If you think that choosing the salad on the menu is a surefire way to save on fat and calories, think again. In many common restaurants salads can be loaded with toppings that make them heavier than regular entrees. Here is a list of the least healthy salads from restaurants you probably go to on a regular basis compiled by Modern Home Modern Baby:

PF Chang’s Chicken Chopped Salad with Ginger Dressing. This salad weighs in at 940 calories, 68 grams of fat and an astounding 2225 mg sodium. While the underlying ingredients are not so bad, the ginger dressing loads up the calories.

Quizno’s Chicken with Honey Mustard Flatbread Chopped Salad. While flatbread may sound healthy, at Quizno’s it’s not. This salad has well over 1,000 calories and 71 grams of fat.

TGI Friday’s Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad. I have to admit, this sounds like a pretty tasty salad, but after looking at the ingredients you’ll probably want to say away from it. This meal packs on 1380 calories, mostly from the nuts and cheese. If you are trying to lose weight, this is not the salad for you.

On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef and Smoked Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing. You probably know that taco salads are not good for you, but did you know just how bad they are? This one has an incredible 121 grams of fat and 1,680 calories. You might as well have had the cheeseburger.

California Pizza Kitchen Thai Crunch Salad. Topping the list in terms of calories, this salad has an amazing 2115 calories. Once again, the basic salad ingredients are not to blame, it’s the toppings: peanuts, crispy wontons, crispy rice sticks and peanut dressing. While tasty, they pack on the fat and calories.

If you want to lose weight, it’s okay to eat salad – just be careful about what goes on there. If the salad is called “crispy” or “fried”, stay away from it.

If you don’t have the time to spend hours working out at the gym, you may want to consider intense interval training. New studies suggest you may be able to get fit in as little as 6 minutes per week if you exercise at the right intensity.

That’s the surprising conclusion by a growing number of sports scientists. New research suggests much shorter, more intense exercise could provide the same benefit as longer, less strenuous workouts.

The effectiveness of interval training has been known for years. Athletes have been incorporating one or two interval sessions a week into their regular exercise routine. What’s new is that many researchers now believe you only need a few minutes of strenuous exercise per week to do the job.

One of the leading proponents of shorter, more intense workouts is Dr. Martin Gibala at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. In one recent study, Gibala had one group of healthy but not athletic college students ride a stationary bike at a moderate level for between 90 and 120 minutes. A second group of students completed a series of short, very intense intervals by cycling for 20 to 30 seconds for as hard as they could. These students would then rest for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat the cycle four to six times.

Each group exercised three times a week, but while the first group spent up to two hours on the bike, the second group only spent 2 to 3 minutes pedaling. After two weeks, researchers found that both groups had achieved nearly identical increases in their endurance. Researchers also found both groups exhibited molecular changes in mitochondria that signal increased fitness.

Another benefit of the intense interval sessions studied by Gibala was weight loss. High-intensity exercise increases energy expenditure well into the recovery phase. Other scientists have found interval training also improves cardiac health, even for those with heart disease.

To get these results, however, researchers say you have to go all out during training. It’s going to hurt and you’ll be out of your comfort zone. You also need to be in relatively good shape before starting a program like this as it can take a toll on your body.

One established interval method to try is called Tabata, developed by a Japanese scientist who did research in the field. You can check out this New York Times article for more information on intensity training.

Researchers in Spain have reached the surprising conclusion that beer may hydrate the body more effectively than water after a tough workout.

As reported in the current issue of Science magazine, researchers at Granada University in Spain tested 25 students who ran on a treadmill at a high temperature until they were exhausted. After the workout, half the subjects drank water while the other half were given two pints of lager.

The researchers found that the beer drinkers had “slightly better” hydration, motor skills and ability to concentrate. The scientists speculate that the sugar, salt and bubbles found in beer help the body to absorb fluids. Beer’s carbohydrates also replenish the calories you’ve burned off.

So next time you work out you may want to reach for the Budweiser rather than the Gatorade.

A new study published on Monday surprisingly found that consuming antioxidants like vitamins C and E could actually reverse the beneficial effects of exercise.

Physical exercise has a range of health benefits, including on the body’s resistance to insulin. On the other hand, exercise also leads to the formation of free radicals, a form of very active oxygen molecules which can chemically attack the body.

To combat this, people have long turned to antioxidant supplements which are thought to improve health and longevity. However, the new study suggests that antioxidants like vitamin C and E supplements may actually be harmful, at least in regards to diabetes risk and glucose metabolism.

According to this study, performed by researchers in Germany and Boston, these vitamins short-circuit the body’s natural response to free radicals. Dr. Michael Ristow, lead-author of the study says that “short-term doses of free radicals may act like a vaccine, helping the body to defend itself from chronic stressors more efficiently by inducing a long-term adaptive response”.

While the study is by no means conclusive, experts agree that it was well designed and should give people pause before popping antioxidant supplements if they exercise.

If you exercise regularly, you may want to think twice about taking antioxidants like vitamins C and E.

If you workout a lot, you no doubt have your fair share of sore muscles. New research suggests that getting a dose of caffeine before working out could reduce sore muscles afterwards.

The ability to forgo muscle soreness was demonstrated by both coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers.

The small study put 25 physically fit college-age men through rigorous workouts. About half the men normally consumed little to no caffeine while the other half normally consumed the equivalent of 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day.

Researchers had the men pedal on a stationary bike for two high-intensity, 30-minute sessions. For one session, the participants were given a caffeine dose equivalent to about 2 to 3 cups of coffee. For the other session the men go a placebo pill.

In general, men who got the caffeine had less thigh-muscle pain than those who got the the placebo. Since the study included both regular coffee drinkers and non-drinkers, the results suggest that people may not develop a tolerance to the pain-reducing impact of caffeine.

On one occasion, the men were given a dose of caffeine equivalent to two to three cups of coffee one hour before the workout; on the other, they were given a placebo pill instead.

In general, the researchers found, the men reported less thigh-muscle pain with caffeine compared with placebo. Since there was no difference between habitual caffeine consumers and non-consumers, people may not build up a tolerance to the pain-dampening effects of caffeine.

Researchers surmise that caffeine may limit muscle pain by blocking the effects of adenosine, a chemical that’s released in response to inflammation. So if you’re about to tackle a new or tough workout, especially one that you’ve experienced muscle pain from in the past, consider drinking a shot of caffeine before you start.