Why Restaurant Salads Aren’t As Healthy As You May Think

No, this salad isn’t real. But it’s not that far off from what some fast food restaurants are marketing as “healthy.” Image: Midwood Argus / DALL-E 2

By CYNTHIA SPRINGER and SANTA SPRINGER

After an hour-long workout at the gym, you feel like rewarding yourself with some fast food. While waiting in line, you decide not to get your usual order but to instead get something healthy on the menu. You choose a salad, and once the cashier gives it to you, you see protein-packed chicken, small pieces of roasted bacon, shredded cheese, and low-calorie lettuce, topped with thick dressing. You may feel proud of yourself for staying “healthy.” However, you would be better off getting a burger.  

Many people assume that all salads are healthy, but that isn’t the case. For years, fast food restaurants have been putting fatty toppings on their salads to attract customers who wouldn’t normally eat vegetables at a fast food restaurant. These companies have been using fried chicken, eggs, bacon, and cheese to advertise their salads while promoting them as healthier alternatives. Although these sales might be beneficial for fast food restaurants, they’re also detrimental to customers.

According to Julien Perry, a food and wine writer, “It's pretty easy to avoid the trappings of a fast-food salad; outside of not ordering one at all, stay away from salads with lots of animal-based toppings and dressings.” You may think that a salad should have animal products like chicken and eggs because they contain a lot of protein. However, many of these ingredients, such as bacon and fried chicken, contain lots of sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

Another thing you should stay away from is creamy dressings. According to the Weight Matters Campaign, dressings such as ranch and blue cheese, which contain high amounts of saturated fat, “can raise cholesterol, clog arteries, and increase inflammation.”

Wendy’s Southwest Avocado Salad is made with lettuce, cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, avocado, applewood smoked bacon, and grilled chicken breast, topped with Southwest Ranch dressing. The salad has 25g of fat, 9g of saturated fat, and 930 mg of sodium, all of which are all about half the total a person should consume in a full day. The dressing adds 140 calories and 14g of fat. The cheese, bacon, and creamy dressing are “a very dangerous trifecta,” says Perry. 

Chick-fil-A’s Cobb Salad with Chic-n-Strips is made of mixed greens and topped with Chick-fil-A Nuggets, roasted corn kernels, a blend of shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, crumbled bacon, a sliced hard-boiled egg, tomatoes and red bell peppers. It sounds delicious, but there are barely any vegetables in this salad; it mostly contains animal products. The salad has 63g of fat and 1350 mg of sodium, both of which are roughly a day’s full total. The Avocado Lime Ranch dressing contains 310 calories by itself, about as much as a McDonald’s hamburger. Roughly a third of the calories in the salad come from the dressing alone.

Lastly, Burger King has a Chicken Garden Salad, made with lettuce, tomatoes, buttery garlic croutons, shredded cheddar cheese, and fried chicken that contains 870 calories, 71g of fat, 14g of saturated fat, 1605 mg of sodium, 35g of carbs, and 7g of sugar, without any dressing! By eating this salad, you’ve already reached more than your daily requirements for fat and sodium.   

According to Melanie Peters, who works at the UC San Diego Medical Center, you shouldn't have 300 calories worth of toppings on 100 calories worth of vegetables. Instead, try putting healthy toppings that will benefit you nutritionally, such as grilled fish, sunflower seeds, almonds, and beans. They’ll add protein and fiber to your salad.

If you want to freshen up your salad you can add fruit to your bowl, such as apples, pears, or berries, which add vitamin C and increase the amount of fiber in your meal. Or you can top your greens with avocado, which contains over 20 vitamins and minerals and are a healthy fat.

It’s also important not to view lettuce as a true vegetable. According to the Healthy Fish Team, “While lettuce may seem healthy, common salad lettuces like iceberg lettuce and butter lettuce are mostly made up of water and contain very few nutrients.” A better option is nutrient-rich greens like spinach and kale.

Finally, dressing is always a key factor whenever you buy a salad, but people often order unhealthy types of dressings. One that you can add to your salad instead of ranch is balsamic vinegar. Not only does it taste good, but it also improves skin health, reduces blood sugar, promotes healthy digestion, and lowers your cholesterol. If you like to add lemon flavor to your salad, ask for lemon juice as a dressing. Lemon will help those who feel bloated after eating salads that are full with fiber. 

While most fast food restaurants’ salad offerings aren’t truly healthy, Chipotle’s stand out as better than most. The burrito chain’s salads have a lot of fresh and nutrition-filled ingredients. You can customize your salad to put in ingredients that will make it healthy, like beans, tomatoes, and romaine lettuce, while foregoing sour cream and cheese.

Nowadays, many people don’t know what a proper salad should have. They just buy anything sitting on top of lettuce that looks appealing to them. But next time you want to eat something healthy after a workout, you’ll know what to get.