Postworkout Salad with Garlic...and Blueberries?

Guys. Guys, a new kickboxing gym opened up right by my house and they have a freebee session for your first go. =^.^=
Oh gosh. It was amazing. So, I made a postworkout salad to match and made sure I gave my body the nutrients it needed after an awesome butt-kicking session.
Also, at the end, I'll show you a nutritional comparison between this salad and a salad that my mom bought at Panera, a local cafe chain.

It's su-pah easy to make and even easier to gobble up like a turkey, without turkey.

Now, I know the mixture of garlic powder and blueberries is a little strange, but bear with me. All I can say is, it's really delicious and please give it a go! ^____^

Ingredients:
-1 cup Spinach
-⅓ medium Sweet Potato
-2 Broccoli Trees
- ¼ medium Tomato
-½ Avocado
- Small handful of blueberries
-Garlic Powder
- Black Pepper

Directions:
1) Wash and tear the Spinach into smaller pieces. Place in the bowl.
2) Microwave the Sweet Potato (about 2 minutes, flip, then 2 more minutes) and slice.
3) Slice the Avocado.
4) Slice the Tomato.
5) Microwave the Broccoli for about 25 seconds (you may need more- just microwave until it's a pretty vibrate steamed green).
6) Put all of the prepared ingredients in a bowl.
7) Garnish with the washed Blueberries.
8) Sprinkle with Black Pepper and Garlic powder.

Kat's

It's a great post-workout salad due to the protein from the spinach and broccoli, the healthy fats from the avocado, the carbs from the sweet potato, and the blueberries that help to metabolize the carbs, protein, and fats that you're eating. Not to mention all of these have anti-inflammatory properties, which to put it simply, help your body to recover faster after a workout.
Now, that was just a simplified version of all the amazing attributes these foods have for your body (nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, dietary fiber, etc. not mentioned).

As a bonus, I wanted to show you a comparison of a salad that my mom bought from the local cafe chain, Panera:

Panera's

(This is half of the salad - she splits it into 2 portions).
Here is the ingredient list, found from their site here. I'm also going to highlight a few things to take note of that make me go "wtf, why is this here".

Ingredient List

Caesar Chicken

Romaine lettuce, citrus & pepper chicken (antibiotic free all natural boneless skinless chicken breast fillets with rib meat, water, seasoning [lemon, mangosteen, natural smoke flavor], sea salt, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, sugar, dry lemon peel, spices, dehydrated rosemary, dehydrated basil, citric acid, malic acid and paprika for flavor, vinegar, rice starch), Caesar Dressing (soybean oil, water, egg yolk, onion, celery, dehydrated garlic, red wine and distilled vinegar, contains less than 2% of: anchovy powder [dextrin, anchovy extract {fish}, salt], sugar, Worcestershire sauce [distilled vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor], mustard [distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice, garlic powder], salt, spice, citric acid, lemon juice solids, corn syrup solids, natural flavor, ascorbic acid, xanthan gum, polysorbate 60, propylene glycol alginate [for thickness], potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor), Asiago Croutons (unbleached enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], water, asiago crouton mix [margarine {soybean oil, water, mono- and diglycerides, salt, whey, soy lecithin, sodium benzoate, natural and artificial flavor, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color)}, asiago cheese {pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes}, dehydrated garlic and onion, spices and salt], enriched durum wheat flour [durum flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], Asiago cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, microbial & animal enzymes], enriched semolina wheat flour [semolina, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], Parmesan cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, microbial enzymes], salt, Romano cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], yeast, dough conditioners [ascorbic acid, microcrystalline cellulose, corn starch]), fetina cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, microbial & animal enzymes).

 

- - - - - - - -  o(____,()(O.O)()

That made a surprised bunny. 

 

I didn't know what "polysorbate 60" was, but it sounded strange, so I looked it up and found from this site that "polysorbate 60 can cause detrimental reproductive effects, organ toxicity and cancer in high doses." 

Also, the FDA's specifics say,
"According to the FDA, polysorbate 60 may not exceed 0.61 percent of cake mix when used alone or with polysorbate 65, and the total percent of all polysorbates may not exceed 0.66 percent. When used for confectionery coating or cacao products, it may not exceed 1 percent of the total product weight."

Oh good.

So wait, all of these ingredients are in that one salad? I'm not going to even bother counting how many ingredients are listed, but let's compare that to the salad I made:

 

Panera's - over 50

Mine - 8

 

That's one thing that's so great about making your own meals - you know exactly what's going in it which means you know exactly what you're putting into your body. Even if something at a restaurant looks healthy, doesn't mean it's made from healthy ingredients. It's so much healthier to make your own food! And cheaper!

 

So make yourself something good today, bunnies in training ()(^.^)()!