A Raw Food Diet Without Sweet Salad Dressings

by Veruska
(Italy)

Veruska's Question:

Hello Andrew, nice to meet you.

I'm Italian, I'm 35 and I've decide for a new year resolution that can change my life : a raw food diet !!!

Although i like very much fruit , I don t like tomatoes, cilantro, cucumber, and some other greens.

What can i do for my salad dressing? I bought your e-books but I don t like the sweet taste in salad. Only thing that can work for me for a salad dressing is avocado...can I use it every day? How?

I'm a little worried cause I know eat greens is an important part of raw food diet but salad without any oil or dressing... i think i can't do it.

The other option is green juice, what do you think about that?

I like salad and i know that 2 lbs of greens every day is the optimal... I want to find a solution.

Happy New Year,
Veruska

Andrew's Answer:

Hi Veruska.

Sounds like you're in a rough spot for salad dressing ideas. You want a low-fat salad dressing and so can't use oil, but you also don't like the fruits, vegetables, and herbs which are your alternative ingredients. There isn't too much to work with here.

Salad dressings can be divided into sweet, savory, and fatty. Savory dressing might contain low-sugar fruits like tomatoes, vegetables like celery, and herbs. Sweet dressings are usually just blends of sweet fruits. Fatty dressings rely on nuts, seeds, and avocadoes with the possibility of adding herbs and various types of fruit.

I discuss how to make sweet and savory in my ebook, Savory Raw Dressings and Sauces. The problem is you're rejecting everything but fat, leaving you with nothing to work with.

As you probably know, keeping a healthy blood sugar level is dependent on keeping your fat intake below 10 percent of calories consumed.

This means the amount of fatty avocado you can consume is limited. How limited? It depends on how many calories you use during the course of a day. You can use a website like nutridiary.com to do the math for you.

For example, if you ate 3,000 calories a day, you could eat one hass avocado every day and still come in at under 10 percent of calories consumed from fat.

If you eat much less than this, then maybe half or a quarter of a hass avocado would be appropriate.

Usually I suggest blending avocado with something else like a tomato or citrus fruit and perhaps some herbs to thin it out a bit, but you say you don't like any of these options.

As for juicing your greens, it is not a good long-term solution. Juicing things once in awhile is fine, but you don't want to become dependent on it. Read more about juicing here.

Blending greens may be a better option, but usually people blend greens with fruit, which you don't want to do.

Personally, when I'm too busy to make a dressing I just munch on my lettuce straight, and if it's fresh, organic, and tasty, this is a fine option.

In the long term, be open to returning to sweeter dressings and see if you change your mind about them.

Note For Readers: Veruska is referring to my popular ebook, Savory Raw Dressings and Sauces, which explains how to make delicious salad dressings and sauces without using the harmful high-fat foods that make most raw food diets unhealthy.