Is Salad Making You Fat?

So you’ve been eating nothing but salads for weeks and the scale is not moving. You might be surprise to hear that your favorite salad dressing may be the cause. Annually, Americans consume 9 billion pounds of lettuce, 5.4 billion pounds of fresh tomatoes, 2 billion pounds of carrots and 252 million pounds of cucumbers.

Unfortunately, they often undo that collective good by slathering millions of pounds of creamy high-calorie mayo-based dressings atop those vegetables. In addition to mayonnaise, some companies use butter or cream cheese to enhance flavor. Just 2 tablespoons of some of my favorite salad dressings (like Blue Cheese) have up to 17 grams of fat, and I know I am guilty of using more than 2 tablespoons on a large dinner salad.


Companies like Bolthouse Farms in California are replacing creamy yogurt as the main base in their dressings which cuts calories without drastically impacting the taste. Bolthouse Farms’ team of salad scientists created two lines of dressings that complement the natural flavors of salad rather than masking them. The company replaced the dressing base with yogurt which yields an all-natural, low-calorie, low fat and full-flavor dressing.

Flavors include: Chunky Blue Cheese, Caesar Parmigiano, Classic Ranch, Thousand Island, Honey Mustard, Original Coleslaw and Creamy Italian. All flavors have at least 50% less fat and 50% fewer calories than the next-closest competitor. They also launched some olive oil based dressings with Omega 3′s. These flavors have up to 95% less fat and 50% fewer calories than the next-closest competitor. The dressings are available nationwide with prices starting at $3.99 per bottle.

Other good salad dressing choices are Newman’s Own Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette or Light Honey mustard, Wishbone Red Wine, Ken’s Steakhouse Lite, Hidden Valley Ranch Light or various Kraft Done Right dressings. It’s always fun to whip up your own dressing and you will love the taste!