Yeah, I made this just for this PH question... feel free to steal it.

Let me put it this way--I have always loved BA salads for their own selves, but they are also an important player in my never-binge-again regimen.

If I sense myself getting "itchy" for large volumes of food, which was of course a daily occurrence when binge eating, I simply eat a pre-emptively large-volume meal: a whole grapefruit, a 4-6 cup leafy salad with celery and cukes and possibly grape tomatoes, cooked vegetables and fatty meat.

After that feast, my binge impulses can fire all they want and my gut just says "No" and there is no neo-binge.

Since the grapefruit and salad have such low true density, the stuffed feeling passes within an hour but by then my brain has caught up to my gut and sends a "never mind" signal.

Some of us just have to do what we have to do--it's either sit and crunch popcorn/chips/crackers or sit and crunch yummy salad. Happily for me, I actually enjoy the salad as much or more than I would have enjoyed the bad stuff--and there's no hangover of symptoms/reactions that night or the next morning.

I'm a gorilla and I just love a big, badass salad. I eat one almost every day. Mixed greens, cherry toms, avocado, boiled egg, carrots, peppers, cukes ...

I love them because they are a great way to eat a BIG lunch, they are easy if you prepare all your stuff at the beginning of the week, and I like to listen to 30 minute podcasts for my lunch break and salads take me FOREVER to eat, so that works out well. I think if you like the process of eating them, and you like to eat a big meal w/o going over board on calories, they are a great fit.

I do one big container, and layer the bottom with all the "extras"- julienne carrots and cukes, thin-cut bell peppers, halved cherry tom's, etc. On top of the "extras" goes all the mixed greens so they don't get wilted. In a separate little container I like to put "crunchies"- nuts, seeds, dried fruit. In another medium sized container that seals well I put usually salmon/sardines/tuna/shrimp/crab/chicken/ground beef/lamb and let it sit in the dressing (which varies depending on the week- can be salsa w/olive oil, italian, sesame, etc) all day so it really infuses it (plus, one less container). If I want an avocado, I bring it whole with a swiss army knife so it doesn't go brown and nasty, just cut it up fresh when I'm ready to eat. Invert everything into the large container, shake violently, eat. Delicious.

There is nothing wrong with loving your food. If a big ass salad makes you happy and feels slightly indulgent or satisfying to you in any way mentally or emotionally I think that's a great thing. Now if you are forcing yourself to eat gobs of salad because you think you should or you must then I think those comments you referenced might apply. Otherwise I think it's more than fine for your healthy, whole foods diet to give you pleasure.

I love Big Ass Salads. I'll also wilt certain salad greens as a side dish: today I sauteed a grass fed NY strip in a little bit of coconut oil. I put the steak on a plate, deglazed the pan with a splash of traditionally brewed mirin (a sweet Japanese rice wine), turned the burner off, and then threw in a big bunch of baby arugula and tossed to wilt.

Personally, I can't be bothered unless someone makes it for me & it has bacon on it!

I'd rather cook down a bunch of greens (in a healthy fat) to a manageable volume than eat a pile of wet greens. But to each their own!

I love BASs, which is evidenced when you look at my receipts from pay-by-the-ounce salad bars. I pack as much into them as possible, avoiding silly additions like soy bacon bits and chow mein noodles, and when I get to the scale they usually weigh in at about 2.5 pounds. I don't consider a salad food unless there is protein on it, though. If in another context I get a salad that's just vegetables, it's "neutral filler," something to tide me over for an hour or two until I can get more substantial food, no matter how big-assed it is.

Eating a big ass salad is gluttonous. But being gluttonous is not a character flaw, it just means you're hungry. Being hungry usually means you're under-eating or that your body is receiving inadequate nutrition. So is eating a big ass salad ideal? Probably not. If you're going to eat a huge amount of something, you're best realistic option probably is going to be vegetables though.

I think the reason a point is made to say not to eat fruit or vegetables to excess is because, as Robb Wolf loves to say, the poison is in the dose. To think linearly, that because fruits and veggies are "good" for you, that the more you eat the better, is not correct. One reason that vegetables are so widely considered healthy is because it's hard to sustainably overeat them. They're comprised of mostly water and fiber and they don't taste particularly good. But if you decide to eat a 2 pound salad every day, you could encounter some accumulation of negative compounds contained in particular vegetables.

Two words: Cobb Salad. It's a salad so loaded with wonderful stuff on top, you won't even realize you're eating a mess of greens.

You can Google "Cobb salad" and get all the variants you'd ever care for but it's basically a bed of your favorite greens topped with:

• Bacon
• Chicken Breast
• Avacado
• Tomato
• Hard boiled egg
• Blue Cheese

You can add whatever else strikes your fancy, but it's a Paleo/Primal friendly meal.

No, eating salads for every meal isn't going to make you healthy by itself, but but this is a fine thing to eat, and it's DELICIOUS.

i love them! just had one with raw kale, cubed steamed sweet potato, 1/2 avocado, sun-dried tomato, olives, crumbled feta and sesame seeds.

I love my big-ass salads, but they aren't full of fattening extras (croutons, etc.). Make my own very Paleo-friendly vinaigrette (actually a typical French vinaigrette is pretty Paleo anyway). If not for salads, I'd probably never get enough vegetables, just don't like most of them cooked.

If it the only way you can get Greens into your diet, then DO but Kale and other green tops can easily be cooked into dishes. Salads are good but don't make it the only way to eat greens.

I ate a bas nearly every day last week. I was feeling kind of gluttonous, but not after reading this!

my dinner salad: 4 or so cups of greens 1 boiled egg 1 avocado cucumber tomato chicken breast 2 T of almonds bacon s&p oil and balsamic

I could eat this every day. So satisfying!

I eat Big Ass Salads all the time.. but as to the gorilla comment in the original post, my BASs are created with the omnivore in mind.

Here's one I had a couple of days ago: photo

Here's an older one: photo

I usually eat veggies and fruit seperately not together.

I used to, but if I eat any amount approaching "big-ass" levels I'm running to the toilet the next day. Too much fiber for me.

I prefer to use spring mix.

Ass is a bit gamey for me.

On a serious note, I like to make salads in a big mixing bowl. Usually 4 oz of salmon, 3-4 strips of bacon, red onion, cherry tomatos, cucumbers, crushed walnuts, a chopped avocado, and enough apple cider vinegar or lime juice to lube the thing (I'm getting enough 06 with the avocado and walnuts as is). I'll mix that with 50% spring mix (arugula, red romaine, endive, etc) and 50% spinach.