You say Q? I say A!

I get a lot of questions from my clients (and perspective ones). And to make things a little easier for you, as of today I’m starting a new blog category: Q&A

This is where you have the opportunity to have your questions about nutrition, health and wellness answered by me. Completely for free. Now, how awesome is that?!

Although this is definitely not a cooking blog, doing what I do makes it difficult to entirely stay away from recipes and how to make food. Today’s question comes from Trudi from Munich, Germany. She writes:

“Hello Hanna, 
I am loooving this summer heat and I am wondering if you can give me any tips as to what to eat that will be light, cold but give me enough energy to get through my desk-work! I feel as though the green salads I am eating are simply not enough.”

Trudi – let me tell you one thing, you’re not alone! Many people lack the imagination of what to put in their salads to make them longer-lasting, more filling, well, generally a bit chunkier.

And: a green salad is definitely not enough to last you for a whole afternoon! Although there are very many great vitamins, minerals and antioxidants etc in your green salad (depending on what leafs you choose, of course), it’s composed mainly by water. Yes, even if there’s cucumber and tomatoes in your salad, it doesn’t add much satiety to your meal.

What you should go for instead is a great protein source. Be it chicken, salmon, tuna, left over meat from yesterdays dinner, beans, eggs, hummus (you’ll find my truly yummy recipe if you just enter your name and email in the bar above) – it’s completely up to you and your tastes and preferences. Also add some nuts to your salad to get more protein as well as some very valuable fatty acids.

Speaking of which, you also need to add fat. And no, the ready made yoghurt:y chemical crap storm you get ready made from the grocery store doesn’t count. Sadly. We’re talking great fat here, avocado, feta cheese, flax seeds, make a dressing with olive oil, olives, or those nuts you just added.

If you’re a carb-lover (who isn’t, really?), I would suggest to add some boiled quinoa to give your salad that extra bit of stamina. Although there may already be enough carbs in the salad itself, depending on which vegetables you’ve chosen for it. Or, even better, skip the quinoa and have a piece of fruit for dessert. Yummy and full of goodness for you!

That was the theoretical part. Now for some awesome, nutritious and filling summer salads.

But: first off, in terms of salad dressings, I tend to go for very simple ones. I prefer vinaigrettes on olive oil, some vinegar or lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and other spices. Simple, and you know what you get (in comparison to store bought versions with not-even-god-knows-what added to them).

Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

1 pack asparagus

200 g strawberries

parsley (can be excluded, or substituted by another herb)

Olive (or avocado) oil

Lemon

Boil or fry the asparagus and cut them into smaller pieces. Cut the strawberries into quarters.

Mix with parsley, oil and some lemon juice. And all you need to do is to add some protein of choice (see above).

Fennel Salad

100 g fennel

juice from ¼ lemon

oil from nuts

100 g fresh peas

10 g walnuts

50 g strawberries

50 g mixed salad

Peel the fennel with a potato peeler or a cheese grater, mix it with the lemon juice, salt, pepper and oil.

Mix  the peas with the walnuts, strawberries and the salad. Put the two mixes together. Add some protein. ENJOY! 

Ps. These are also awesome to take along to work. It just requires a little more planning on your part.

Ps2. If you follow me on Instagram, I often post food and salad inspiration there!

Ps3. Here’s the link to Jamie’s Beetroot Salad!