Why is it good to have a bowl of salad a day?

Salads composed of even a few ingredients make a nutrient-rich meal. The greens alone have calcium, iron, potassium and B vitamins. Salad basics, such as tomatoes and sweet peppers are packed with antioxidants. You can't go wrong including a salad in your daily diet.

So what are the benefits of having a bowl of salad in your meal?

A bowl of salad a day helps in weight loss or in weight management because salads are low in calories, high in fiber and rich in other nutrients. Fiber helps you feel full making you eat, the remaining meal less and ultimately lose weight. 

Three times a week, I replace my usual dinner which includes a cup of rice and my favorite viand, with a bowl of my homemade or DIY salad - a mixture of fruits and veggies. It helps me maintain my weight thru the years.

Eating salad regularly helps improve skin tone. The high levels of water found in salad veggies improve hydration in our bodies, which is necessary for youthful skin tone and various basic bodily functions.

Salad keeps disease and aging at bay.

Who isn't interested in a bit more energy and vitality? Who doesn't love to be fit and young-looking?

Aside from their natural good taste and great crunchy texture alongside wonderful colors and fragrances, eating a large serving of fresh, raw vegetables each day makes a substantial contribution to disease prevention, healthy body, and youthful energy.

Pack your salads with as many other veggies or fruits as possible to get the synergetic effects. Carrots, cucumbers, different colored peppers, broccoli, peas, artichokes, strawberries, raspberries, or pears are great choices to get in different textures as well as plenty of filling fiber.

Having known all these benefits and more from a bowl of salad, we may wonder where to find the best salad especially in the Metro where it is very rare to find the freshest ingredients for a salad. 

A good salad should be fresh - not all fruits or ingredients came from a can; ripe and in season. One of the best ways to make sure that the veggies and fruits are fresh is to base on the color - green should be green, red is red, yellow must be yellow, meaning they should be bright and bold in colors. If there are other ingredients such as eggs, tuna, meat or pasta, they should not be too salty, nor sour.

I spend 4 to 5 days of my whole week in Metro Manila, so how do I find it possible to have a good salad to incorporate into my meals so I never miss my body goals? 

I go to Salad Bar. 

Salad Bar is a buffet-style counter where you can assemble your own salad plates. Salad Bar provides lettuce as a base, sliced tomatoes, assorted raw sliced vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, and green or red bell peppers; shredded turnips, boiled baby potatoes, corn kernels, bread croutons, and fruits such as grapes, lychee, papaya, peaches, mangoes, melon, and watermelon. They also have additional food items such as cooked cold meat like tuna, boiled eggs, cooked mushrooms. Customers also have 5 dressings to choose from such as Caesar, Thousand Island, Condensed milk.

I don't usually put in much dressing because I love the natural taste of the fruits, veggies, and meat as it is; but remember salad contains so-called fat-soluble vitamins that cannot be absorbed and used by the body without the presence of some fat. 

With Salad Bar, there's no reason not to get fit and healthy everyday. They have 5 branches situated in the following areas - GT Tower Makati, PBCom Tower Makati, Zuellig Bldg Makati, Food Choices at the Glorietta 4 Makati, Robinson's Summit Ayala, and Net Quad Bldg Taguig. 

The store is actually one of the most affordable and quality salad bars I have tried in the metro. You can create your own salad for only Php30.00 per 100grams. Packing up your body with the essential daily vitamins, minerals, and nutrients will never burn a hole in your pocket with the convenience offered by Salad Bar.