The Looney Foodie is a man of many talents and interests, and he spends a lot of time, at this time, in New York City.
Now, Looney Foodie’s wife is an amazing cook. She can make anything just by tasting it and then backwards engineering the closely held recipe in question. She did that with his mother’s spedine recipe so this is a fact.
This brings us to salads at lunch. If the Looney Foodie ate regular lunches, his weight goes completely out of control (from it’s normal regular out of control) when that mixes with Mrs. Foodie’s amazing dinner concoctions.
Any kind of food in NYC is expensive. The rents are expensive and everyone has to make that up. There are the halal lunch cart guys, and I will get to them later since I have lots of experience with that crowd too, although not lately. They can be very reasonable but it’s high calorie fare and not the focus of this lean article.
Salad is the Root of Dietary Good
You can go wrong with a salad if you load it up with fattening things like meats, too much oil, or other questionable additions.
But, that’s all your personal choice.
This is the the New York City build your own salad generally works. Some places spell it out for you and others let you wing it.
Okay, let’s go.
In New York City, there are many lunch cafes. Some have sandwich counters and salad counters, while others also have pizza counters, buffet counters, and dessert counters. Some are like all I just mentioned, and then mix that with general grocery sections and open chilled wall areas that sell cool beverages from yogurt drinks, to soda, and beer. Wine bottles can also be sold in these places. It really is a wonderful mix.
Now, most corporate types won’t be drinking a can of beer with lunch or cracking open a bottle of wine. I usually opt for nothing since I take the goods back to my desk and drink the free filtered water. The Looney Foodie is also learning to be frugal. Hey, frugal foodie… THAT sounds like a great site name. But, I digress.
At the salad counter there are usually these little plastic tubs that are about half filled with either romaine lettuce, mixed green lettuces, or spinach. Sometimes there are two sizes, but most time it’s the one smaller size. If there are two sizes, they are obviously priced differently.
You take the salad that you want and hand it to the salad guy behind the counter. You usually have a choice of one meat based item (which you can usually substitute with egg or something, then you might choose one from a second list of cheeses like fresh mozzarella or feta or bleu, and then there is a general list of other things and you pick about 4 from that. This list has things like broccoli and other vegetables, cold beans like kidney and garbanzo, and pickled items like hot peppers or olives. You get the drift.
Then the salad man asks for your dressing and if you want salt and/or pepper on it. You can choose from olive oil or other dressing (or no dressing). He puts it together, you take it and pay for t at the counter, and there you go. Simple and delicious New York City Salad for lunch.
Compare this to things like McDonalds, Popeye, Pizza, Hot Dogs, etc… and you see what I mean that this is the best route to go for a lighter lunch that won’t weigh you down and leaves you able to eat dinner relatively guilt free.
What if You Cant find the Salad Deli?
Well, then look for a Subway.
No, not the underground train, although if you’re in NYC then you’ll be searching for that kind soon enough.
Granted, it contains BREAD, which will drive you paleo people crazy, but you can have the Subway Veggie Delight which is just a salad sandwich. It’s still WAY better than those other fast food items.
This brings us to the other why…
It’s not just about less calories than the other fattening lunch fare.
Even a fat ass like the Looney Foodie knows that he won’t get skinny just eating salads for lunch, but hey, it helps to not get any fatter by doing that.
Salad is Healthy
Listen, lettuce and vegetable based salads are healthy.
You get live green food that is fresh and full of vitamins, fiber and living energy.
You add some items like beans and cruciferous vegetables to it and you get more good in the form of fiber, antioxidants, and what have you.
If you are able to add seeds to them, you get more minerals and fiber, and healthy fatty acids.
The best part is that for at least one meal, you aren’t putting fried, dead, denatured food into your body.
THAT alone is worth the price of admission.
Do salad more.
Do salad at lunch more frequently, or better yet, ALWAYS.
Your body will be better off for it one way or the other.
The Looney Foodie wouldn’t steer ya wrong!
