•Salad can increase hydration level. Marie Ange Kayitare who owns a salad and juice bar says most veggies mostly contain water and naturally hydrate one’s body. “Despite the fact that we know we’re supposed to drink a lot of water many people still don’t get enough, making consumption of moisture-rich foods a way to add hydration to your system,” she says. •Raw foods in salads mean no loss of vitamins and minerals due to cooking. When you’re eating uncooked foods you’re giving your body a shot at the maximum vitamins and nutrients available in many foods. It’s a rare food that remains unchanged by cooking - only certain very stable nutrients don’t degrade or migrate out of foods when they’re heated. •Fiber in vegetables and fruits used for salads cleans the intestines and colon, making nutrient absorption more efficient. If your intestines are gummed up with gooey, fiber-free, processed foods, they aren’t going to be properly absorbing nutrition. Almost every ingredient in a salad contributes fiber that sweeps through the digestive system, carrying leftover filth with it and leaving intestinal and colon walls free to absorb all the virtuous vitamins you’re eating every day. What good is a nutrient if it never really gets into you? Not much. •Use of quality oils in salad dressings can improve absorption of nutrients and provide moisturising, anti-inflammatory omega fatty acids that benefit the skin. Salad offers the opportunity for culinary use of oils not generally suited for cooking like hemp seed oil, walnut oil, and pumpkin seed oil. The oils most packed with polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega fatty acids) are the ones you can’t heat because heat makes them oxidize, so cold applications are the best way to get their anti-inflammatory health benefits and delicious flavour. Organic sunflower and olive oils are fine general purpose choices as well if you don’t have specialty oils on hand. •Nutrients in salad help synthesise collagen, provide natural sun protective effects, protect against wrinkling and sagging of skin, can improve dark under eye circles, and make skin smoother. Let’s talk about some of the individual nutrients you get when eating exciting and varied salads. There’s a lot, and their benefits are well substantiated by peer reviewed science!
