Yes, salads are a real meal.

Yes, salads are a real meal. No matter what some people might think.

This article is in response to Angry_Jerk’s article “Salads aren’t a real meal”.

In his article, Angry_Jerk calls salads overrated and says that they aren’t real meals. He goes on to call them, and I quote, “glorified rabbit food”, and makes fun of salad eaters by calling them “mindless idiots”.

He’s wrong.

I don’t know what kind of salad AJ has ate, but salads are certainly real meals. And they’re definitely NOT overrated! If anything salads are very underrated.

The article’s biggest criticism about salads is that they aren’t filling. Salad haters are under the assumption that salads are nothing more than just lettuce and vegetables. This simply isn’t true at all. I think this misconception comes from people watching too many cartoons. In cartoons, salads are often depicted as just being lettuce and tomatoes. But here in the real world, a salad is so much more than lettuce and tomatoes.

On a typical work day I’ll bring myself a grilled chicken salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, green bell pepper, roasted red pepper, spinach, croutons, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. When I’m home on the weekend I’ll make a salmon salad with an Asian ginger sesame sauce or Dijon mustard dressing. You can put anything on a salad, there’s so much variety to them and the only limit is your imagination. If your salad isn’t filling then you didn’t make it right, that’s nobody’s fault but yours.

Pictured below is a salad that I had for lunch:

Would you say that this isn’t a real meal? If so then you’re just being ridiculous. This salad is about 700 calories, it’s full of protein and monounsaturated fats, and it’s definitely filling!

The other argument, that there are better sources of vitamins and micronutrients, isn’t even really an argument, it’s just a matter of opinion.

During college I was a personal trainer, so I do in fact understand what micronutrients and vitamins are. Many of the same vitamins and other nutrients found in a salad can be found in other foods. For example, Vitamin A can also be found in eggs.

However, some people just prefer the taste of a salad. They aren’t “impressionable idiots” just because they like salad instead of chicken, rice, and beans every day. In fact, salad is a better choice over rice for people with hypoglycemia or diabetes.

The article also claims that salads don’t contain any dietary fat. Not true. You can indeed get a healthy amount of dietary fats from a salad. Common additions to salads include nuts, cheeses, oil-based dressings, and salmon (yum!). What you put on your salad is up to you. Just make sure you don’t go overboard.

Salad isn’t everyone’s thing and that’s alright, but saying that they aren’t a real meal is dead-assed wrong.

Alright, I’m done here. Time to go next door and bust someone’s balls!

Submitted by Stephanie T.