That's just false. Iceberg lettuce has basically zero nutritional value. Please compare the vitamin/nutrient content with, say, romaine lettuce or spinach. Go ahead and post the numbers here for us.Originally Posted by Happy Noodle Boy
A pretty accurate rule is the whiter the leafy "green" is the less nutritional value it has. And being "low in sodium, fat, and cholesterol" is not "having nutritional value." Air is really low in all three of those.
I didn't say it was better than romaine so there's no reason to compare the two, he said it was devoid of nutritional value and it isn't.
Iceberg lettuce has less nutritional value compared to any other form of lettuce I know of.
As for the stuff above, I could run through it one at a time if you'd like.
Low in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol: it's lettuce for one so no trout. Second, none of that actually matters all that much.
Thiamin: This is in pretty much everything you'll eat anyway, but 100g of iceberg lettuce only has 3% of your daily requirement. You'll find almost double the amount in romaine lettuce, quadruple in beef liver, and triple for a 100g steak as well. It's a source sure, but there's no shortage of better ones for the same mass of food.
Vitamin B6: Iceberg lettuce has 2% of your daily value in 100g. Using the same examples as above, Romaine has 4%, Liver has 51%, and Steak has 22%. If you're concerned about Vitamin B6, then Romaine is literally twice as good as Iceberg, but neither is a good source at all relatively speaking. Unless you like the idea of eating 5kg of Iceberg lettuce a day to get it (a bit of hyperbole there of course).
Iron: So Iceberg comes in at 2%, Romaine at 5%, and both lose quite handily to dead animals. In the case of Iceberg lettuce, it's losing by an order of magnitude or more.
Potassium: You know what, let's skip the percentages. Iceberg has next to nothing again, Romaine is double Iceberg, and the meats coming in at 5 times the amount of potassium. I'm sensing a trend in all of these.
Dietary Fiber is more of the same, though obviously the meat doesn't rank here since meat isn't known for it's fiber content. Vitamin A, Iceberg is at 10%, Romaine at 174%, and Liver at 634%. Vitamin C, Iceberg is at 5%, Romaine at 40%. Or you could just eat a damn orange and get 201%. For Vitamin K, Iceberg is at 30%, but again, eat the same amount of Romaine and you're done for the day. Folate, Iceberg clocks in at 7%, Romaine at 34%, Liver is at a whopping 63%. And finally, for Manganese, the slight edge goes to Romaine, and Liver beats them both and steals their lunch money.
Those are just a few examples, but I think I made my point. Iceberg isn't as good a source for any of those as even Romaine lettuce. And as soon as we bring other foods into the mix we see that for most of those nutrients calling Iceberg a good source is stretching the truth a bit to say the least.
EDIT: I didn't say it was devoid of all nutritional value, I said it basically was. Which most people would rightly take to mean it isn't devoid, but it's close enough that it's not worth bothering with it unless you really, really like eating it. Yes, there's some in there, but it's a terrible source for just about anything the body needs.
Also, don't just go to some random Yahoo Answers page trying to make a point. That person doesn't even say where they're getting their information, nor do they quantify much beyond simply saying "it's good." Pretty much nothing on that page is actually useful for judging Iceberg lettuces nutritional value. You can't just analyze it in a vacuum, you have to look at the actual values and compare to other sources to learn anything meaningful about it.
But it IS basically devoid of nutritional value. Listen, everything has SOME nutritional value. Iceberg lettuce has massively less than any similar food.
Here's a slightly better source than "voices.yahoo.com":
Show Foods
Iceburg lettuce isn't food; it's crunch. Everyone likes crunch though.
I don't usually like pasta salad, but my friend made some for my baby shower and it was amazing.
Iceberg Lettuce is like.. Crunchy Water. XD
Plus it wilts and goes bad a lot quicker once you open the bag up.. If you buy it bagged, anyway. Or at least... That's what -I- always think.
Lettuce wilts more easily with more exposure to air and/or heat. It needs to hold water (which is what causes it in the first place) so exposure to fridge air (which really sucks the moisture out of things) will do it pretty fast.
Holy heck just two pages into a Salad thread and we're all arguing over bloody Iceberg Lettuce
I actually happen to like Iceberg lettuce, but really when it comes to salads, I like them simple. I mean, I really don't like Potato Salad. Pasta Salad is palatable to me, but not really what I'd choose to eat.
Lettuce is serious business Formy.
No way. Of all the potato salads I've eaten, only one was good... and it's because the real hero of the dish was the bacon. Real chunks of perfectly cripsy and smooth bacon
increase your posts per page already wtf. 25 posts should never be "2 pages" unless you're on dialup (and when i was i still used 30-50 ppp)Holy heck just two pages into a Salad thread and we're all arguing over bloody Iceberg Lettuce
I actually happen to like Iceberg lettuce, but really when it comes to salads, I like them simple. I mean, I really don't like Potato Salad. Pasta Salad is palatable to me, but not really what I'd choose to eat.
i like salads made of various greens. iceberg lettuce is crunchy.
i don't really care for pasta salad. potato salad is ok but it's not something i'd eat all the time (it also depends on what the potato salad is like)
Right, but even with the bag opened and then like folded over (like my dad has a bad habit of doing 'cuz he knows nothing about food preservation), the iceberg willwilt and then turn brown and gross. Of course it happens with spinach too, but I just always thought that iceberg does it quicker than spinach.
Pre-packaged goods are vacuum-sealed. If you open the bag, the bag gets air in it. It'll still wilt more slowly if you fold it up, but it won't stop it from wilting, and it'll do it a lot faster than in its vacuum-wrapped state.
Iceberg does it faster than spinach because iceberg is more water-heavy.
Romaine and Spinach are my choice, personally.
I will join in on the love of spinach! It is my preferred green for sandwiches.
Arugula is nice too! Radicchio is a bit bitter but when complemented nicely it can go well with stuff (I feel the same about endives too). I do not mind leafy green either. A nice mescaline/mixed green is alright, though Caesar salad is definitely my favourite lettuce-salad. Potato salad is the bomb. Also, my boyfriend makes the best Greek salad ever, but then again he is Greek, so yeah...
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