The Paleo List Answers:IS SALAD DRESSING PALEO?

You, as an avid and knowledgable paleo buff knows that the contents of the bowl of dark leafy greens and colorful vegetables in front of you is all good.  But what about your salad dressing?  Does it get passing marks from the paleo gods?  Thanks to feedback from our app we had the opportunity to research what to look for in your salad toppers.

New Shopping Habits

If you haven’t noticed with the paleo diet, the things you are buying tend not to come from large multinational food processors.  So that old habit of buying Kraft or Wishbone is probably going to have to go by the wayside.  Fortunately, there are plenty of people in the paleo community that have some delicious looking salad dressings that conform to the paleo or primal lifestyle.  For instance Mark’s Daily Apple has 10 DIY salad dressings that are primarily oil, citrus or vinegar based.

Fats Found in Salad Dressings are Necessary for Nutrient Absorption

But why should you add dressings to your vitamin and nutrient rich veggies?  Because of the fat soluble vitamins of course.  It turns out that many of the vitamins and minerals in those dark leafy greens can only be absorbed into the body by dissolving in fat.  Vitamins A, D, E and K are some examples of fat soluble vitamins that are transported into the body from the intestine by diffusion.  The trick is that the cells in the intestinal wall has a water layer that prevents fat soluble vitamins from diffusing across.  So without getting too technical, in the process of digestion the body emulsifies lipids which absorb the fat soluble vitamins and then transports the lipid across the water layer, vitamin and all.  The gist of it is that if you don’t include some oil with your vegetables then you probably will just excrete most of the reason why you ate the salad in the first place!

So What’s the Verdict?

Not only is salad dressing paleo, it is essential to get the most out of your salad.  Of course you need to look for salad dressings that contain very few ingredients mostly consisting of oils, vinegars and spices with few if any preservatives.

Do you have any favorite homemade salad dressing recipes?  Perhaps a good store bought dressing?  Share your thoughts here if you have some.

Are you struggling with which foods are Paleo?  Do you need help planning some Paleo meals?  Check out this great Paleo cookbook: