Continued from yesterday...

Show some restraint:

• Oil and vinegar. Your best bet since you control the ratio. Slick your salad with equal parts oil and vinegar, but be sure to add only enough to lightly coat the greens.
• Blue cheese. Delicious blue cheese comes at a caloric price. If you absolutely must have it, limit yourself to just one meat or other protein and load up on the low-cal veggies we've mentioned.
• Vinaigrettes. Now you're getting warmer. Assuming the vinaigrette is based on olive oil, you'll be getting a big dose of mono-unsaturated fats. Even so, since most vinaigrettes abide by the three parts oil to one part vinegar ratio, you're still looking at 100 calories per serving.
• Raising or /Craisins. They're fruit, yes, but they're likely to be coated in sugar. Opt for fresh fruit whenever possible.
  
• Corn. There are too many nutritionally superior vegetables at the salad bar to invest the calories on corn.
• Bacon. Bacon's gotten some bad press over the years, but one strip has only 40 calories and less than 200 milligrams of sodium. So a pinch of bacon bits is permissible; a handful, however, is not.
• Feta cheese. A smarter pick than blue, being that feta provides that same crumbly bite for fewer calories and less sodium. Still, only in moderation and only with a colorful crew of vegetables to back it up.
• Hard-boiled egg. Sick of chicken? Turn to the egg for another great source of protein. Mix with chickpeas, avocado, and red peppers for the closest thing to salad perfection.
  
• Avocado. Avocados provide a ton of heart-healthy fats and a rich, creamy bite to any salad. But just because monounsaturated fats are good for your heart doesn't mean they won't still make you fat. Try to choose between avocados and nuts.
• Iceberg. The least healthy of common salad bar lettuces. Its high water content makes for a low nutrient density. If you can't skip it, mix it in with darker, healthier greens.
• Sunflower seeds. One of nature's finest sources of vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant that helps fight inflammation and lower cholesterol.
• Walnuts. Yes, they are absolutely jacked with omega-3s and antioxidants, but they're incredibly dense with calories. Keep it down to a tablespoon or two.

Avoid at all costs:

• Croutons. Think of these oil-soaked, enriched flour cubes as salad bar grenades - they'll blow your healthy salad away.
• Shredded cheddar. The worst cheese at the salad bar. Not only is it high inc alories and sodium, but the minuscule shreds tend to bury themselves in the bowl, making portion control a challenge.
• Ranch/Blue Cheese/Caesar. The type of dressing you use is the single most important decision you make at the salad bar. These three represent the most destructive dressings, clocking in around 150 calories and 15 grams of fat per serving.
• French/Catalina/Thousand Island. The trio of range dressings are only marginally less problematic than their white counterparts. That's because they're based on low-grade oils and excess sugar. Expect at least 150 calories for 2 tablespoons of one of these.