Mama said to eat your greens...and your fat, too.

For as long as I can remember (and that only takes us back to the ‘80s, folks) fat was bad. I remember being 13 and thinking I could eat plates of pasta, bowls of cereals, and piles of bagels, because they were fat-free. Then what’s-his-name (oh yeah, Atkins) came and deprived us of our guilt-free carb bingeing. So I cut back on those, too.

My first year out of college, when I was probably my most calorie-conscience, I would often eat salads with no more than mixed greens, baby carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers with fat-free dressing. No cheese. No nuts. Probably a bunch of garbanzo beans, though.

Today I’m not nearly as fat-phobic, but I’m sure we’ve all had those “super healthy” meals. You think, “Oh I’m doing such good things for my body! All these vitamins! No fat! No carbs!”

But did you know that you need some fat to help absorb those vitamins? The lycophene in the tomatoes, the beta-kerotene (vitamin A) in the carrots and romaine – they don’t just magically enter our bloodstream. They need to be dissolved by fat and then absorbed into your intestinal wall, to be specific.

Eating your salad with that fat-free dressing may keep you your calorie count down, but you may also be depriving yourself of the vitamins, too.

I came across this 2004 study on fat-soluble vitamins from Iowa State University. The researchers found that eating baby carrots alone may offer no health benefits, and the same with salads with fat-free dressing.

Altering your lettuce-munching habits is easy. Step 1: Toss in some cheese, nuts, avocado and olives (but go easy!), and you’ve got a more satisfying salad with all the health benefits.

Step 2: Toss out whatever you’ve got in the fridge*. Most likely it’s got some weird stuff in it – stuff you probably wouldn’t want hanging out in your body if you actually thought about it. It only takes an extra minute to whisk up your own balsamic vinaigrette. Or take a few more minutes to chop some shallot and oregano, and try my current favorite. Enjoy!

Fresh Oregano Vinaigrette
Courtesy Bobby Flay (www.foodnetwork.com)

1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup pure olive oil

Whisk together vinegar, shallot, mustard, honey, and oregano in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Slowly whisk in olive oil until emulsified.

*Disclosure: I do have Annie’s low-fat Gingerly Vinaigrette in my fridge. I found the ingredients posted on Annie’s website.

INGREDIENTS: Water, Cider Vinegar, Soy Sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Honey, Ginger Puree, Ginger Powder, Organic Mustard (organic cider vinegar, organic mustard seed, salt, organic cloves), Xanthan Gum.

I was feeling sort of smug about my salad dressing, even after the lecture above on how easy it is to make your own – until I saw the Xanthan gum. What the heck is that, anyway?

From Wikipedia:
Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide used as a food additive and rheology modifier. It is produced by a process involving fermentation of glucose or sucrose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium.

Enough said.