Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I'm ditching olive oil based salad dressing. What can I substitute for it? Here's what I've brainstormed so far:

Coconut oil. Pro- Tastes good. Con- Might make me feel queasy at times. Also, I'm already eating lots of saturated fat, and I don't want to go all the way. (This is just my preference, based on lack of evidence/precedent for diets with >50% saturated fat composition)
Fat-free dressing. Pro-no omega 6! Con- Masks the taste of fatty salad add-ons, has carbs (not a ton, so not a huge deal).
Some kind of ranch without much oil?
Nothing? I don't mind no dressing, but dressing tastes good. It dresses the salad up, ya' know?

I want my daily fat breakdown to be low PUFA (~5-10%), high MUFA (~40-60%), moderately high saturated (~30-50%). Even the freshest fish often makes me gag, so I'm trying to keep omega-6 as low as possible for balancing purposes, hence the salad dressing switch.

flag	asked Oct 31 2010 at 21:09 Kamal♦ 27k●1●47●163

	Excellent, thank you. I'll be rotating flavored vinegars, mac nut oil, and nothing. – Kamal♦ Oct 31 2010 at 23:49
	Why are you ditching olive oil? – Scratch Jan 8 at 21:07

familygrokumentarian · Answer 1 · 2010-10-31 21:16:20Z UTC

I discovered recently that I'm perfectly fine with dressing using a flavored vinegar, such as balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinegar, and foregoing oil altogether. (There are plenty of other vinegars that would work: apple cider, etc.!) I often add a fattier protein with this (bacon, salmon, crumbled boiled egg, etc.) to make up for the lack of an oil.

Works for me as I'm only very occasionally in the mood for the taste of olive oil.

mari · Answer 2 · 2010-10-31 22:39:16Z UTC

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macadamia nut oil is lower in pufas and n-6 than olive oil. It's a bit expensive, but it's what I use. Even though I don't really eat salads anymore...

answered Oct 31 2010 at 22:39

mari
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i whole heartedly agree. Mac nut oil is the only veg/nut/seed oil other than Olive that gets in our kitchen. I have only use NOW Foods organic one. It is expensive but its terrific. – ben61820 Oct 31 2010 at 22:52

meredith · Answer 3 · 2010-10-31 21:33:27Z UTC

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I take my Magic Bullet blender and mix coconut milk, raw yolk, dijon, lemon, garlic and sea salt (other herbs from my garden that float my boat) blend and enjoy. More yolk makes it thicker.

answered Oct 31 2010 at 21:33

meredith
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paleonyc · Answer 4 · 2010-10-31 22:38:16Z UTC

i use bacon fat for dressing a lot.

sometimes, especially when the vegetables in the salad are fresh and in season, i use warm bacon fat by itself.

you can also doctor it with the same kinds of things that go into classic oil-based dressings: red wine vinegar, mustard or dry mustard, etc.

Gisela · Answer 5 · 2010-11-03 19:21:28Z UTC

Ranch dressing is easy to make at home. I use half mayo (homemade from olive oil) and half sour cream or full fat greek yogurt, plus some mashed up garlic & onion, salt & pepper. Add some crumbled cheese or bacon for variety (bleu cheese is awesome!).

You can reduce the proportion of mayo to reduce the olive oil content to your liking.

BTW, don't skip the fat on your salads entirely, unless you've got lots of fat in the rest of your meal. Many of the nutrients in salad vegs won't be assimilated without fat.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/dress-your-salads-with-oil/

NorcalMike · Answer 6 · 2010-10-31 22:03:40Z UTC

x2 on the vinegar option. Recently I've been using rice vinegar (1/2c), diced or minced garlic (~4Tbs), lemongrass paste (1tsp), ginger paste (1tsp), and a couple drops of toasted sesame oil. The sesame oil is high in omega 6 but lots of flavor comes from this very small amount.

I make another simple dressing in large quantity by taking the big jug of lemon juice from Costco, removing about 1 1/2c of it and adding back in about 1/2c Dijon mustard and dried herbs/spices (garlic being the only required one).

PrairieProf · Answer 7 · 2010-11-01 00:38:12Z UTC

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Avocado oil is excellent.

answered Nov 1 2010 at 0:38

PrairieProf
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This is a microcosm of why it's hard to eat low omega 6 if you consume any non-animal-sourced fat. – Kamal♦ Nov 1 2010 at 2:00

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Animal fats, FTW. This further goes to prove why Sally Fallon (of Weston A Price fame) hates that salads became popularized. Without salads, we wouldn't want/need many vegetable oils... – Diane at Balanced Bites Nov 1 2010 at 3:19

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Yup, I ran into that problem in the beginning of paleo. Now I don't eat salads, just steamed or sauteed veggies covered in butter. I can appreciate the convenience of salads, however. – mari Nov 1 2010 at 11:50

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But avocado oil is by FAR mostly MUFAs, and avocados are always touted as great paleo foods and healthy sources of fat. So I think it's not correct to characterize it as a problem oil for Omega 6. – PrairieProf Nov 1 2010 at 14:11

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According to MDA, avocado oil has a very similar profile to olive oil: marksdailyapple.com/healthy-oils – PrairieProf Nov 1 2010 at 14:13

show 2 more comments

Diane at Balanced Bites · Answer 8 · 2010-10-31 21:31:17Z UTC

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What about flax oil with lemon and a gluten-free mustard to make a vinaigrette?

I've also heard of people making bacon-fat based dressings... just need to warm it to soften first I guess.

answered Oct 31 2010 at 21:31

Diane at Balanced Bites
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Good idea with the mustard, but unfortunately flax oil has more omega 6 than olive oil! – Kamal♦ Oct 31 2010 at 21:43

According to the woman I know as the leading authority on fats in this country, Mary Enig, Ph. D. in her book "Know Your Fats," olive oil is classified under mostly omega 9 as it is comprised of 71% oleic acid whereas flaxseed oil is classified under mostly omega 3 as is comprised of 60% alpha linolenic acid. – Diane at Balanced Bites Nov 1 2010 at 3:18

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This isn't about omega-9 or omega-3, it's about finding a low omega-6 salad dressing. Flax oil has more omega-6 than olive oil. Hence my reticence at indulging in seed oils...no great need for ALA unless you're veg*n and slummin' for PUFAs! – Kamal♦ Nov 1 2010 at 4:37

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And there's no single leading fat authority, it's like that whole "best pizza in America" bit! Lots of great fat researchers who don't happen to write books and be WPF affiliated. – Kamal♦ Nov 1 2010 at 4:40

I referred to her as the leading authority because I've yet to find any other compressed source of detailed info on fats and oils outside of her book- if you have another source, please share it! If the issue of finding low n-6 oil is so great, I agree with others and say avoid plant oils anyway :) Any way you slice it... And I wasn't saying we needed the ALA from flaxseed oil - I was just comparing the content of the oils. – Diane at Balanced Bites Nov 1 2010 at 14:42

Vrimj · Answer 9 · 2010-11-01 00:27:01Z UTC

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I love vinegar too but to add... Another idea if you miss the cling and mouthfeel of oil I would try a little unflavored gelatin to give it cling and texture. The other choice would be Guar Gum. I would feel more comfy with this then with fat free salad dressings because I like controlling the ingredients.

answered Nov 1 2010 at 0:27

Vrimj
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	My inner caveman rejects guar gum, although that used to be a mainstay of my protein shakes. – Kamal♦ Nov 1 2010 at 0:41
	I understand guar gum is sort of weird, but it is something that I typically see in fat free salad dressings to make it cling .. Ohh how about roasted garlic that is pureed to add cling and mouthfeel? – Vrimj Nov 1 2010 at 0:46
	That sounds good. Maybe a teeny bit of mac nut oil, vinegar, pureed garlic, and lemon juice. It's time for someone to go into the paleo salad dressing biz! – Kamal♦ Nov 1 2010 at 1:18

Kim · Answer 10 · 2013-01-08 19:45:53Z UTC

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I just threw some salsa verde on my salad and it tastes pretty good.

I don't love the flavor of olive oil, it's kind of overpowering. Is there an olive oil out there without such a strong flavor?

answered Jan 8 at 19:45

Kim
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Pecan · Answer 11 · 2013-01-08 20:36:41Z UTC

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Herbs. Basil is especially good in salads.

Include moist foods like beetroot in your salad if you want to substitute the oil texture.

answered Jan 8 at 20:36

Pecan
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Kashkillz · Answer 12 · 2013-01-08 21:22:01Z UTC

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I just use raw cider vinegar. Veggies are yummy, no need to smother em.

answered Jan 8 at 21:22

Kashkillz
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Substitute for olive oil: what’s a low omega-6 salad dressing?

12 Answers