Salad Dressing Rant!

So, I had a huge salad for lunch. BIG improvement for me. Anywho, someone had to nerve to ask: How much dressing is on it? Which was followed by the statement: People kill their salads with dressing. What's the point of even eating it?

Here comes the rant!

I DID NOT GET FAT USING TOO MUCH SALAD DRESSING. I GOT FAT EATING HUGE AMOUNTS TERRIBLE FOODS FAR TO OFTEN.

Sounds like you work with a Hater. Did you examine what they were eating and also make judemental comments about it???? Probably not!   :)  Had to make a comment since I myself ate Ranch dressing at lunch. 

I ask my family what they ate for dinner/lunch all the time but that's mostly because i like to hear what they ate, lol. Asking someone like an acquaintance what they ate for lunch might not be that bad either...but asking how much dressing was on it was REALLY rude and you should just ignore that person!

i would have just told that person that "my salad dressing is ____ calories per tablespoon, and i always measure mine out, so i don't think that observation would apply to me - my salads are actually healthy"

just b/c someone else makes a generalization, doesn't mean you have to....i'm just sayin'....i like to try to figure out how to make a negative into a positive..

how rude!  in simple conversation that might be fine, but it was obviously directed at the meal you were int he process of eating!  did you ask them about their meal and make comments on it?!??!  people forget that whole "treat others as you want to be treated" rule far toooo often.

i was thinking though that i did kind of "kill" my salad earlier... they had no light options so i had to get creamy italian (ok didn't have to, but they were all thick dressings)... but i'm eating it with spinach, tomatos, and carrots, so it didn't really kill me!

I know that was just a rant and I obviously wasn't there, but situations like that don't bother me. It seems to me like they were telling you something that a lot of people aren't aware of - dressing can really kill a salad. It's something that I hadn't known before I started looking at nutritional information, and something that many of my friends don't know. I'm definitely not saying that you didn't know or that your salad was unhealthy. All I'm saying is that I once told someone that the dressing was going to add a huge amount of calories and fat to his salad (and I knew it was because I had looked it up), and I told him because I knew he was trying to lose weight. He didn't believe me, by the way lol.

Congrats on starting healthier eating though.

Original Post by sassy_pants:

I DID NOT GET FAT USING TOO MUCH SALAD DRESSING. I GOT FAT EATING HUGE AMOUNTS TERRIBLE FOODS FAR TO OFTEN.

I'm the same way I used to dip fried chicken, mozzarella sticks, hot wings and french fries in ranch.  Now I still use lite ranch but now I dip in carrots, tomato, spinach, radishes, cucumbers, mushrooms, and other veggies. 

If she does this again ignore her and eat your healthy yummy salad.  It sounds to me like she wants to sound informed and a 'better than thou' dieter.  If she really gets to you, tell her "actually you're wrong, this salad has..."

i think it was rude of that person to comment on your salad, but they did have a point, a lot of people have no CLUE how many calories they are adding to a salad when they dump on the dressing! before i knew how to eat, i'd easily dump 400-500 calories worth of dressing on my salads and think i was being healthy!

then i actually measured out what 2 tbsp really is and learned a lesson!

i still love my pizza dipped in ranch, and i keep a bottle of ken's steakhouse buttermilk ranch in my fridge for my cheat days, but other than that i stick to te 50 cal per serving light stuff! 

I think it is rude to comment on anyone's food....my body, my food....am I asking you to eat it?? No...so mind your business....since everyone is ranting I figured I would go ahead and join in.  I do watch how much salad dressing I use, but there was a time I would put half the bottle on my salad.....I am not sure if that is what got me fat....I think eating a lot fried chicken, potatoe salad, and the likes is mostly what happened....but people need to learn to keep mouth shut....think it but don't say it....just ask yourself... will this really help this person or will it make them angry.....eat your salad dressing.....there will come a time you won't eat it or you will look for other options until then, enjoy.  

Lord, I was at a buffet recently and some woman thought that ANY food was healthy if you put Ranch dressing on it, because that made it a salad and salads are good for you.  So here she is, walking around with seven or eight slices of pizza, a little bit of lettuce, and gobs of Ranch dressing.

I'm the type who doesn't deal with high-calorie dressings unless the salad is the only part of my meal.  Usually I have cottage cheese or chicken or a sandwich to go with it, in which case I'll use fat-free Italian dressing or fat-free Ranch, but if I'm just having a salad, I go for the bacon dressings.

I eat a salad every day, and I tend to make my own salad dressings for them (cheaper, really, and enough culinary school so I can make all the fancy stuff at home).  Also, because I studied nutrition, I have a tendency to give really long lectures without realizing it :P  But I try really hard to make sure the person is actually interested first (as in, if they asked my opinion, not just volunteering it randomly). 

Sounds like this person was just trying to be helpful.  That doesn't make it OK for them to act like that, but at least they weren't being intentionally a jerk.

I come from family that drowns everything they eat.  I think salads are ruined by a combination of fatty condiments and overdoing it with the dressing.  Dressing alone isn't going to ruin a good salad. 

Though, I think it's good to find other ways to dress the salad at home.  Yesterday I mixed half a serving of ranch dressing with salsa.  I was able to stretch the dressing and make my salad "zesty".  I also make a dressing from hot mustard and buttermilk.  I'd rather do that than buy low calorie stuff. 

Congratulations on choosing a salad over less healthy, higher fat options. Bravo!

I don't know what your lunch companion was hoping to achieve with those comments, but I assume it was meant in a well-meaning type of way, since you probably aren't likely to eat lunch with someone you think detests you. Here are some things I hope are helpful to you: 1) if you ever eat a taco salad, don't eat that deep fried shell thing that it's served in- I've been told it's so bad for you nutritionally that you should just view it as something inedible. 2) yes, salad dressings CAN add big amounts of fat and calories (and sometimes sugar,too), depending on the variety and the amount you use, so choose carefully. 3) salad dressings aren't the only things that add fat and high calories: there's also bacon and cheese to consider, so keep that in mind. (i.e., if your friend had no dressing, but was eating bacon and cheese on his/her salad, then that was just as bad if not worse!) 4) here's a GREAT tip to help you when you're eating out: ask for your salad dressing to come on the side. It will usually come in a little cup that holds about 2 TBSP. Don't dump it on your salad! Instead, dip your fork in your dressing before you spear that lettuce/tomato/whatever..and that way, you'll get a little bit of flavor with each bite. Since doing it this way, I've noticed that I typically go through only about 1 TBSP of dressing, and yet every bite of my salad is delicious. So, I get the best of both worlds!

P.S. I actually checked out your rant hoping someone would give an answer referring to those new salad spritzer type dressings. Has anyone tried those? I've seen them and they were really low cal, but I haven't tried any of them yet.

Best wishes for more (continued) healthy eating! bubbasgirl

I use 10 oz. of tofu and a packet of ranch dressing mix with 1 cup of non-fat milk or pureed tomatoes if I want and never feel guilty due to my ranch dressing addiction. "Now bring me my ranch dressing hose." (Homer Simpson)

I've Tried the salad Spritzers.. the Italian one is delicious, just enough flavor and hardly any calories!

I like the salad spritzers too, I usually don't even use the 10 sprays it says is a serving.  Italian is good but my favorite is the balsamic.

Yesterday I ordered a salad..... that was almost soup in vegetables. There was SO much dressing, it was SO salty.
For a piece of spinach, I could press my fork down on it and it was SO saturated in dressing that dressing would come OUT of the piece of spinach. Not sure if that visual makes any sense at all.... but basically, you get the idea  - a ton of dressing. :\
Probably a 1000 cal salad :P (it was topped with beef, matchstick (aka deep fried) potato strips..... and well, a TON of dressing. Mustve been half a cup at least. And you know whats funny.... I ASKED for LESS dressing!! (In such instances.... I almost wonder if I have a right to send it back.....??)

Maybe instances like that, yeah the point of a salad is almost killed by dressing. Its probably the same amount of cals as a burger or small pizza. But still, to me, at least I got my servings of vegetables (Im huge on that!)

And last year, when I was super naive, I ate salads almost everyday (because I needed to diet!!) thinking they were healthy/low-cal/diet..... but NO! Now taht I know better, I know they were ridiculously horrible.
Chicken Ceasar Salad..... -- Always, TOO much dressing. Probably easily 500 cals of it, bacon bits (probably like 100 cals), croutons (always way too many given - probably around 200 cals), cheese (probably another 200 cals).... on top of the calories for chicken and veggies.
Ummm diet food? Probably not really.

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But yeah, bottom line, I agree.

I gained weight, probably not by eating salads..... but by eating all that cake and lack of portion control.