When you're looking to top a salad with protein, meats, like turkey breast or chicken, can be a good option. But, deli meats are high in sodium and nitrates, making them not so great for your nutrition goals.
"There are better ways to find protein for your salad, especially since the sodium overload in deli meat may make you overeat, is dehydrating, and can cause bloating," Maggie Moon, MS, RD, and author of The MIND Diet, tells POPSUGAR.
For instance, "There are 60 calories per two-ounce turkey breast, but 510 mg sodium. And in three ounces of pork salami, you'll find 1,080 mg sodium and close to 300 calories."
A better option, says Moon? Eggs. "They're one of the only food sources of vitamin D (from the yolk), and the whites have filling protein for not a lot of calories: 70-80 calories per hard-boiled egg," she says.
