Salads fall into that category of what I like to refer to as "delusional foods". It can be very easy to delude oneself that because you have chosen to stay away from the other highly caloric foods on a menu, or in your fridge that you're eating healthily.

"Oh, I guess I'll just have a salad!" or "I'll just do the salad bar" are statements we make when our intentions are good, but our motivations are secretly lacking.

You order dressing on the side, but end up using the whole portion. The salad bar not only contains healthy greens and veggies, but soup, cheese, pasta salad, potato salad, coleslaw, bread, three kinds of croutons, cottage cheese, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, other meats, and the list goes on.

Before you know it you've consumed over 1,200 calories and you weren't even trying. Because if you had been, you'd be waddling out the door of the restaurant sporting a "food baby" the size of a cantaloupe!

Consumer Reports (CR) has done a good deed for all of us by putting together a list of typical salad additions. Each portion contains about 100 calories. So you could build a pared-down salad that is still delicious. But if you're anything like me, you'll have to pull a box of willpower out of the pantry before you begin.

If you are aiming for a 2,000 calorie intake, you want your salad, (if it's an entree) to be around 600 calories total. Good luck and salad on!

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