Eat fats and stay healthy? While that may sound impossible, it’s true! The trick is to choose the right fats in the right amount — including the salad dressings you put onto your salads.
Healthy fats not only taste great, they provide essential fatty acids your body needs, help maintain your body’s cells and make it possible for your body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E and K.
The Right Fats
Most fats are a mix of mono-unsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fat. For the healthiest and tastiest salad dressings, choose oils that are high in mono-unsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fat and low in saturated fat. When eaten in moderation, these fats provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition.
Mono-unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature, but will start to turn solid when refrigerated. Oils such as olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil and sunflower oil are high in mono-unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat. They also:
- Help lower bad cholesterol levels in your blood
- Reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke
- Are high in vitamin E, which most people don’t get enough of in their diet
Polyunsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature and stay liquid when chilled. Oils that are high in polyunsaturated fat include soybean oil, corn oil and safflower oil. They also:
- Help reduce total cholesterol levels in your blood
- Reduce your risk of heart disease
- Provide Omega-3 and Omega-6 — essential fatty acids that play a crucial role in brain function, and that your body needs for healthy cell development
The Right Amounts
Don’t eat too much or too little when it comes to fats. Be like Goldilocks and go for “just right.” That means no more than 25 percent to 35 percent of your total calories every day — and stick with mostly mono-unsaturated or poly-unsaturated fats or both.
Get your healthy fats by filling your plate with a salad bursting with veggies and leafy greens, topped with a small amount of a heart-healthy salad dressing. And eat less of the fat that comes from high-fat meats, dairy products and baked goods that are high in saturated fat.
Salad Dressing Basics
To make delicious homemade salad dressing using healthy oils, start with this simple formula: three parts oil to one part vinegar, lemon juice or citrus juice. Then:
- Add seasonings such as fresh or dried herbs, spices and fresh garlic
- Punch up the flavor by using raspberry, rice, balsamic, tarragon, pomegranate or other flavored vinegars
- Try using less oil and substituting broth, pureed cooked red bell peppers or citrus fruit for part of the oil
