Matts Miracle Salad Recipe

I've never liked salad. I've never even been a big veggie eater. Sure, if I put enough cheese and ranch on it I'd eat it but I've never been a fan of it. Even then, if I am making a salad that unhealthy then why bother anyhow?

Then I found my perfect salad and things changed. It turns out I've been eating the wrong kind of salad. The right kind is delicious, healthy, and helped me drop 10 pounds of weight in 3 months. All I did was switch out one meal a deal for this salad!

Matt's Miracle Salad Recipe

Want to know my secret? Here's the recipe to my favorite salad:

Fill a bowl with lettuce. I prefer butter lettuce or a mix of butter lettuce and romaine. This alone makes the salad taste so much better to me.

Add veggies. I like sliced carrots, celery, cucumber, and red pepper. Toss in as many as you like.

Add uncooked broccoli. I like mine cut small and about a handful tossed in. Broccoli is a great way to get your fill of protein without meat.

But Wait, There's More!

At this point you've just made a salad. Nothing special there, right? Any fool could have figured that out! I'd eat this salad but it wouldn't be all that tasty to me.

So let's now add in:

Dried Goji Berries - They taste like cardboard on their own but in salad they come alive with flavor. Toss in a small handful. Learn more about Goji's and their health benefits.

Flaxseed - I like to grind mine up into more of a powder and add a heaping teaspoon. Flax seeds are a good source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, Lignans, and Fiber. You won't taste them in the salad. Buy whole flaxseed, not flaxseed oil.

Chia Seeds - I toss in a heaping teaspoon. Too many makes it too dry and crunchy. Chia seeds add fiber, protein, calcium, antioxidants, and omega-3's.

Cacao Nibs - This is where chocolate comes from! They smell delicious but taste like butt. Seriously, try to eat a single one and you'll see! But in a salad they just, well, work and taste great! I add a heaping teaspoon. These are full of flavanols which have a variety of health benefits. This is why some dark chocolates are good for you.

Hulled Hemp Seeds - Hemp seeds are loaded with omega-3's, protein, and essential nutrients. Relax, eating hulled hemp seed won't fill you up with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in marijuana. These are totally legal and legit. I toss in a couple of teaspoons as these taste good (like sunflower seeds).

Where To Buy

If you don't have access to these five items, here are links on Amazon.com to the brands I use for each:

+ Sunfood Raw Organic Goji Berries #ad
+ Bob's Red Mill Organic Raw Whole Flaxseed #ad
+ Viva Labs Organic Cacao Nibs #ad
+ Nutiva Chia Seeds #ad
+ Just Hemp 100% Natural Hulled Hemp Seeds #ad

Add in a healthy salad dressing and mix it together. The key here is to use a salad dressing that is healthy, like this recipe for Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette. I like Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian Dressing #ad which contains oil and isn't exactly healthy. Still, I use a very small amount (half the suggested portion size) and it's plenty for me. As it turns out, another reason I didn't like salad was an over use of dressings (like Italian). Less is more for me and less is healthier too.

Replace lunch or dinner with a big bowl of this salad and you're on the road to eating healthy.

Conclusion

I eat this salad daily and can say and I've noticed the following benefits that I believe are the result:

Lost weight (10 pounds over 3 months)

Have more energy

Have far, far fewer headaches

Generally feel better

It's hard to say what results you'll see, but it sure seems like a healthy salad once per day is the right move for most people. Also note that during my first two weeks I did feel hungry and had frequent headaches. My solution was to eat more salad and drink more fluids (mostly water, coconut water, and cherry juice - see Better Sleep With Cherry Juice). I would also snack on fruit as needed. After the first week the headaches went away. After the second week I didn't feel hungry and rarely have had a headache since (and I used to get a lot of headaches).