Salads make an excellent choice on a diabetes diet. In fact, the American Diabetes Association names green leafy vegetables a diabetes "superfood," and states that nonstarchy vegetables should make up one-half of all of your lunches and dinners. As with all menu items on a diabetes diet, it is important your salads follow the proper serving size guidelines.
Nonstarchy Vegetables
The American Diabetes Association recommends that you eat at least three to five servings of nonstarchy vegetables a day, where a serving is equal to 1 cup of raw vegetables or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables. Nonstarchy vegetables such as romaine, arugula, baby spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, onions, carrots and celery contain few calories and carbohydrates, and score low on the glycemic index, a tool that helps you measure the effect of carbohydrates on your blood sugar levels. For this reason, the American Diabetes Association states that when it comes to nonstarchy vegetables, more is better and it is really not necessary to restrict serving sizes.
Meat
In general, the American Diabetes Association recommends that one-fourth of all of your meals be comprised of high-protein foods. Skinless chicken, an excellent source of lean protein on a diabetes diet, makes a filling addition to a salad. One average-sized skinless chicken breast is the recommended serving size to include in your salad.An appropriate serving size of lean, skinless white-meat turkey is approximately 2 1/2 oz.
Fruit
Many salad recipes call for fresh fruit. The American Diabetes Association states that you should eat one small piece of fresh whole fruit or 1/2 cup of fresh berries with all of your meals. So, if you are preparing a pear and walnut salad, include a small pear. If you are preparing a fruit and nut spring salad, your use 1/2 cup of mixed raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. If your salad recipe calls for a loose fruit, such as red grapes, your serving size should be 1/2 cup.
Beans, Cheese and Considerations
If you include beans in your salad, the serving size is 1/2 cup. Use cheese sparingly and choose low-fat varieties. Restrict your cheese serving size to 1 oz. Use cheese as a finishing touch to your salad, not as a main ingredient. Try low-fat crumbled goat cheese or low-fat shredded mozzarella. Consider replacing conventional salad dressings with healthier alternatives, such as balsamic vinegar or fresh-squeezed lime juice with ground pepper. If you choose to use bottled salad dressing, check the nutrition label to ensure that it is low in calories, saturated fat and sodium.
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