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Comment by jeromec | Hacker News Reader

I was having a debate with my brother about when salad should be eaten, before or after a meal. I said it would make a difference. He said it made no difference. (Americans seem to be in the minority for eating salad before meals) Some light research on the Internet was not completely conclusive, but it appeared there is not much difference. However, since salad digests slower it's generally considered better to eat it after a meal. On the other hand, eating salad before a meal can make a person feel fuller, so that they eat less.

It may be a good combination to both eat a salad and drink water before meals. However, one caveat would be that water dilutes stomach acid, so it's probably not a good idea to drink a lot of water before meals.

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I said it would make a difference. He said it made no difference.

Difference in what though? Satiety? Hunger? Weight loss? The underlying method for all weight loss is to eat fewer calories. How someone accomplishes that is up them and may come down to personal preference.

A salad before a meal, particularity 20-30 minutes beforehand, will start the enzyme processes that eventually render satiety.

However, most American salads are loaded with decidedly non-healthy items, so a 200-300 drop in meal calories would be offset by the salad itself.

Better just eat them to increase vegetables, then. (No iceberg!)

Eating anything 20-30 minutes beforehand will do that. Even eating a meal more slowly will result in eating less due to feeling sated sooner. The first bullet point here is relevant: http://zenhabits.net/5-powerful-reasons-to-eat-slower/

Oh Man! how I hate iceberg lettuce. Why does anyone like it at all ? Cucumber tastes way better.

If you're relying on iceberg lettuce in your salad you're really doing it wrong.

Have a look for some mediterranean salad recipes, try putting some cherry tomatoes in for sweetness, a light drizzle of olive oil and swap the lettuce out for rocket and see how it goes.

Lettuce, like most leafy greens used in salads, is mostly roughage. Iceberg lettuce isn't as tasty but otherwise is fine. And iceberg lettuce is cheaper.

Lettuce, tomato, avocado slices, chopped green onions, and an anchovy or smoked oysters with vinaigrette is fantastic, regardless of what kind of green is used as the base.

No, sorry. Iceberg is very poor nutritionally.

http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/lettuce_...

Hmmm... I don't think I can get green onions here but I'll give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Enter the Wedge

I wasn't thinking it would make a difference in weight loss necessarily, but thought it would be better one way or the other for digestion.

Water does not meaningfully Change the acidity of your gastric mucosal lining. Even antacids only do so temporarily.

Really? One of the things I read while checking into the salad timing was about Americans also drinking cool liquids before and during a meal, which was not really advisable for good digestion.

None of that stuff matters at all from a biological standpoint. From a psychological standpoint, it's helpful to get water in first (fills you up a bit, adds 0 calories). Same with a salad (fills you up a bit, adds few calories).

According to Google answers you're right:

Is it okay to drink water during meals? This is interesting as a lot of complementary practitioners recommend against drinking water with meals, believing it dilutes the stomach acid and, hence, interferes with proper digestion. Technically this is not true, Dr. B says, as the water probably doesn't significantly mix with digestive juices. So for the record it's only people who are having problems making enough stomach (hydrochloric) acid who need to worry about this.

I've been told that the 'cool' part is significant. In so far as temperature of your stomach is a factor for good digestion. I'm not sure to what degree that is true but gulping down an icy beverage can't help.

The cool part is not significant, as thermodynamics will ensure prompt temperature equilibration. Relative to an ice-cold jug of water, your body is a nearly infinite heat source.

> Americans seem to be in the minority for eating salad before meals

I always believed that's the only way it's eaten by etiquette (after appetizer and before the main course).

Etiquette for whom though? The English? Apparently the French eat salad after meals. I found an interesting link concerning this about dinners at the White House. (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/599224)

Looking at this photo of the menu from the White House National Governors Association dinner, it looks like the salad course follows the main course, as is common in Europe. At the risk of sounding like a hick, is this arrangement of courses standard for formal dinners in the U.S.? (looks yummy, btw).

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2b_SPCr78uQ/SaMrIOb1FzI/AAAAAAAAHu...

> Americans seem to be in the minority for eating salad before meals
Nope, it's like that in most (all?) places in Europe I've visited too (certainly in restaurants).

italians eat it at the end of a meal

I think this actually depends on the situation. If you eat in a restaurant you'll probably get salad first because there is no cooking time involved. If you eat at a Europeans house you'll probably eat the main course first because you all eat together and you don't want the hot stuff to get cold.
I think how it's done has to do with practicality, not any insight on good eating practice.

> eat at a Europeans house
I like the notion but do you actually think that it makes no difference whether you are in Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Poland, or the UK?

I haven't eating at someone's home from each of these places, but honestly yes. I really think it's a logistics question. If you eat at someone's house the choices are:
* All eat Salad together and then guests wait while the person doing the cooking prepares the main course
* Guests eat Salad while the cook prepares the main course (and misses the Salad)
* Everything is put on the table at once and everyone eats together. Salad will be eaten last because it wont get any colder just sitting there.
For me the last option is the only practical one and I can't imagine any tradition being strong enough to make people willing to endure cold steak, schnitzel or whatever.

Or how I do it:
* Salad first and the cook plans the main course such that it's finished when people are done eating the salad.
The cook may have to leave the table to check the stove during the salad instead of during the drinks, but that's not such a big deal.
How do you cook several hot courses with your method?

I've never eaten a 5/7 course meal outside of a restaurant. I would think that required a dedicated server, which is normally not what I'm looking for if I go to someone's house.

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