The Salad Dressing Nightmare

by Mila McManus, MD

With rare exceptions, salad dressing on a salad bar, restaurant menu, or the grocery store's dressing aisle is a toxic ingredient nightmare.

The nightmare begins when we have healthful intentions to eat a bowl of fresh salad and then top it off with a sabotaging salad dressing. Unfortunately, with rare exceptions, salad dressings on a salad bar, restaurant menu, or at the grocery store are a nightmare!

The number one offending ingredient in salad dressing is damaged seed oils. Most large producers of the most popular brands use inflammatory, damaged seed oils such as soybean, canola, or tainted blends that are unknown to the shopper. Damaged oils damage our cells and lead to toxicity and illness. They cannot nourish tissues, make new cells, repair, or detoxify the body. Rather, they are waste that must be stored or removed from the body, overtaxing the detoxification pathways. They are often stored as fat, and they can disturb the proper balance of HDL and LDL cholesterols in the body.

Salad dressings contain other concerning ingredients as well. The most common are genetically modified items, chemicals, and high-allergen ingredients. Specific examples include corn starch, gluten, monosodium glutamate (MSG), yeast extract, natamycin (mold inhibitor), Propylene glycol alginate, Polysorbate 60, and high fructose corn sugar. Sugar-free versions contain artificial sweeteners known to destroy the gut biome or cause cancer.

Fortunately, several companies are now building their reputations on clean salad dressing ingredients that are gluten-free, often organic, low in carbohydrate sugars, and do not contain genetically modified ingredients. Look for these brands:

Bragg Organic Dressing & Marinade
California Olive Ranch
Primal Kitchen
Sir Kensington
Chosen Foods
Simply Organic Dressing packets

Perhaps the most cost-friendly solution is making your own salad dressing at home. Here are six diverse recipes to make your salad a delicious, nutrient powerhouse.

Skip the Nightmare. Eat real. Be well.

Industrial Seed Oil: Are You Eating Machine Lubricants?

by Mila McManus, MD

Ever wonder how industrial seed oils became "heart healthy" overnight? Proctor & Gamble donated an enormous sum to do it.

Have you ever wondered how industrial seed oils went from machine lubricant to “heart healthy” cooking oils overnight?

In 1948, the American Heart Association was a tiny, struggling organization with little influence. That is, until Procter & Gamble showed up with a “donation” of $1.7 million (the equivalent of $20M today). Procter & Gamble had already changed American cooking once before. In 1911, they launched Crisco, the first shortening product made with cottonseed oil.

By the 1940s, they had already spent decades convincing Americans that industrial seed oils were better than traditional animal fats like butter and tallow, using the now notorious slogan “it’s digestible.”

Armed with P&G’s million-dollar donation, the American Heart Association would give seed oils the ultimate stamp of approval: “heart healthy.”

From that point on:

✅ Seed oils were in

❌ Animal fats were out

📈 Chronic disease started skyrocketing

💰 Big Food got richer, and America got sicker

This single “donation” helped transform industrial waste into one of the most consumed ingredients in our food supply. And that’s just the beginning of the story.

On November 22nd, a new documentary, “Fed A Lie,” was released. Please take time to watch it. In it, the full story is revealed about how industrial seed oils infiltrated our food supply and their correlation to the sudden rise in obesity and chronic disease. This is bigger than just seed oils. It’s about taking back control of our health from an industry that profits from keeping us sick.

Here at The Woodlands Institute for Health & Wellness, we are strong supporters of removing seed oils to prevent disease. In the order of most harmful listed first, soybean, sunflower, grape seed, cottonseed, corn, rice bran, and canola are detrimental to your health. If you struggle with obesity, diabetes, weight gain in the belly, high blood pressure, cancer, high cholesterol or high LDL lipids, or any other chronic disease, eliminating seed oils is critical to improvement. Look for it in bakery items (donuts, pastries, cookies), salad dressings, packaged and bagged foods (chips, nut mixes, crackers, frozen meals), pre-seasoned or prepped meals, and all fast food.

Avocado, olive, palm, and coconut oils are less inflammatory oils. We recommend cooking only in saturated fats such as butter, ghee, beef tallow, pork or duck fat, and palm or coconut oil. Use avocado and olive oils only for cold preparations, such as salad dressing and hummus.

Skip Seed Oils. Get Well!

References

https://ninateicholz.com/about/the-big-fat-surprise

https://chrisknobbe.com/book

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3335257/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22334255/

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.756122/full