Planning and preparing a healthy meal after working all day is difficult, to say the least. You’re tired, you’re hungry, you want to eat soon, and the idea of waiting an hour while you prep dinner is exhausting.
This daily pattern wears you down and ultimately keeps you from hitting your health goals. It’s very stressful, and you want to give up. How does anyone do this?
The good news is that there’s a simple routine that can help calm your body and your mind without taking a ton of your time or slaving away in the kitchen.
You can do this because systems and processes beat willpower and goals every day. You just need the right system.
Build a home-sized salad bar system
Most of what you need for your salad can be prepped ahead of time, like a salad bar. So when you get home, you grab what you need from your salad bar, put it together, and then eat. You can be ready to eat within five minutes. Do the prep once a week and keep your containers of prepped veggies full, and you’re ready to go. Paul and Ann Malkmus taught this concept years ago, and the advice is still valid. You can go watch their video if you want to see how they present the salad box concept.
Here’s what you need for your salad:
Dark Leafy Greens
Grab some spinach, kale, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, or spring mix. You can grab different greens, depending on the season or what is available, or what is convenient. Your choice.
Colored Veggies
Think of a rainbow of colors. Different colors contain different protective and beneficial compounds. So get a variety of colors that are pleasing to the eye. Salads should be beautiful, not just nutritious. Red and yellow peppers, purple beets, orange carrots, red cabbage, white cauliflower, and so on.
Tomatoes
Every salad is better with tomatoes. Just don’t cut them too much ahead of time and don’t mix them with everything else. Since the salad box system keeps your tomatoes separate until you’re ready to eat, you’re all set.
Nuts and Seeds
We want you to think of salad as the main course. But this isn’t true unless you add some hearty, filling ingredients. So add in some nuts and seeds to start. Almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. These all add zinc, protein, healthy fats, and calming nutrients like magnesium. You can add ground flaxseed for the additional benefit of omega-3 fatty acids.
Beans or Legumes
To make this a meal, you need some substance, some protein, so adding in some beans will help. Garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas), black beans, or pinto beans can all be added to your salad. You can drain a can of store-bought beans, or use beans you cooked yourself.
The beans add more protein, a great source of iron, magnesium, potassium, and soluble fiber. Beans are a high-grade carbohydrate, just the opposite of junk food.
Dressing
The dressing makes the salad. It could be as simple as lemon and olive oil, or a pre-prepared Italian dressing, or a creamy kind of dressing. The Hallelujah Diet recipe database also has plenty of dressing ideas if you want to try a new one.
Here are Some Ideas for Additions
Everyone likes different things in their salads. You may not want them all the time, but an occasional addition of one or more of these can take your salad from ordinary to very special.
Avocado
Avocados make any salad more filling and feel like a meal. Eat avocados for the creamy texture, and get the benefits of healthy fats, B vitamins, and fiber. Cut them up at the last minute to keep them fresh. Or make your avocado into guacamole and put that on your salad. If you are taking your salad somewhere else to eat it, leave the pit in the side that you take with you,
Onions
Some people like them, some people hate them. But they are a power food, so it’s worth putting them in there if you like them. Just cover them in a container separate from everything else, so not everything tastes like onions.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are also a power food that you should include in your diet if you like them at all. They are a great source of B vitamins and potassium. Beta-glucan is a unique immune-boosting polysaccharide from mushrooms. You don’t need a lot, just regular consumption of a few to make a difference.
Other Toppings
You can add in fun things for variety, like berries, raisins, seasoned whole grain croutons, or olives (black or kalamata olives). Some people even put a little sauerkraut on top.
The Prep Trick: Turn It Into Healthy “Fast Food”
Having a daily salad sounds great, but it’s a lot of work. Here’s where the magic happens.
Once a week, prep all your vegetables at once. Cut up the hearty vegetables and store them in separate small containers (glass is preferred) in the fridge.
If you want, you can prep a salad into a wide-mouth glass jar so it’s all ready to go. Just layer the dressing on the bottom, hearty vegetables, protein, nuts next, and the greens on the top.
Then, when you get home, you’re ready to eat a salad. Just pull out your containers, put your salad together from the separate containers, or just take out your jar of salad.
No chopping, no decisions, and no stress. Healthy eating just became the easiest choice.
Finish with Mindful Eating
So pull out your salad and take your time. Enjoy the appearance of your salad. Say a prayer of thanksgiving and enjoy the flavor. Eat it with relaxing company and enjoy your conversation while you eat together.
This mindful approach activates your “rest and digest” system, the parasympathetic nervous system. It lowers your physiological stress, improves your digestion, and helps break your cycle of hurried meals.
A daily salad is a small habit, but it gives you big dividends. Using the salad box method makes the prep simple. Then a daily salad is the easy choice every day.
So try prepping three or four salads this week and see how it goes. Do you feel calmer, less overwhelmed? Do you have less decision fatigue about what to eat?
