You never put it in your salads … and yet it helps to lose weight!

Because June is synonymous with freshness and lightness, salads appear as the ideal meal. Remounty and tasty, they accumulate good points and relieve us, as a bonus, a few too accumulated pounds during winter. But so that this meal is not synonymous with frustration – or cravings – Sara Haas, dietician, reveals the key ingredient to integrate into your salads.

A simple protein can make the difference in your salad

The salad is often associated with a (very) light, or even little gourmet dish. Synonymous with deprivation, it is conceived as a large bowl of green lettuce, without sauce or crisp. However, a simple ingredient can make the difference on your plate, according to an expert.

“”Many people focus on what they think cannot eat, which generates frustration and failure “explains Sara Haas to the media Eating Well.

While in reality, said salad can be colorful, nourishing, easy to prepare and above all complete. The nutritionist thus advocates integrating proteins with each meal and in particular in her favorite recipe composed of grilled chicken, lettuce, zucchini and tomatoes.

Good news: to reproduce this salad at home, nothing could be simpler: you just have to buy the following ingredients and mix them all together.

Ingredients (for 4 people)

• 1 small red onion;
• 5 tbsp. red wine vinegar;
• 2 medium, grated garlic cloves;
• 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard;
• 1 tsp. salt and a half of salt;
• 250 ml of grape seed oil, more a little for grill;
• 1/2 tbsp. paprika;
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into slices lengthwise;
• 1 small yellow pepper, cut into strips;
• 2 hearts of Roman lettuce, cut in half;
• 3 chicken breasts (approx. 225 g), boned and skinless;
• 1 sachet (140 g) of young spinach shoots;
• 2 small tomatoes, cut into quarters.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven in Grill mode at 200-230 ° C.
   Cut the onion into quarters and thin strips. Marinate the strips in 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
2. In a bowl, whisk the garlic, mustard, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, then add the oil in a vinaigrette. Book 60 ml.
3. Add paprika to the rest of the vinaigrette. Mix the zucchini, peppers, onion quarters and lettuce with 120 ml of vinaigrette.
4. Put the chicken breasts in the bowl with the remaining vinaigrette, salt.
5. Oil the grid and grill the lettuce 1-2 min, the vegetables 6 min and the chicken 8-10 min.
6. Let the chicken rest for 5 min, slice it. Cut the vegetables into pieces.
7. Mix the lettuce with the spinach and the reserved vinaigrette. In a dish, add the chicken, grilled vegetables, tomatoes and marinated onions. It’s ready!

What does our expert think of this dish?

Alexandra Murcier, dietitian-nutritionist is rather convinced by the recipe.

“Proteins create satiety and help maintain our muscle capital, which itself supports our basic metabolism. They are also essential for the proper functioning of our hormonal system, which itself has a strong impact on our ability to lose weight”, she says.

To lose weight, but also for our overall health, it would therefore be necessary to integrate proteins with each meal, – which does not mean integrating meat with each meal. “Ideally it would be necessary to target a ratio of 50 % animal protein and 50 % vegetable proteins, for our health and for ecology”, still specifies the expert.

For my part, my favorite food to integrate into a salad is the egg: “It is an excellent source of protein, versatile and economical, source of vitamin D and choline, in short, it is a super food”, concludes Alexandra Murcier.