How To Build The Perfect Salad

Follow these steps on your next attempt at building the perfect salad:

Step #1: Pick a base
The base of your salad is the lettuce - this lettuce can range from kale, red/green leaf lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, iceberg, romaine, baby greens, mustard greens, or a combination of them all! When I make a salad, I make it an entire meal, so I eat around 1.5 - 2 pounds of greens in a sitting.

Step #2: Add some herbs & sprouts
Herbs and sprouts are loaded with life force energy and contain powerful body-healing elements. You can add sprouts like sunflower, alfalfa, broccoli, radish, or mixed. Herbs range from anything like arugula, dill, chives, basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, watercress, rosemary, sage, the list goes on! Switch it up every day!

Step #3: Add some healthy fats
Fats, particularly avocado, help your body absorb the vitamins and minerals in the salad. I normally add a whole avocado to my salads, as my body doesn't digest seeds all that well. If you do choose to use nuts or seeds make sure they are FRESH (a lot of the nuts and seeds in stores have been sitting there forever and go rancid, even though they are considered safe for consumption). Also, if you use nuts and seeds, make sure to soak them before consuming (for an hour or two), and that they are raw (cooked nuts and seeds turn those healthy fats into bad fats). Nuts and seeds range from almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or hemp seeds (and many more).

Step #4: Add some colour!
Add some colour to your salads for added antioxidants and vitamins & minerals. Shred in some carrots or purple cabbage, or cut up a tomato and some bell peppers. The list of colourful vegetables you can add to your salads is endless - vary it from day to day!

Step #5: Include healthy extras
This really includes anything extra, like organic raisins, dulse (a seaweed), apples, radishes, cucumbers, celery, you name it! Be creative and switch it up from day to day!

Step #6: Optional --> Dress it up!
Sometimes I don't put salad dressings on my salads, because I truly enjoy the simplicity of the vegetables, but everyone is different. Choosing a high quality raw, cold-pressed oil for your salad is where you should first start (hemp, olive, walnut, macadamia, etc.) and then from here, add a little bit of lemon and garlic, some fresh cracked pepper and you have yourself a very simple yet tasty salad dressing. You can also add some spices like cumin, cayenne, or anything else you have on hand. Be creative! If you choose not to add oil, you can simply squeeze some fresh lemon or lime onto your salad, or some freshly squeezed orange.