Vinaigrettes are nice, but sometimes I like a thick dressing. My problem is that I don't want to add oil, nuts or other fats because I'm trying to keep my fat percentage low (10% or less).

The other day it occurred to me to blend a peach in a blender. I added apple cider vinegar, onion, jalapeno pepper bits, parsley, salt and pepper. I chopped another peach in the lettuce salad with celery, etc. Anyway, for a salad with no nuts, no seeds, no avocado, and no oil, it was very satisfying.

Later that night I decided to try blending a whole tomato in a salad dressing. It wasn't creamy, but it was thick. I have several yellow bell peppers and will try them tonight.

So... my suggestion is to blend/puree a fruit or vegetable in a salad dressing to make it thick without using fat to do it. It's a simple idea, but one that hadn't occurred to me before.


My favorite raw vegan

I have seen recipes from posters on here and I am curious about something: why do you choose to eat a low-fat raw diet? I thought that raw fat was actually good for the body. I can't remember who advocates for this: maybe David Wolfe or Victoria Boutenko, but I am not sure. I guess I feel that fat would be satisfying and especially as a dressing.

Doug Graham advocates a diet of 80% carbs 10% fat and 10% protein. He has a book that explains his rationale. However, many people who eat raw seem to do fine with a higher percentage of fat than 10%. There are questions about how successful people are long term on a raw diet that is really high fat, but I don't know about that.

In my own experience, if I eat an avocado I immediately gain weight, which I don't want to do. Perhaps it's because I eat a lot of fruit. However, my main reason for keeping fats and protein low is that when I eat high amounts of them, they are hard for me to digest and I get acid reflux. On a low fat raw vegan diet I do fine. (My husband seems to be able to eat whatever he wants and stay in great shape. He likes olive oil added to his salad dressing, but he eats lots of cooked foods too. As a concession to getting older he now eats one dessert a day instead of two!)

Also, FYI, I just read an article on telomeres and lifestyle. A study was reported fairly recently that a low fat diet that is high in fruits and veges along with a lifestyle that is low stress keep telomeres longer/in better shape. They have to do with cell replication and longevity. The fat percentage in the study was also 10%.


My favorite raw vegan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2010 03:19AM by Trive.

Hi Trive, I too try not to over do it on the fats which is really easy to do in cold weather. Instead of using oil for my dressing which has caused me to break out in the past, I've been blending up a tablespoon of tahini with lemon juice and garlic. As you know a little fat is okay, and Dr. Graham uses tahini in some of his 80-10-10 recipes. Here's a link you may find interesting [www.30bananasaday.com]. It is a website dedicated to the low fat high vibe lifestyle and has a forum as well where people share their 80-10-10 recopies. Good Luck!

JEN

Mmmm, the peach and jalapeno combo sounds delicious.

Going high sugar to avoid high fat is a mistake, esp if the high fat are whole foods, e.g. nuts and seeds. The dose is the poison or the benefit. Just blending one part fruit to one part nut/seed with 2 tablespoons of vinegor (balsamic, other) make a great salad dressing imho.

Ugh not the ol' "80/10/10 or not" debate here too I'm not even gonna say anything.

My favorite lowfat raw dressing right now (it's from the book) is 1 orange blended up with 2T of tahini. (I make my own tahini; never tried premade). So good, and so much volume, it really douses the salad. I use and recommend a salad spinner to dry the greens so a soupy mess doesn't result in the bottom. Tonight I made a huge green smoothie and then was out of greens so skipped them in my salad and just ate a bowl of cucumber/tomato/zucchini/celery chopped up, with the above dressing. yum

I've also heard that tomatoes and mangos blended makes a great dressing, but I have yet to try that as I can't bear to risk 1 mango, I love them so much on their own. have you read the 80/10/10 book or tried the ones in there? DG also has a book High Energy Diet Recipes which I got for Christmas, but I've been pretty lazy with trying new stuff. It doesn't have quite as many salad dressing recipes in there as I'd hoped though.

I like honey, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil. Sometimes I'll add ground cashews for a nut dressing. Yum Yum