Is your salad making you fat?

By Colleen Rush

"I'm having a salad." It's amazing how these four simple words can make you feel so virtuous. But whether you choose a vinaigrette that's loaded with oil or add an overly generous sprinkling of honey-toasted nuts, it's easy to pile on extra fat and calories without realizing it, says Joan Salge Blake, RD, clinical assistant professor at Boston University and author of Nutrition and You.

In fact, a restaurant salad with dressing can have as many as 1,000 calories. With Blake's help, we've remade a few popular salads, which also happen to be favorites of three Health editors. Find out how to lighten up your greens too.

Health.com: 8 salads that satisfy

Colleen Sullivan, beauty and fashion editor, loves Cobb salad: mixed salad greens, chicken, tomatoes, avocado, bacon, blue-cheese crumbles, and blue-cheese dressing.

Colleen likes the contrasts in a classic Cobb-creamy, crunchy, tangy, and smoky-all in one meal. But it comes at a cost: The salad is superhigh in fat, calories, and sodium. Here's how we lightened it and still kept the flavor.

Bacon
Order 1 ½ tablespoons (that's two slices, or half the usual amount) and use your fork to spread it around your salad, so you get more of the savory, smoky flavor. You save: 115 calories, 9 g fat.

Avocado
Get 3 tablespoons (half the normal serving) and cut it into smaller chunks, so you get a creamy piece in every bite. You save: 67 calories, 6 g fat.

Health.com: 8 avocado recipes (besides guacamole)

Blue-cheese crumbles
Skip them-you'll still get great flavor from the dressing. "Most people don't realize how high in saturated fat cheese is," Blake says. "If your salad is covered in cheese, you're not doing yourself any favors." You save: 150 calories, 12 g fat.

Blue-cheese dressing
Use 2 tablespoons, which is half the usual amount of dressing, and you'll still get the piquant taste of blue cheese throughout the salad. You save: 140 calories, 14 g fat.

Mixed salad greens
Ask for extra lettuce to bulk up the salad. You'll be satisfied on a psychological level if the bowl looks full, Blake says. Plus, because lettuce has fiber and water, it fills you up without filling you out. You add: 8 calories, 0 g fat.

Ellen Kunes, editor in chief, loves spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette: spinach, roasted mushrooms, roasted onions, chickpeas, bacon, croutons, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Health.com: Make your own salad dressing

Ellen's salad has a lot going for it. Of our three, it has the least calories and fat, and the fiber-loaded chickpeas are filling without tons of calories. There are two glitches: oily vinaigrette and salty bacon. A few changes can make this salad healthier.

Balsamic vinaigrette
Try straight balsamic vinegar; the oiliness of the roasted veggies will balance the tartness of your simple dressing. Most people think vinaigrette is automatically low-fat, but the classic version is about 75 percent oil. You save: 210 calories, 28 g fat.

Croutons
Add a few more plain (read: not oily or cheesy) toasted croutons to keep the crunch factor up after cutting the bacon. You add: about 14 calories, 0.4 g fat.

Roasted mushrooms
Throw in extra mushrooms; their meaty quality will make up for cutting some of the bacon. You add: 5 calories, 0 g fat.

Health.com: 5 tasty meals with mushrooms

Bacon
Ask for a sprinkling of about 2 teaspoons; that's all you need to get that distinctive flavor and crunch without a whole slew of calories. You save: 173 calories, 13 g fat.

Roasted onions
Order extra onions on the salad for a smoky flavor and minimal calories and fat; caramelized onions add a little sweetness too. You add: about 19 calories, 2 g fat.

Lisa Lombardi, executive editor, loves apple-walnut salad with honey-balsamic vinaigrette: romaine lettuce, apples, walnuts, chicken, dried cranberries, goat-cheese crumbles, and honey-balsamic vinaigrette.

Lisa can't resist this sweet, rich salad, which gets most of its calories from walnuts, dressing, and cheese. To cut back, use one of our tricks: Swap the fruit-using fresh instead of dried helps you feel satisfied with fewer calories. Here's how to transform this lunch.

Goat-cheese crumbles
Order 1 tablespoon of cheese (that's a third of the usual amount put on this salad), and you'll still have plenty to go around-just toss it in well before you eat. You save: 76 calories, 7 g fat.

Health.com: What can you make with goat cheese?

Honey-balsamic vinaigrette
Choose fat-free honey Dijon or a similar dressing. You save: 160 calories, 21 g fat.

Dried cranberries
Ask for grapes instead. Dried fruit can inflate a salad's calories because it's not as filling as the fresh kind. By adding fresh fruit to your salad, you'll cut the calories and keep the sweetness. You save: 31 calories, 0 g fat.

Walnuts
Get just a few walnut halves (about 6) instead of the usual ladleful; you'll end up with a third of the usual calories. The heart-healthy fat in nuts help you feel full, but a small bit will do the trick. You save: 154 calories, 14 g fat.

Health.com: 8 heart-healthy nuts

*Nutritional analysis is based on typical meal-size salads at chain restaurants.