Salad Creations is a restaurant chain that allows you to choose your own ingredients to build a custom made-to-order meal. You choose your size of salad and then customize with more than 40 fresh salad ingredients. You can also order one of Salad Creation's own signature salad blends. The restaurant also features paninis and wraps on its menu. Looking at the nutrition facts for each item will help you make a healthy selection.
Salad Dressings
Many salad dressings are loaded with fat and calories that can decrease the nutrition of your salad. Salad Creations features several high fat choices as well as a few lower-fat and calorie selections. The Thousand Island contains 240 calories and 24 g of fat in one 2-oz. serving. The Blue Cheese is another high fat choice with 34 g and 320 calories. The Creamy Ranch is a bit better with 200 calories and 22 g of fat. Your fattiest choice is the Cucumber Wasabi with 340 calories and 36 g of fat. The Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette is the choice with the least fat and calories with 60 calories and 0 g of fat. The dressings all contain between 300 and 660 mg of sodium per serving.
Featured Salads
The featured salads are Salad Creations' own blends and include many of the same ingredients you can choose from when building your own salad. The Chef Salad has 390 calories and 20 g of fat, as well as 4 g of fiber and 24 g of protein. The Santa Fe Chicken has 36 g of protein and 5 g of fiber for 400 calories and 18 of fat. The Chopped Turkey Club contains 4 g of fiber and is lower in calories with just 210 per serving. The turkey salad has 6 g of fat. The Tuna Chop is one of the lowest calorie options, with 140. It has 2.5 g of fat and 19 g of protein.
Panini Sandwiches
The panini sandwiches are high in calories and sodium and contain quite a few calories for just one sandwich. The Bacon, Turkey and Cheddar Panini has 810 calories and 42 g of fat. It has 2,720 mg of sodium. The Buffalo Chicken Caesar has fewer grams of sodium, with 2,270, but has more calories and fat. It contains 880 calories and 43 g of fat. The 3-Cheese is equally as unhealthy with 810 calories and 41 g of fat. The cheese has 1,380 mg of sodium. The panini sandwiches are good sources of protein, as well.
Wraps
The wraps are just as high in fat and calories as the panini sandwiches, but offer the additional benefit of several grams of fiber in each one. The Spicy Buffalo Chicken Caesar Wrap has 1,000 calories, 57 g of fat and 2,810 mg of sodium. It has 8 g of fiber. The Chopped Veggie Wrap has 1,740 mg of sodium with 720 calories and 36 g of fat, as well as 14 g of fiber. The Wasabi Chicken Salad Wrap has 770 calories, 46 g of fat and 1,640 mg of sodium. It is a good source of protein with 29 g and contains 8 g of fiber.
Considerations
Salads can be a healthy meal choice when you pack them full of vegetables. Bob Greene, author of "The Get with the Program Guide to Fast Food and Family Restaurants," notes that adding salad dressing is one of the top reasons why a salad is unhealthy. Order one of Salad Creations' low calorie and fat free dressings to keep your salad as healthy as possible. Go easy on adds-ins, such as nuts, seeds and cheese, to keep the calories lower. Your wrap or panini can be more nutritious if you order it without cheese or spreads, because these contribute a great deal of fat, calories and sodium.
References
- Salad Creations: Our Menu
- Salad Creations: Nutritional Information
- "The Get with the Program Guide to Fast Food and Family Restaurants"; Bob Greene; 2003
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