(NaturalNews) Salads are a great way to load up on your daily servings of fresh vegetables. If you are topping them with store-bought dressings; however, you may be doing more harm than good. Most commercial brands contain soybean or canola oil, sugar or corn syrup, preservatives, thickening agents and stabilizers - and sometimes ingredients like "natural flavor" or "yeast extract," which can disguise MSG. It's easy to make your own dressings at home, so you can control the quality of your ingredients. Try this
Italian dressing recipe made from extra virgin olive oil, raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar, raw honey and a few other ingredients from your spice rack.
Typical commercial salad dressings contain white vinegar that is distilled from corn. This type of vinegar is inflammatory and offers no real health benefit. Apple cider vinegar that is
raw, organic and unfiltered is a much better choice because it actually contributes to health in many ways - eases heartburn, joint pain and joint stiffness; improves skin complexion and bowel function, breaks down fat to aid in weight loss, etc. You may need to shop at a natural food store to find this type of vinegar because it is usually not sold in the regular vinegar aisle at most grocers.
Unlike the refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup in most store-bought dressings, raw honey is full of vitamins and minerals, contains high levels of antioxidants, and has anti-inflammatory properties, as well. Make sure you purchase honey that is truly
raw because heating (i.e., pasteurizing) honey destroys its
natural health benefits! Raw honey is most likely found at your local farmers market, natural food store or
health section of your regular grocer.
Making your own homemade dressing is the best way to
truly know what you are pouring on top of your veggies, and you don't have to be a master in the kitchen to whip up a batch of the simple and delicious
Italian dressing recipe included here. Enjoy!
"Homemade Italian dressing"
Makes about three cups
INGREDIENTS:2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 cup raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP garlic granules (or 1/2 TBSP garlic powder)
1 TBSP dried oregano
1/4 cup raw honey
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:Whisk or shake together and enjoy. Store dressing in a sealed container. (Empty olive oil and vinegar bottles work great for storing salad dressings!)
Sources for this article include:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033987_salad_dressing_corn_syrup.htmlhttp://www.globalhealingcenter.comAbout the author:Christy Pooschke is author of
"Eating Additive-Free" and founder of
CompletelyNourished.com - a website focused on natural food, holistic health, green living and positive thinking. The online community available through her site features 200+ delicious, natural recipes suited to a variety of dietary restrictions (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegetarian, soy-free, MSPI, etc.). Christy was inspired to help others reduce their reliance on processed foods after resolving her own
Fibromyalgia symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes. Want more great tips and recipes for eating an additive-free diet? Subscribe to her
natural foods blog, join her
online community of 1,200+ members, and get yourself a copy of her book - "
Eating Additive-Free: Natural Cookbook & Shopping Guide" (available as a hard copy or e-book).
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