Another dressing-less salad! Before I get into the recipe, I want to give you some background information. This recipe is from the book “The Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad” by Dr. Norman Walker. He has been researching man’s ability to live a longer, healthier life since 1910 for over 70 years. He is globally recognized as one of the most authoritative students of life, health, and nutrition. In his book, “The Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad” he includes over 70 healthy recipes. Though they are not all vegan, there are some really good recipes in there, and it includes an informative mini-encyclopedia on the most common fruits and vegetables. Definitely a recommendation.
This salad is his “number 1” salad. Now, that doesn’t mean this is his self-proclaimed best salad in the world. Instead of giving his salads creative names, it seems that Dr. Walker was a very linear-thinking man as his recipes are numbered “No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc…” and contain no titles. His writing, however, is quite often sarcastically funny. I was a little doubtful of making this salad because there was neither a dressing to go with it nor a picture to convince me I should make it. After eating this good-for-the-heart salad, however, I must truthfully say that I am hooked!
Health benefits
This salad contains a variety of fruits and vegetables, giving you a lot of nutritional benefits. It will be too much to list the benefits of all the ingredients, so I have chosen to focus on carrots, celery, and tomatoes in this post.
Carrots
Carrots are SO good for you! It is rich in a variety of blood-cleansing antioxidants, which makes it excellent for lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. The heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood per day, so I would suggest adding some carrots to your daily diet. Carrot is also full of fiber, which cleans out the intestines, particularly the colon. As you can read in Dr. Norman Walker’s “Colon Health: A Key to A Vibrant Life“, it is of vital importance to have a clean colon.
Celery
Celery is full of antioxidants and does an outstanding job in providing anti-inflammatory support. This causes the vegetable to be great at preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, good for bone health, and lower cholesterol. They, like most vegetables, contain antioxidants that are great for the cardiovascular system and disease prevention.
Preparation tips
You want to make sure you cut up everything into very small pieces. If you don’t, you might end up feeling like a rabbit because of all the chewing you’ll be doing.
To save time and energy for grating the apples, you can just cut them up into pieces and put them into a food processor until they are chopped up very finely.
I tried to give this recipe a fun title, but nothing I came up with did it justice. I present to you… Dr. Norman Walker’s #1 Salad!
- 2 tablespoons carrots, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons lettuce, finely chopped
- ½ medium sized tomato, divided into small segments
- 2 tablespoons celery, finely chopped
- ⅔ medium sized persimmon, peeled and divided into segments
- 2 tablespoons raisins
- 2 tablespoons red cabbage, finely chopped
- ½ large banana, diced
- 2 large or 3 small dates, cut into small segments
- 5 small radishes
- 1 large apple
- ½ medium sized avocado
- For garnish: 1 date, chopped walnuts, cherry, watercress
- Arrange each in layer beginning with carrots, one on top of the other up to and including the banana.
- Place radishes around the side of dish, grated apple in the center, avocado slices around side, one date quartered placed cross-like in the center, nuts sprinkled on top and cherry in center.
- Garnish around edge with watercress.
The arrangement of this salad is beautiful, but it tastes even better when you mix it all up and eat it that way!
Nancy Gordon
I am new to this blog. I would like to find a caterer in San Diego, Calif who is Plant based and knowledgable with Gluten Free diets. Can you help me find a source?
Danielle Joy
Hi Nancy,
I’m not from the San Diego area, but I would recommend you Google something along the lines of “San Diego gluten free catering” or “San Diego vegan catering”. All the best!
Sharon
Hello Danielle. I agree! The salads are delicious. I have all Dr. Walker’s books and thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learning all I can about diet and nutrition. It was totally by accident that I stumbled across them some years ago.
I look forward to following your blogs and learning more.
Danielle Joy
That’s awesome, Sharon! He really shares some nuggets of gold in his books. I love how he talks about not being defined by your age. Hey, I’m going to be publishing some books related to health & wellness soon. Would you like to be added to the e-mail list so you’ll be notified when they release?
Gloria Elliott
Been reading Dr. Walker’s book, natural weight control. About to start on this journey of weight loss for me and correct some health issues fot my husband. Would appreciate any advice or help you can offer.
Danielle Joy
Way to go! Fiber is key. It’s the way to clean out the gut. You can add in more fiber with psyllium husk. Raw foods heal the body at a cellular level so definitely be sure to get those in and vegetable juices are a great way to accelerate that healing process. Dr. Norman Walker has great books on this topic that you could easily find on Amazon.com. Intermittent Fasting is another tool you could use to assist you in your weight loss journey. The most important thing with IF (Intermittent Fasting) is that your body does not transition from a “fed state” to a “fasted state” until 12 hours of fasting. It’s in the “fasting state” that the body starts to use stored up fat in your fat reserves as energy and this is where weight loss starts to happen. The longer the window that you fast after that initial 12 hours, the longer your body uses your fat reserves as fuel. But you do need to eat intermittently so don’t just do something crazy like fasting for a straight 40 days because you will gain the weight right back. The important thing is that you adopt a new lifestyle of better eating habits. Intermittent Fasting book can help you. Keep up the good work!