The lettuce and vegetable ingredients in salads are low in fat, it is the salad dressing and the garnishes that you have to look out for. One to two tablespoons of caesar salad dressing can add up to as much as 15 grams of fat. Also beware of garnishes on salads such as nuts and cheese. A mere ¼ cup of cashews, peanuts or almonds has approximately 20 grams of fat and a slim 1oz of cheese has approximately 8 grams of fat. A low-fat alternative would be to request a vinaigrette dressing(without the oil) with some lemon wedges or you can request the dressing on the side so you are able to limit the quantity. Not all sushi is high in fat, however the popular California Roll contains mayonnaise and avocado, which are both extremely high in fat. One tablespoon of mayo has approximately 11 grams of fat and an avocado has an incredible 30 grams of fat! The healthy version of the California Roll is to replace the avocado with cucumber and reduce or delete the mayo altogether.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800