Although salad bars include salads and dressings that are high in calories and fat, they also contain fruits and vegetables that are so low in both calories and fat that you can eat until you're full and not worry. These foods include lettuce, celery, carrots, green peppers, mushrooms, garbanzo beans, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, melon, tomatoes, kidney beans, fresh pineapple, and bean sprouts. Another plus for the salad bar is that it contains many foods high in vitamin A, which is difficult to get in a meat and potatoes meal. Vitamin A is essential for human growth and vision in dim light. Foods rich in vitamin A include leafy greens such as spinach and broccoli, as well as carrots and peaches.
Salad bars can also be high in fiber.
This is because bran comes in a box and the label says it contains fiber. But vegetables, especially leafy, green vegetables, are also high in fiber. Most of the calories you consume when eating from a salad bar come from the dressing. She suggests you pass up salads mixed heavily with mayonnaise, oil, or creamy dressings and limit yourself to one tablespoon of dressing on your green salad. Also, limit the serving size or skip gelatin items made with cream cheese and whipped cream, which contain both saturated fat and cholesterol, she adds.