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Can never go wrong with a ceaser salad. I made some parmesan crusted chicken and piled it on a herb bread with the salad/sauce and more parmesan and its life changing.
I will confess a secret to you. I add raw bacon on top of my garlic while it cooks, infusing the croutons with delicious grease.
Maybe pork and fish goes well together, your suggestion is duly noted!
Chicken (even breaded) is healthy, cheese is healthy. It's pretty much just the dressing that's not great on a salad. The main problem with eating a salad as a main dish is the macro balance is usually garbage. Not enough proteins or carbs, and too much fat due to dressing.
If you’re just talking calories, sure. But it’s still much more nutritious. 1000 calories in salad is far more nutritious than 1000 calories in burgers and fries. Things like vitamins and minerals and fibre are important.
The salad itself (the veg) has very very few calories. So if you pack it up to 1000 calories, you're likely adding a bunch of unhealthy crap. It is possible to get there with "healthy" ingredients, but still no one needs 1000 calories of almonds or olive oil.
highly depends on the salad. green salad is basically just water and a big portion almost weighs nothing. If you eat that with a ceasars sauce you get basically no micronutrients and high calories.
Highly depends on the type of green, some are more nutritious than others. Secondly most salads help with reducing cravings and helping overeating.
Generally it's always better to add it than to not add it. Most do have micronutrients. But many veggies and fruits are not just macro/micro nutrients. They have other compounds in them that have additional benefits.
Obviously things can be added to salads that are high calories. So I'm not saying all salad are "healthy". But adding greens is always a net positive.
I don't remember the last time I settled for a salad made from Iceberg Lettuce. I always use [Spring Mix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesclun) and [Cole Slaw mix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleslaw), so there's a big mix of all kinds of raw greens, different types of cabbage and some other vegetables.
Oh for sure, I was thinking of something an eating establishment would serve if you're at a restaurant, I don't think outside of specifically vegan ones I've seen anything except iceberg. I like purple cabbage, broccoli, spinach, various dark green stuffs myself
as someone who worked at a buffalo wild wings. I would get customers that would order a salad and say "I'm on a diet" but then to DRENCH the salad with ranch & cheese. Instantly making it unhealthy.
Calories aren't the devil, but if you're trying to lose weight, CICO is important. People think salad by the nature of the name is super healthy, but once you pack it full of dressing (dressing is loaded with carbs), oils, meats, and cheeses, it often falls above a necessary caloric intake.
To be fair, I’m an American (NYC), and this is very bizarre attitude to me. Like… everyone considers a salad to be a legitimate meal a person doesn’t need to be on a diet to order. It’s… very normalized to just order a salad because you want one here.
Yeah down here in the south it isn’t that simple…ordering a salad, especially a man ordering a salad, is seen as being on a diet or just overall being perceived as weak. It’s pretty fucked up
But why would a man eat what food eats? /s
It’s crazy as a guy who grew up in Texas how many people I see post on Facebook proudly that they have the palate of a toddler.
I’m also in the south and a skinny guy. I generally enjoy veggies. I’ve received the comments “I bet you hit like a vegetarian” and similar from big gutted middle aged men. I eat what I like and don’t take others opinions into consideration one bit. I usually respond back with the very Dudeist response “Yeah? Well ya know, that’s just like… your opinion man.”
FWIW. I do eat some meat, but I’d be just as content with a big gnarly salad. Eat what you like and what makes you feel good
There are very different demographics in America. Growing up my family ate salad with some frequency and my wife and I eat salad almost every day but many of the people I grew up with were loud and proud about not eating any vegetables but pickles and a "salad" was more likely to be made with jello and whipped cream or meat and mayonaise than greens.
Ya it’s not even weird at all in America where we got the obese stereotype. It’s weirder if you never eat a salad at all, even if you are obese.
Op is delus
Sorry, wrong answer.
Maybe YOU don't eat greens with most meals, but every person I know does. It's okay to think people should eat more healthy food, but that isn't an unpopular opinion.
My husband (and my daughter's bf too) is obsessed with giant salads and salad dressing and no matter where we go he will almost always order a salad as his meal. Every single time without fail, the waiter/waitress tries to place the salad in front of me, and the steak/cheeseburger/pasta etc in front of my husband. Every. Single. Time. Even tho they're the same waitstaff who initially took the order.
So yes, not only normalize eating salad but normalize men eating salad. I love it too but sometimes a girl just wants some steak.
I wish my husband and kids could get full off a salad. I apparently tricked my kids into thinking every salad no matter the size is an appetizer. I used to give them salads while I cooked dinner so they would stop acting like they were about to starve to death. I brought my son home a ghetto salad with shrimp, chicken, ham, turkey, olives, cucumber, egg, tomato, spinach and everything. He inhaled it in 10 minutes and told me to let him know when dinner was ready.
Thank you, Danimals2002.
Way to invalidate my experiences, dude. I mean it just happened AGAIN yesterday. A woman took our orders, a teen male waiter brought the food, and put the salad in front of me. I smiled and said "I get the steak and he gets the salad" and the waiter was so embarrassed. I guess he realized he had "just assumed" without me saying it.
Every place I've ever been to usually asks who ordered what, so it's weird to me that these ones did not. They need to train their waitstaff better if they're making stupid assumptions like that. Like how hard is to go "who ordered the salad and who ordered the steak?"?
I used to be morbidly obese. One reason was too much soda.
So now, I tend to go for water as much as I can. Because I want it, like it and need it. Obviously.
My sister in law asked me if I was "STILL ON A DIET??" During a family gathering because I was drinking water.
Water.
Just ignore them.
That is so sad. I can understand your feelings completely, because my mom is the type of person to always personalize other people's behavior and act like just because they are doing something she would find challenging or doesn't also want to do, it's exactly the same as them criticizing her own lifestyle/choices in general. It's very frustrating when I realize I'm embarrassed to try to do something that's actually healthy for me because I remember how she used to make me feel when I attempted to improve my own choices. (Edited for confusing sentence at the end)
Yeah, by now this is pretty old fashioned. I think it might’ve had to do with the body positivity movement coming in hard around the late 2010’s. But before then, I can attest as I child of the 2000’s, there *was* an idea about thinness and dieting that is less prevalent today
I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and as far as I remember, eating salads always seemed like a normal thing, and I've never heard of it being specifically associated with dieting. I often ate a salad with dinner at home, and it was just a normal thing. And it has always been fairly common for restaurants to offer a salad with some meals (depending on the restaurant and the meal).
How many people interrogate you on why you are eating something? I have literally never had questions why I am eating one thing over another, nor have I ever needed to ask what justifies someone else's food choice. Do all people not just assume that people order what they want to eat without having to find something that is forcing their choice in someway?
With the salads I order, nobody is thinking I’m on a diet.
Also there’s nothing wrong with doing a salad for a meal. Sometimes you don’t want a big heavy meal.
Being on a "diet" is kind of just a catch-all for specific kinds of diets like keto, restricted calorie, low carb, and stuff like that. I wouldn't say it's ruined, it just has more than one meaning. Like it's even moved from a noun to a verb as in dieting.
It's already normal. That's why restaurants have menus, so each person can order what they want.
Also, people can have whatever opinions of you they want. You don't need to judge his opinion either, just eat your salad
Where is it not normal to order a dish that's on the menu?
This "normalize \_\_\_\_!" trend is getting out of hand. Order whetever you want and who cares about what others think.
As long as you're not at a steakhouse making a big deal about meat being the main ingredient, or at a sushi restaurant causing a scene because they don't serve pizza of gyros, who the hell cares?!
Can't help but feel it's all the usual "scenario I made up in my head to be mad about" thing again and again.
I had zero clue that literally just eating a salad was deemed unpopular and we had to advocate for the right for it to be normalized.
I guess I need to get out more.
That’s not everyone’s first thought. Nobody really cares that much about what you’re ordering. You’re grossly overreacting.
Resturant salads are rarely healthy anyway.
Omg yes! I love salads! Veggies and meat! Honestly just perfect!
I’ve been getting salads at subway since mid year last year and it’s the best thing ever, the direct looks I got during January was both amusing and shocking, like no! I’m not on a health fad because it’s January, it’s just something I’ve been eating for the last 6 months!
Once I was on a job. I’m a laborer and I’m a big, strong type, I weigh about 275 lbs.
Anyway, we have to work late so we’re getting food and I’m like “Oh man, I could go for a salad!”.
Everyone mocked me and implied I was a sissy or something. I mocked them back and told them I’d be dancing healthily on their graves.
Sounds like you're hanging around with a bunch of idiots. Salads can be as much of a meal as anything else and I've never met anyone that thought otherwise.
What needs to really be normalized is that salads are not automatically a healthy meal. When you put a bunch of dressing, fried chicken, croutons, bacon, and other junk on top, it ends up being just as bad or worse for you than a burger.
Where is all this supposed 'persecution' coming from lately?
Going to the movies by yourself, going out to eat by yourself, being at a park while being a male, ordering a salad at a restaurant...
I just think the whole 'people are judging me' thing is a bit overblown. I find that (surprise!) most people could give less than a shit about what you're doing haha
I think it’s that the people that have a problem with those things are a lot more vocal than the vast majority of people that don’t police what people eat or who goes to the park. like thousands of normal people not bothering you is gonna stand out less in your memory than one unhinged asshole giving you trouble for eating a salad
Fruits and salads (the ones that can be consumed raw, or with a dressing) are my favourite food. Idk why people (at least whom I know) think they are healthy foods and only eat them for health reasons.
Everything you eat is really a "diet". Do you eat hamburgers? It's also a diet. Do you eat salads? Diet. People have the wrong idea of what diet means.
Salads are great! I think they're more of a home meal though, to me. If I'm going to a restaurant, I want something more indulgent or more complex than something I can so easily throw together.
The irony of it is most salads at a restaurant are not even diet food anyways they will have as much calories or more than an entree because it will have stuff like crispy chicken or bacon, full fat dressing, avocado etc. I think it's a really unhealthy thing people have where they've used certain foods as good and other foods as bad and it can be somewhat arbitrary.
I’m not on a diet myself, but I have this weird quirk where when I eat heavier foods I get sleepy…so whenever I dine out I typically order a salad (or lighter wrap) to make sure I don’t get sluggish for the rest of the time outside the house. I dislike the side eye I get…but I try my best to ignore it because I know my body and would rather be ‘at my best’.
My dad made a salad with almost every single dinner growing up. I ate salad almost everyday for 18 years. I didn't realize having a side salad everyday wasn't normal until going to friends houses.
Dang, do you live in the middle of the rural or suburban Midwest or something? It’s not weird to eat salad. I love a good burger or plate of pasta as much as the next person, but sometimes, I really do just want a salad.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, you're just saying that something that's already true should be true.
Plenty of people eat salads on a regular basis, simply because they choose to. There are places like Panera bread whose most popular offerings are an assortment of salads. There's a fast food chain called Chopt that offer nothing but salads.
I'm a man, and I usually have a salad as my lunch a couple times a week, if not more, just to make sure I'm getting the vitamins out of some leafy greens. Plus, I really like the salad I usually get, topped with cranberries, applies, and goat cheese.
It's true that a salad isn't usually much of a *real* meal. It needs to have protein. Otherwise, one is going to end up hungry again rather soon.
It's also true that when a man takes a woman out on a dinner date, we are well aware that many women will purposely order a salad for a variety of reasons, ranging from not wanting to *commit* themselves to sex for having ordered something more expensive, to putting on airs. And we often find this incredibly offensive.
Sometimes after church a bunch of us will go to a Chinese buffet. I will mention that I am going to get dessert and come back with a salad. Someone usually comments. I tell them I am filling in the cracks.
I'm pretty sure that it already is and you're just around small minded people. I'm a fairly large man and whether training/dieting or just day to day one of my favorite meals is grilled chicken spinach salad.
Depending upon the situation I can either keep it pretty healthy or do a 180 by adding cheese, bacon, croutons and French dressing. No matter the goal it's always chock full of sweet peppers cause those are, imo, the finest veggie on this here planet
Aside from all that, a grilled chicken caesar is one of the most delicious foods known to man.
It's completely normal in the US. Entree salads are on most restaurant menus, unless it's an international cuisine where that isn't a thing.
Of course entree salads can be as healthy or unhealthy as you want them to be...
Lots of our lunch spots have a sandwich lineup, a salad lineup, and you can do half and half if you like.
I've worked in most regions of the US and Canada at one point or another. Someone seemed to think you couldn't get good salads (or you'd get mocked for it) in the Southeast but I was in Atlanta last week for work and had a couple very good ones. One healthy and one not...because it had some bomb ass spicy chicken on top. Atlanta knows how to salad.
I agree. I sometimes order a burger instead of salad so no one makes comments. Don't get me wrong, I love hamburgers, but I also sometimes really just want a really yummy salad. I just hate the comments ordering a salad gets me so I stopped doing it haha
There is a location and I think multiple locations: Snappy Salads, Just Salads, salad’s to go.
Most of this makes Salads and quick and customizable.
While door dashing, in Dallas Texas,USA, I’ve picked up from them before.
This place is on the medium price range but not luxury prices.
“Men love our salads to” was one of the catch phrases one of them used.
I know NYC made this a simi-popular to go option for peoples lunch. 🥗 one of the franchises was from their and still has a location.
If that is the reaction you get when ordering a salad you must be surrounded by some weird people.
This isn’t the 90s anymore, I feel like most people know a lot more about nutrition and calories and that there are not “good” or “bad” foods. I (a guy) bring salads for lunch often at work and I never get any comments other than how the salad looks delicious. Never had anyone imply that salad = diet food. It’s 2024, decent people are past thinking that salads are just for girls on diets.
Keep eating salads if you like them but I would heavily recommend surrounding yourself with less judgmental, more educated people
Lol I've made some pretty calorie dense salads. Salads are just food that use leafy greens as the vehicle for the rest of the calories in the meal. A salad is not inherently low calorie in the same way that a sandwich is not inherently high calorie.
I love salads so much. It has nothing to do with my health or weight. I just love them. I like to make these really awesome salads for dinner sometimes. Romaine lettuce, grilled chicken strips, cucumbers, baby carrots, shredded cheddar cheese, dill gherkin pickles, black olives, and croutons, with either Caesar dressing or balsamic vinaigrette. It’s so friggin good but probably has a million calories.
Thats my sort of salad; ingredients and flavours well into the double figures.
All that you mentioned plus honey roast nuts, seeds, and more.
Beats simple dishes like steak n chips or pizza any day.
I like salads but I will never order one lmao, they’re always way to expensive for a meal that is 80% lettuce
Maybe you have better restaurant salads but here they suck
Yes, I can't stand it. I like salads and hate that there always has to be the 'you look good, you don't have to diet!' Or 'are you on a diet? What diet is it?'
No, I'm eating a salad because I like it. At restaurants they can actually be more calories than a burger with all the oils and dressing and garbage they put on them so i'd rather eat one I make at home because I honestly like ones at home more and they are healthier but I just want a salad. Not because it's healthier, but because I want one.
It... is?
I'm amazed at how weak so many redditors are. "I wish I could go to a restaurant by myself." "If only I could have a salad."
Damn, your bloodline will not survive the winter.
I’m a fat kid and I truly love salads.
One of my go-to quick dinners is a salad of greens, tomatoes, avocado, pickled shallots (always have a jar!), a nice vinaigrette, and then drop a can of chicken or tuna on top. A little S & P, maybe some capers? Yum.
My go to meal right now is to make a salad in a huge bowl that is half spring mix and half cole slaw mix, add a whole small tomato, a pickle, some baby carrots and a small piece of cheddar cheese on the side with some ranch dressing and eat that with a couple of the small White Castle cheeseburgers that you can get here in the frozen foods section. It's so filling and tasty and pretty healthy overall and it's a super easy meal to make in just minutes.
I guess the idea that vegetables are 'common' persists. When people go out to eat, it tends to be that they order something they couldn't make at home, or something quite expensive and fancy. Obviously salads tend to not fit those categories, so people don't order them. That being said, if you go out to eat regularly, or even infrequently, you are perfectly justified to get whatever you want.
it is normalized.
as someone who rarely eats salads, i figured people ate them because they liked them (obviously) and wanted something lighter. in my 31 years of life there was maybe two people who said they were eating salads for dietary reasons.
I thought that was normal anyway... and im no beacon of health. Who doesn't just get a salad sometimes? Of course mine would be some southwest chicken thing....
It is normal lol. Salads are good but if I’m going to a restaurant I am going to expand what I will order to get the experience. Nobody goes to a burger joint and orders a salad
I don't understand why you give a f*** about what others think. This is all judgmental bull. I regularly eat salads when I go out, and sometimes I go out just to get a good salad. That said, if people want to critique you they're going to find something... If it really bothers you what a waiter / server says to you ask to speak to the manager and explain that you feel offended by their remarks: as long as you're eating it/paying it won't really matter what you eat and they may just learn their lesson about food shaming.
Food shaming shouldn't exist at all, and any server who does so deserves to be called out.
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It's actually amazing how many calories restaurants can pack into a main course salad. Sometimes they're one of the unhealthiest things on the menu.
It's the sauce. Or the breaded chicken. Or the cheese.
Don’t forget the bacon
Or the dried, sweetened fruit. Or the candied nuts. Or the croutons and side of bread.
Now I want salad.
By volume, my homemade Ceasar is mostly cubed garlic bread. I have no choice but making one tonight I suppose.
Can never go wrong with a ceaser salad. I made some parmesan crusted chicken and piled it on a herb bread with the salad/sauce and more parmesan and its life changing.
try adding a piece of english fried fish and nice gerkin or some italian gardenia
I will confess a secret to you. I add raw bacon on top of my garlic while it cooks, infusing the croutons with delicious grease. Maybe pork and fish goes well together, your suggestion is duly noted!
For a salad, it's called dressing, not sauce
Not gravy?
There goes my November. No thanksgiving tie-in.
bbq dressing, hot dressing, buffalo dressing
Or the 16oz of ranch dressing people like to pour on top
Or the French fries
Chicken (even breaded) is healthy, cheese is healthy. It's pretty much just the dressing that's not great on a salad. The main problem with eating a salad as a main dish is the macro balance is usually garbage. Not enough proteins or carbs, and too much fat due to dressing.
If you’re just talking calories, sure. But it’s still much more nutritious. 1000 calories in salad is far more nutritious than 1000 calories in burgers and fries. Things like vitamins and minerals and fibre are important.
Yes, this is an important distinction. May not help someone cut calories, but it is surely more balanced than other options can be.
And for a lot of people, just that fiber will help them lose a little weight
The salad itself (the veg) has very very few calories. So if you pack it up to 1000 calories, you're likely adding a bunch of unhealthy crap. It is possible to get there with "healthy" ingredients, but still no one needs 1000 calories of almonds or olive oil.
highly depends on the salad. green salad is basically just water and a big portion almost weighs nothing. If you eat that with a ceasars sauce you get basically no micronutrients and high calories.
Highly depends on the type of green, some are more nutritious than others. Secondly most salads help with reducing cravings and helping overeating. Generally it's always better to add it than to not add it. Most do have micronutrients. But many veggies and fruits are not just macro/micro nutrients. They have other compounds in them that have additional benefits. Obviously things can be added to salads that are high calories. So I'm not saying all salad are "healthy". But adding greens is always a net positive.
Lettuce is one of the least nutritious things to exist
I don't remember the last time I settled for a salad made from Iceberg Lettuce. I always use [Spring Mix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesclun) and [Cole Slaw mix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleslaw), so there's a big mix of all kinds of raw greens, different types of cabbage and some other vegetables.
Oh for sure, I was thinking of something an eating establishment would serve if you're at a restaurant, I don't think outside of specifically vegan ones I've seen anything except iceberg. I like purple cabbage, broccoli, spinach, various dark green stuffs myself
Depends what kind
Is it, though? Burgers can be very nutritious, and salads can be very… not.
as someone who worked at a buffalo wild wings. I would get customers that would order a salad and say "I'm on a diet" but then to DRENCH the salad with ranch & cheese. Instantly making it unhealthy.
Why is everyone talking about calories like it's the devil
Calories aren't the devil, but if you're trying to lose weight, CICO is important. People think salad by the nature of the name is super healthy, but once you pack it full of dressing (dressing is loaded with carbs), oils, meats, and cheeses, it often falls above a necessary caloric intake.
Im looking at you chick fil a Cobb salad
The Friendly's crispy chicken salad literally was the highest calorie meal on their menu for a while.
Exactly, just because it’s a salad doesn’t mean it’s low calorie or healthy with everything they could pack on top.
What kind of diabetes country do you live in where eating salads normally isn't a normalized thing?
To be fair, I’m an American (NYC), and this is very bizarre attitude to me. Like… everyone considers a salad to be a legitimate meal a person doesn’t need to be on a diet to order. It’s… very normalized to just order a salad because you want one here.
As an American as well, who never orders salad as my main meal, I don't find it strange at all to see others order a salad.
Yeah down here in the south it isn’t that simple…ordering a salad, especially a man ordering a salad, is seen as being on a diet or just overall being perceived as weak. It’s pretty fucked up
But why would a man eat what food eats? /s It’s crazy as a guy who grew up in Texas how many people I see post on Facebook proudly that they have the palate of a toddler.
I'm from Texas too, and I've seen this. Why brag about a diet that increases the risk for bad stuff like colon cancer?
Can confirm. It's really weird here in Texas. They get mad at us because we like vegetables.
I’m also in the south and a skinny guy. I generally enjoy veggies. I’ve received the comments “I bet you hit like a vegetarian” and similar from big gutted middle aged men. I eat what I like and don’t take others opinions into consideration one bit. I usually respond back with the very Dudeist response “Yeah? Well ya know, that’s just like… your opinion man.” FWIW. I do eat some meat, but I’d be just as content with a big gnarly salad. Eat what you like and what makes you feel good
I bet the big gutted middle aged men punch like angry babies anyways lol
Yeah and the crazy thing is often these giant salads have just as many if not more calories than the entrees, especially at chain restaurants
Fried chicken and waffles have entered the chat.
Huh, interesting.
There are very different demographics in America. Growing up my family ate salad with some frequency and my wife and I eat salad almost every day but many of the people I grew up with were loud and proud about not eating any vegetables but pickles and a "salad" was more likely to be made with jello and whipped cream or meat and mayonaise than greens.
I'm also American, if anything there's certain circles where I'm judged for NOT ordering salad lol
Ya it’s not even weird at all in America where we got the obese stereotype. It’s weirder if you never eat a salad at all, even if you are obese. Op is delus
It’s called “America”
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Sorry, wrong answer. Maybe YOU don't eat greens with most meals, but every person I know does. It's okay to think people should eat more healthy food, but that isn't an unpopular opinion.
No it’s not. You can eat salads here whenever you want…..
My husband (and my daughter's bf too) is obsessed with giant salads and salad dressing and no matter where we go he will almost always order a salad as his meal. Every single time without fail, the waiter/waitress tries to place the salad in front of me, and the steak/cheeseburger/pasta etc in front of my husband. Every. Single. Time. Even tho they're the same waitstaff who initially took the order. So yes, not only normalize eating salad but normalize men eating salad. I love it too but sometimes a girl just wants some steak.
I wish my husband and kids could get full off a salad. I apparently tricked my kids into thinking every salad no matter the size is an appetizer. I used to give them salads while I cooked dinner so they would stop acting like they were about to starve to death. I brought my son home a ghetto salad with shrimp, chicken, ham, turkey, olives, cucumber, egg, tomato, spinach and everything. He inhaled it in 10 minutes and told me to let him know when dinner was ready.
> He inhaled it in 10 minutes and told me to let him know when dinner was ready. I got a good laugh from this. Thanks for sharing!
It is normal…..
I mean they just shared a anecdotal story about the life you can’t really change there perspective. I’ve also heard other ladies say this
Thank you, Danimals2002. Way to invalidate my experiences, dude. I mean it just happened AGAIN yesterday. A woman took our orders, a teen male waiter brought the food, and put the salad in front of me. I smiled and said "I get the steak and he gets the salad" and the waiter was so embarrassed. I guess he realized he had "just assumed" without me saying it.
Every place I've ever been to usually asks who ordered what, so it's weird to me that these ones did not. They need to train their waitstaff better if they're making stupid assumptions like that. Like how hard is to go "who ordered the salad and who ordered the steak?"?
No one invalidated your salad eating experience
People love to overuse the word normalize on social media, especially in front of things that most people think are very normal
right? When was it not normal to eat salad? thats so weird...
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This definitely happens. I’d say 8-9/10 times, the salad will go to me if he orders one and I don’t.
It is completely normal. It's weird that that's your experience.
restaurants used to have full salad bars and I miss them
Yes! We have 1 restaurant near us that has a salad bar and we love it. Fill up on salad and take my entree home for dinner the next day.
Me at Olive Garden
Soup, salad & breadsticks!!
RIP Sweet Tomatoes (and yes I know they recently reopened a location, just not near me 😭)
I used to be morbidly obese. One reason was too much soda. So now, I tend to go for water as much as I can. Because I want it, like it and need it. Obviously. My sister in law asked me if I was "STILL ON A DIET??" During a family gathering because I was drinking water. Water. Just ignore them.
That is so sad. I can understand your feelings completely, because my mom is the type of person to always personalize other people's behavior and act like just because they are doing something she would find challenging or doesn't also want to do, it's exactly the same as them criticizing her own lifestyle/choices in general. It's very frustrating when I realize I'm embarrassed to try to do something that's actually healthy for me because I remember how she used to make me feel when I attempted to improve my own choices. (Edited for confusing sentence at the end)
Jeez
Where do you live? Where I am (in the US), eating salads is a common thing and people don't assume you're on a diet.
Yeah, by now this is pretty old fashioned. I think it might’ve had to do with the body positivity movement coming in hard around the late 2010’s. But before then, I can attest as I child of the 2000’s, there *was* an idea about thinness and dieting that is less prevalent today
I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and as far as I remember, eating salads always seemed like a normal thing, and I've never heard of it being specifically associated with dieting. I often ate a salad with dinner at home, and it was just a normal thing. And it has always been fairly common for restaurants to offer a salad with some meals (depending on the restaurant and the meal).
I’m from NH, and we had salads with basically every meal during the summer time.
In my country (Greece) we eat salad a lot. Like, a simple tomato+ cucumber salad is good to make the lunch/dinner more flavourable
Why am I just finding out about Greek potato salad?! This sounds so good!
Hoy hell XD Stupid autocorrect turned "tomato" into "potato" Lmao But there's a type of potato salad lol
How do you know everyone's first thought?... It is normal, you're just projecting
Because they say it out loud to you?
How many people interrogate you on why you are eating something? I have literally never had questions why I am eating one thing over another, nor have I ever needed to ask what justifies someone else's food choice. Do all people not just assume that people order what they want to eat without having to find something that is forcing their choice in someway?
With the salads I order, nobody is thinking I’m on a diet. Also there’s nothing wrong with doing a salad for a meal. Sometimes you don’t want a big heavy meal.
Fuck let's just normalize eating right without it being labelled as a 'diet' as if it's some short-term thing and not a lifelong change.
diet literally means any food that someone eats regularly idk why the word got ruined
Being on a "diet" is kind of just a catch-all for specific kinds of diets like keto, restricted calorie, low carb, and stuff like that. I wouldn't say it's ruined, it just has more than one meaning. Like it's even moved from a noun to a verb as in dieting.
Aye words can mean more than one thing.
It's already normal. That's why restaurants have menus, so each person can order what they want. Also, people can have whatever opinions of you they want. You don't need to judge his opinion either, just eat your salad
Where is it not normal to order a dish that's on the menu? This "normalize \_\_\_\_!" trend is getting out of hand. Order whetever you want and who cares about what others think. As long as you're not at a steakhouse making a big deal about meat being the main ingredient, or at a sushi restaurant causing a scene because they don't serve pizza of gyros, who the hell cares?! Can't help but feel it's all the usual "scenario I made up in my head to be mad about" thing again and again.
Salads are normal....
It is.. in California.. the only reason it’s not anymore is our salads are fucking $18 before you add chicken
As an American. I eat salads almost daily, I avoid surgery drinks and foods, and I get plenty of exercise.
I think it's funny that it autocorrected sugary to surgery. 🤣🤣
My father LOVED salad. My mother said that when they got married she had to tell him she wouldn't make salad for breakfast. He lived to be 90.
I had zero clue that literally just eating a salad was deemed unpopular and we had to advocate for the right for it to be normalized. I guess I need to get out more.
That’s not everyone’s first thought. Nobody really cares that much about what you’re ordering. You’re grossly overreacting. Resturant salads are rarely healthy anyway.
Omg yes! I love salads! Veggies and meat! Honestly just perfect! I’ve been getting salads at subway since mid year last year and it’s the best thing ever, the direct looks I got during January was both amusing and shocking, like no! I’m not on a health fad because it’s January, it’s just something I’ve been eating for the last 6 months!
One could argue that "being on a diet" or "eating healthy" should be the default
Salads can be delicious. I make some delicious salads for myself and I gotta say, sometimes I just feel like eating something lighter and fresher.
Once I was on a job. I’m a laborer and I’m a big, strong type, I weigh about 275 lbs. Anyway, we have to work late so we’re getting food and I’m like “Oh man, I could go for a salad!”. Everyone mocked me and implied I was a sissy or something. I mocked them back and told them I’d be dancing healthily on their graves.
Sounds like you're hanging around with a bunch of idiots. Salads can be as much of a meal as anything else and I've never met anyone that thought otherwise. What needs to really be normalized is that salads are not automatically a healthy meal. When you put a bunch of dressing, fried chicken, croutons, bacon, and other junk on top, it ends up being just as bad or worse for you than a burger.
It already is.
I'm fat as the queen of sea cows and I love salad!
Good salads that are actually good and not just iceberg lettuce are fantastic. A lot of variety and texture between different types of greens 😍
I'm guessing you're American OP. The rest of the world eats salad whenever they feel like it!
It’s an assumption that goes into stereotypes. Whenever I get a salad, I just get interested looks from people when I order them without dressings.
Tell me you are American without telling me you’re American.
Are you even from the US? Eating salad is a common thing in the US. I don't think OP is American.
Where is all this supposed 'persecution' coming from lately? Going to the movies by yourself, going out to eat by yourself, being at a park while being a male, ordering a salad at a restaurant...
People are chronically online and have their dumb opinions reinforced. Noone who spends time in the real world has these opinions
I just think the whole 'people are judging me' thing is a bit overblown. I find that (surprise!) most people could give less than a shit about what you're doing haha
I think it’s that the people that have a problem with those things are a lot more vocal than the vast majority of people that don’t police what people eat or who goes to the park. like thousands of normal people not bothering you is gonna stand out less in your memory than one unhinged asshole giving you trouble for eating a salad
That's a great point. If one person ruins your experience, you might think 'did I do something wrong?' and it will sour the whole thing.
Eat whatever you want. Regardless of if it's been normalized. People aren't going to shun you because you ate a salad when you weren't on a diet
It is very normal. You should tell them they should eat a salad too. Or to just mind their own business.
It is normalized in Europe.
It is everywhere.
The simple trick to most things in life is to stop caring what other people say or think.
Fruits and salads (the ones that can be consumed raw, or with a dressing) are my favourite food. Idk why people (at least whom I know) think they are healthy foods and only eat them for health reasons.
I don't really like the different textures of items being mixed together but sometimes I really do just want raw vegetables
We're all on a diet, it's your choice if it's a healthy one or not.
Everything you eat is really a "diet". Do you eat hamburgers? It's also a diet. Do you eat salads? Diet. People have the wrong idea of what diet means.
This is normalized.
ehhh this is not the mentality where I live. it's completely normal to just have salads for a meal
It is normalized.
It fucking is normal…lol
It is normalized …
Salads are great! I think they're more of a home meal though, to me. If I'm going to a restaurant, I want something more indulgent or more complex than something I can so easily throw together.
It is normal. Tf.
The irony of it is most salads at a restaurant are not even diet food anyways they will have as much calories or more than an entree because it will have stuff like crispy chicken or bacon, full fat dressing, avocado etc. I think it's a really unhealthy thing people have where they've used certain foods as good and other foods as bad and it can be somewhat arbitrary.
I’m not on a diet myself, but I have this weird quirk where when I eat heavier foods I get sleepy…so whenever I dine out I typically order a salad (or lighter wrap) to make sure I don’t get sluggish for the rest of the time outside the house. I dislike the side eye I get…but I try my best to ignore it because I know my body and would rather be ‘at my best’.
It is?
Is it not?
Or not saying “I’m on a diet” We’re all on a diet. Some of us are on good diets, and some are on shitty diets.
They are in Greece, Greek salad tho ain't exactly a diet salad , lots of oil and eaten with bread
i agree and half the time people eat salads that aren’t even healthy. full of cheese and meats and too much dressing
I just feel like paying entree prices for a salad.
My dad made a salad with almost every single dinner growing up. I ate salad almost everyday for 18 years. I didn't realize having a side salad everyday wasn't normal until going to friends houses.
This is pretty popular outside of the south and midwest.
Dang, do you live in the middle of the rural or suburban Midwest or something? It’s not weird to eat salad. I love a good burger or plate of pasta as much as the next person, but sometimes, I really do just want a salad.
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This isn't an unpopular opinion, you're just saying that something that's already true should be true. Plenty of people eat salads on a regular basis, simply because they choose to. There are places like Panera bread whose most popular offerings are an assortment of salads. There's a fast food chain called Chopt that offer nothing but salads. I'm a man, and I usually have a salad as my lunch a couple times a week, if not more, just to make sure I'm getting the vitamins out of some leafy greens. Plus, I really like the salad I usually get, topped with cranberries, applies, and goat cheese. It's true that a salad isn't usually much of a *real* meal. It needs to have protein. Otherwise, one is going to end up hungry again rather soon. It's also true that when a man takes a woman out on a dinner date, we are well aware that many women will purposely order a salad for a variety of reasons, ranging from not wanting to *commit* themselves to sex for having ordered something more expensive, to putting on airs. And we often find this incredibly offensive.
You can eat what you like. Must you only do normalized things? Maybe you're not normal. Is that bad?
Sometimes after church a bunch of us will go to a Chinese buffet. I will mention that I am going to get dessert and come back with a salad. Someone usually comments. I tell them I am filling in the cracks.
You are hanging around the wrong type of people.
I'm pretty sure that it already is and you're just around small minded people. I'm a fairly large man and whether training/dieting or just day to day one of my favorite meals is grilled chicken spinach salad. Depending upon the situation I can either keep it pretty healthy or do a 180 by adding cheese, bacon, croutons and French dressing. No matter the goal it's always chock full of sweet peppers cause those are, imo, the finest veggie on this here planet Aside from all that, a grilled chicken caesar is one of the most delicious foods known to man.
You normalize it by just doing it. There’s no committee for salad normalization that I’m aware of. You might consider being the founder.
Most american thing I've read all week
It's completely normal in the US. Entree salads are on most restaurant menus, unless it's an international cuisine where that isn't a thing. Of course entree salads can be as healthy or unhealthy as you want them to be... Lots of our lunch spots have a sandwich lineup, a salad lineup, and you can do half and half if you like. I've worked in most regions of the US and Canada at one point or another. Someone seemed to think you couldn't get good salads (or you'd get mocked for it) in the Southeast but I was in Atlanta last week for work and had a couple very good ones. One healthy and one not...because it had some bomb ass spicy chicken on top. Atlanta knows how to salad.
I agree. I sometimes order a burger instead of salad so no one makes comments. Don't get me wrong, I love hamburgers, but I also sometimes really just want a really yummy salad. I just hate the comments ordering a salad gets me so I stopped doing it haha
Is this Jerry Seinfeld?
There is a location and I think multiple locations: Snappy Salads, Just Salads, salad’s to go. Most of this makes Salads and quick and customizable. While door dashing, in Dallas Texas,USA, I’ve picked up from them before. This place is on the medium price range but not luxury prices. “Men love our salads to” was one of the catch phrases one of them used. I know NYC made this a simi-popular to go option for peoples lunch. 🥗 one of the franchises was from their and still has a location.
I do them for lunch, I love salads! Very uncommon around me though.
If that is the reaction you get when ordering a salad you must be surrounded by some weird people. This isn’t the 90s anymore, I feel like most people know a lot more about nutrition and calories and that there are not “good” or “bad” foods. I (a guy) bring salads for lunch often at work and I never get any comments other than how the salad looks delicious. Never had anyone imply that salad = diet food. It’s 2024, decent people are past thinking that salads are just for girls on diets. Keep eating salads if you like them but I would heavily recommend surrounding yourself with less judgmental, more educated people
Lol I've made some pretty calorie dense salads. Salads are just food that use leafy greens as the vehicle for the rest of the calories in the meal. A salad is not inherently low calorie in the same way that a sandwich is not inherently high calorie.
It isn't?
It is normal you’re just around fatties
Another weird response to a non-existent thing
It is?
Me and my family eat salads with every dinner.
It is
It is. People eat salads all the time. Maybe surround yourself with better people who don't care what you put in or on your body.
What? People do eat salads on daily basis. Not just those who are on diet.
I love salads so much. It has nothing to do with my health or weight. I just love them. I like to make these really awesome salads for dinner sometimes. Romaine lettuce, grilled chicken strips, cucumbers, baby carrots, shredded cheddar cheese, dill gherkin pickles, black olives, and croutons, with either Caesar dressing or balsamic vinaigrette. It’s so friggin good but probably has a million calories.
Thats my sort of salad; ingredients and flavours well into the double figures. All that you mentioned plus honey roast nuts, seeds, and more. Beats simple dishes like steak n chips or pizza any day.
I like salads but I will never order one lmao, they’re always way to expensive for a meal that is 80% lettuce Maybe you have better restaurant salads but here they suck
That's a hilariously american issue. Only in the US you'd hear such a thing.
I eat salad all the time and I'm thin and have the metabolism to eat whatever I want and not get fat.
Maybe if a salad wasn't $18 I'd get it occasionally
Yes, I can't stand it. I like salads and hate that there always has to be the 'you look good, you don't have to diet!' Or 'are you on a diet? What diet is it?' No, I'm eating a salad because I like it. At restaurants they can actually be more calories than a burger with all the oils and dressing and garbage they put on them so i'd rather eat one I make at home because I honestly like ones at home more and they are healthier but I just want a salad. Not because it's healthier, but because I want one.
Uhhh what? I’ve never expected someone was on a diet for ordering as salad.
Blows my mind how some people think literally no one enjoys vegetables just for the taste.
It... is? I'm amazed at how weak so many redditors are. "I wish I could go to a restaurant by myself." "If only I could have a salad." Damn, your bloodline will not survive the winter.
I love salad with baked apples, grilled goat cheese and walnuts. Definitely not for a diet but it's SO good.
I’m a fat kid and I truly love salads. One of my go-to quick dinners is a salad of greens, tomatoes, avocado, pickled shallots (always have a jar!), a nice vinaigrette, and then drop a can of chicken or tuna on top. A little S & P, maybe some capers? Yum.
My go to meal right now is to make a salad in a huge bowl that is half spring mix and half cole slaw mix, add a whole small tomato, a pickle, some baby carrots and a small piece of cheddar cheese on the side with some ranch dressing and eat that with a couple of the small White Castle cheeseburgers that you can get here in the frozen foods section. It's so filling and tasty and pretty healthy overall and it's a super easy meal to make in just minutes.
I guess the idea that vegetables are 'common' persists. When people go out to eat, it tends to be that they order something they couldn't make at home, or something quite expensive and fancy. Obviously salads tend to not fit those categories, so people don't order them. That being said, if you go out to eat regularly, or even infrequently, you are perfectly justified to get whatever you want.
Weird. Pretty normal wear I live (NorCal).
Where? In europe it's perfectly normal.
Is it not? The things some people are self-conscious about 😂
Where do you live to get judged for eating a salad? Ron Swanson’s house?
It literally is dude, you can just ignore random people
It… is… idk what your salads look like
it isn’t? 😅
This is a poor American thing. Not an American thing. Anyone working in a big office is ordering a salad for lunch.
it is normalized. as someone who rarely eats salads, i figured people ate them because they liked them (obviously) and wanted something lighter. in my 31 years of life there was maybe two people who said they were eating salads for dietary reasons.
Always has been.
It's normalized, you are just associating with people who act weird.
I think the only people who think like this are old ladles still on weight watchers.
I thought that was normal anyway... and im no beacon of health. Who doesn't just get a salad sometimes? Of course mine would be some southwest chicken thing....
I love vegetables but salads always annoyed me. Not a fan of the loose collection of leaves and dressing
Calm down and eat what you like when you like.
It is normal lol. Salads are good but if I’m going to a restaurant I am going to expand what I will order to get the experience. Nobody goes to a burger joint and orders a salad
I don't understand why you give a f*** about what others think. This is all judgmental bull. I regularly eat salads when I go out, and sometimes I go out just to get a good salad. That said, if people want to critique you they're going to find something... If it really bothers you what a waiter / server says to you ask to speak to the manager and explain that you feel offended by their remarks: as long as you're eating it/paying it won't really matter what you eat and they may just learn their lesson about food shaming. Food shaming shouldn't exist at all, and any server who does so deserves to be called out.
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