Imagine you’ve been eating salad all wrong your whole life! Yes, you read that right. Most of us eat salad as a side dish, a refreshing add-on after the main course, but nutritionists are now saying: that’s a total fail! Salad should be the first thing you eat, while your stomach is still empty. Why? Because your body then better absorbs nutrients from raw vegetables and helps control your appetite.
In South Tyrol, a northern region of Italy, salad is traditionally served as the first course before the main dish. And it’s no coincidence! Nutritionists like Jessie Inchauspé, known as the “glucose goddess,” explain that eating salad before proteins and carbohydrates helps smooth out blood glucose spikes. This means you’ll have a more stable energy level and less craving for sweets after your meal.
The fiber in salad coats the stomach walls and slows sugar absorption, helping maintain energy and reducing hunger. Also, salad before a meal slows stomach emptying, allowing better absorption of vitamins and minerals in the small intestine. Nutritionist Keri Glassman confirms that eating salad before the main course helps regulate appetite and encourages more mindful eating.
Just imagine: if you start your meal with salad, you’re likely to eat less heavy food because your stomach will already be partly filled with healthy, low-calorie food. This isn’t just a weight loss trick; it’s a way for your body to better utilize the nutrients from the food you eat.
So next time you sit down to eat, forget about salad at the end. Start with it and watch how your appetite changes and your energy stabilizes. Your body will thank you, and you might be surprised how much less food you actually need. And if you haven’t tried it yet, give it a shot and tell us how it goes – maybe it’s time for all of us to change our habits and stop making salad just a boring side!
And if this sounds like some new trick, remember that nutritionists worldwide are increasingly recommending this exact order. Who would’ve thought the secret to a healthy meal is simply starting with salad? Come on, share your experience or tell a funny story about how you’ve been eating salad so far – maybe together we’ll uncover even more secrets to a healthy life!
