What kind of salad dressing should we avoid?

If you are like me, you love salads. However, if you are topping them with store-bought dressings you might be doing more harm than good.

It is tempting and super convenient to grab a done-for-you, store-bought bottle of dressing but brand labels have large ingredient lists full of preservatives and artificial ingredients.

Let’s take a closer look at store-bought salad dressings:

Investigate the labels before you make a purchase. You will find many salad dressings will contain:

• High fructose corn syrup - It is added to sweeten up your dressing while reducing the overall cost. 

• Soybean oil - is a highly refined, high heat processed fat. It is difficult to extract oil from a soybean, therefore chemicals are required for the process.

• Canola Oil  - 93% of canola oil is genetically modified. Choose salad dressing made with organic virgin olive oil or organic raw unrefined coconut oil instead

• Additives - monosodium glutamate, artificial flavor, modified food starch, phosphoric acid, artificial color, just to name a few. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), as an example, is a flavor enhancer that can lead to headaches, body pain, and asthma symptoms.

Isn't soybean and canola oil healthy?

Well, despite all the marketing health claims, soybean and canola are dangerous for your health because they create widespread disease provoking inflammation throughout the body.

Not only does the refining process of both soybean and canola oil oxidize the fat compounds and this makes them inflammatory to your body cells, but they contain higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids which will throw your omega-6 to omega-3 balance out of whack. 

Omega 6 fats are mainly found in plant sources like many of our oils, particularly corn oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil, sesame oil and peanut oil. Soybean oil is almost all Omega 6 fat.

It is essential to have a good ratio of Omega-3 and omega-6 as they are two types of polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are both required for the body to function.

Most Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in processed packaged foods because they are cheap, and make the products shelf stable. 

In order to improve your ratio and lessen your risk of various diseases, some serious, you would need to lower your intake of Omega 6 by lowering your intake of processed foods and oils, for instance by changing to good oils such as Olive Oil.

What if the bottle claims it contains olive oil?

We know that authentic olive oil is jammed packed with health benefits, right?

But, when it comes to store-bought dressings, the amount of olive oil is hardly measurable.

Yes, the front label may boast about olive oil as an ingredient, but don’t be fooled. Go ahead and look more closely at the ingredient amounts, and you’ll usually see that the amount is negligible.

Making your own homemade dressing

If you truly want to be in control of what you are pouring on top of your veggies or salad, then try this super simple, lower cost, and much healthier salad dressing at home.

Ready? Here’s what you do:

Nuvo Olive Oil’s Healthy Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Fill your salad dressing container (e.g. any sized mason jar) with these approximate ratios of liquids: 

• 1/3rd of a container filled with balsamic vinegar
• 1/3rd of a container filled with apple cider vinegar
• fill the remaining 1/3rd of a container with extra virgin olive oil
• (optional) Add just a small touch (approx. 1 teaspoon) of real maple syrup or sweetener of your choice
• To taste, add spices like onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper and then shake the container to mix all ingredients well.

NOTE: Refrigerate and shake each time before use. And feel free to experiment with the amount or kind of spices. E.G. if you enjoy Italian spices, try a pinch and see how it tastes. You cannot go wrong!

This homemade salad dressing mixture is delicious and healthy on almost anything!

Other ways (besides salads) to use Nuvo Olive Oil balsamic vinaigrette

> Use as a dip for bread, crackers, or raw veggies,

> Use as a marinade for grilling meat, poultry or fish,

> Awesome on roasted veggies,

• use on your steamed veggies,
• Use on a baked potato,
• Drizzle as a garnish on homemade soups,
• You can even stir fry with it.

There you have it.

Have your own tried and true salad dressing recipe? We’d love to see it so we can share it with others.

Leave a comment or email us and we will post it so others can benefit too.

As a free gift to the Nuvo Olive Oil audience, Kathy is offering a copy of The 14-day Gluten-free Guide so you can see if going gluten-free works for you!