Thrive Seattle Raw Salads Review

Going with the theme of the day; which is “no time to prepare food, but still needing to eat healthy food packed with nutrients”, I finally took the opportunity to try a restaurant I had been curious about for a long time. It is called Thrive, and specializes in a variety of salads, mixed grain bowls, and raw food entrées like a kelp noodle-based Thai veggie dish. Several meal delivery services in Seattle deliver food from Thrive, and I had mine delivered by Caviar. 

 

  
I tried the Juggernaut salad (with only quinoa, no red rice and the dressing on the side) and the Fresh Rolls. Each was big enough on its own for a small meal, but I ate the Fresh Rolls with Greek yogurt mixed with fruit to provide some protein.

This is what they actually looked like:   

 

As you see, they are very visually pretty and are both packed with lots of fresh veggies. As far as taste goes, I would definitely get the Juggernaut salad again, especially with my add-ins of extra shredded red cabbage, carrots and nutritional yeast. The fresh rolls looked great, but were almost entirely made up of shredded green cabbage, which is not the most flavorful vegetable, and one thin strip of carrot (though this does get extra points because it achieved the intended visual effect of looking like a piece of fish in an Asian fresh roll). Unfortunately the taste was a bit bland, and nutrition-wise, a variety of vegetables would have offered more benefit. I ended up having to use almost all of the included dressing, when I typically only need to use 1/3 to 1/2 of a sauce or dressing.

Next time I think I will try the Marinated Kale salad, with a couple of the high calorie toppings eliminated. My general rule of thumb to keep a salad from becoming too close to junk food is to choose 2-3 high calorie/delicious add-ins, such as dressing, cheese, dried fruit, nuts, avocado, fried toppings – and certainly maple coconut chips would fit in this category! Some of these ingredients are quite healthy (though not all of them are) but they are all high-calorie as well. I plan to order this with the walnuts, add avocado slices and maybe even use my own dressing. Lately I have been loving a quick dressing made by mixing my own lemon-garlic-tahini dressing with hummus, and that would be quite tasty on this dish!

Thrive Seattle Raw Salads Review

A Dietitian’s Favorite Things

Clients  are always asking about my favorite food brands and shops, so here is a short list:


Favorite  Yogurt: Nancy’s nonfat Greek yogurt – Blackberry Flavor.  Organic, thick and delicious, 140 Kcal, 17g fat, 18 g sugar (some of this is from lactose), less than 1 g fiber

   

   

 

Favorite Non Dairy Milk – Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Almond Milk (refrigerated). The best tasting, and no carrageenan.

   

 

 

Favorite Grab and Go Lunch – Starbucks Kale and Brown Rice bowl – with butternut squash, green peas, cubed beets, broccoli, marinated tomatoes, and a lemon tahini dressing.  350 to 430 Calories, 7-10g protein, 7-8g sugar, 6-8g fiber (the range depends on how much of the dressing you use, I usually use about 2/3).  I recommend eating this with a small source of protein.

   

   


Favorite Snack that Fits in My Purse – Gnu Fiber Bars

   

 

 

Favorite Cold Beverage– Perrier.  More highly carbonated beverages are similar to swallowing air and can cause GI discomfort in some people.

   

 

 

Favorite Hot Beverage – my special hot chocolate from “scratch”.  The ingredients are only cocoa powder, sweetener if desired, hot water and a splash of almond milk (regular milk is fine if you can tolerate lactose!). So satisfying and chemical free.

  

 

Favorite Breakfast – my special protein shake with “gums” – a full Vitamix of soft serve “ice cream” for ~120 calories, 10-20 G protein, fiber from the gums and very filling.  Extremely delicious and addictive.  Instructions/Recipe will be posted in the future.

   

     

Favorite Frozen Treat – Arctic Zero frozen dessert is low in calories, contains some fiber and protein (whey protein based) and is sweetened with stevia and monk fruit. It is also lactose free, which is important for people like me who are lactose-intolerant. Arctic Zero is an instant-gratification version of my “favorite breakfast” protein shake. Each serving of the “creamy” flavors (1/2 cup) has 35 calories, 3g protein, 2g fiber, 0g fat and 5 g sugar. There was some controversy a few years ago about the calorie content, with some flavors coming in at ~45% more calories than stated. However, this is common for packaged foods, due to volume differences in packages (sometimes you get extra in a package versus what was stated on the label), the 10% rule (calorie counts just have to be within 10% per labeling rules) and the fiber rule (minimally digestible calories and calories from fiber do not have to be included in total calories on nutrition facts labels). Overall, this does not worry me because at the most it may change a serving from 35 to 50 calories, and even if you eat 2 servings, it would still only be an increase of 30 calories, which is about 1 small bite of rice or pasta! Due to the lack of fat, this product needs to sit out of the freezer for about 15 minutes for best constancy before eating, otherwise it is rock hard!

   

     


Favorite Premium Oil Brand – Spectrum. Available at PCC, Whole Foods, many co-op stores, Thriftways, QFC and Fred Meyer Natural sections. This is also a reliable brand for supplements.

 

   

 


Feel free to ask for any further recommendations. I love giving tips for better health!

 

 

 

 

 

A Dietitian’s Favorite Things