as a high proportion of vitamin E and fibre that increase the sense of satiety. So, it is a fruit that I would use in soncino, fennel and salmon or shrimp salads for example. The important thing is to season with a little extra virgin olive oil so as not to exceed the amount of daily fat. The same goes for walnuts, almonds and dried fruit in general, excellent breakers - or as additional ingredients of a tasty salad - without exaggerating the quantities. As for oilseeds (pumpkin, flax, sesame, sunflower, hemp, poppy, etc., better still if organic and free of preservatives). I recommend them to enrich salads with precious nutrients, - for example - for those who are vegan. Pay attention instead to the use of cheese; if you want to slim, or at least stay in shape, I would limit dairy products such as crescenza, or mozzarella, which is always present in this kind of dishes; better to use feta or primosale in small quantities. If the salad is complete with the recommended micro and macronutrients, it is better to avoid combining baked goods such as bread, breadsticks, bread croutons, etc... For restaurateurs, if the large salads you have prepared remain unsold, you can keep them in the refrigerator in special, well-closed containers for one, maximum two days (important practice for those who concentrate, especially in this period, on take- away), provided that there is no fresh fruit such as strawberries and avocados, for example, because they would be ruined, and even from a visual point of view the salad would be quite stale, very different from what customers are looking for. Obviously, if they are to be stored for the next day, they should not be seasoned to avoid rancidity of the ingredients. For condiments, I always recommend using extra virgin olive oil, the most complete from a nutritional point of view, possibly Italian, apple vinegar with diuretic, anti-inflammatory properties, lemon or lime instead of balsamic vinegar, soya, etc… Enjoy your lunch break everyone! MAGAZINE