Salad Bar Strategy: How to Beat the Salad Bar Game and Come Away Both Satisfied and Healthy

Just because you're going up to the salad bar and eschewing the fatty meals at a restaurant is no certain guarantee of dietary success. There is, in fact, a salad bar plan of attack that should be followed to make sure you leave the restaurant having taken in fewer calories and less fat than your friend who ordered the big, juicy steak.

Tip Number 1

Don't be a lemming! Just because everybody else is starting at one end and making their way down the salad bar doesn't mean you have to. To truly take advantage of a nice salad bar-the kind with at least thirty different items from to which choose-is to approach the bar as if you were a spy. The food isn't your enemy, of course; the restaurant is. The restaurant has spent a lot of money figuring out how best to utilize its salad bar as a means for profit. The idea is to get you to fill up on the food that costs them the least. But the food that costs them the least may not be the healthiest or even the tastiest. Approach the salad bar carefully and take your time. Survey all the offerings. If it's a buffet style restaurant like the Golden Corral this could take some time, but it's worth it.