Do you have a healthy a salad (with a side of smugness) for lunch but find yourself hitting up the vending machine (and dining out on the extra guilt) come 1:31pm? Well, dietitian Claudia Felty is here to solve that dilemma.
She’s taken to Instagram to share side-by-side images of a “silly” and “smart” salad, and detail the differences between the two.
“Salads don’t have to suck,” she wrote in the caption. “They can actually be a really nourishing and satisfying meal. The key is not to let diet brain ruin your ability to make a salad delicious.”
“I remember a time where having a salad caused me a lot of stress because I was so afraid of things like salad dressing, avocado, and cheese. Basically anything with fat was off limits in my book and the truth is salads don’t taste very good without it.”
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Claudia also says that those kinds fats are no only delicious, but essential for digestion.
“Funny thing is you need the fat to digest the fat soluble vitamins in the salad. So eating all those plain carrots doesn’t do you a whole lot of good if you’re hoping to absorb all that vitamin A.”
Her “smart” recipe features “salad mix, grape tomatoes, zucchini, roasted corn, avocado, Cajun shrimp, sesame seeds, and salad dressing of choice.”
So when you want a salad, make a satisfying one.
This article originally appeared on Women’s Health