Paleo Shitlist #1

Posted Thu, 07/29/2010 - 20:20 by Melissa

And now for a new feature: The Paleo Shitlist, featuring products that masquerade as healthy, but that kind of aren't. First up is Annie's Green Goddess Dressing:

It makes me very sad because green goddess dressing is one of my favorites. But most of the calories in this dressing comes from refined "organic soy oil." Because it's organic, I guess people think that means healthy, but soy oil is anything but! Soy oil is probably responsible for the "Israeli Paradox"— a term coined for the fact that Israelis consumes a diet fairly low in saturated fat and high in "healthy" polyunsaturated fats, but have a high incidence of heart disease. Soy oil has an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of about 8:1 and one tablespoon has a whopping 7 grams of pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats. Furthermore, the peroxide value of soybean oil is around 26, compared to around 9 for good olive oil. Peroxide value is an indicator of rancidity and the last thing your body needs is rancid fats stressing your arteries and causing further inflammation. Even worst, shelf-stable dairy products, like the "sour cream" in this, are often those used in studies that show the negative effects of dairy and is a potential source of rancid cholesterol. 

So here's a product marketed as healthy and probably millions of people think they are eating healthy when they dump it on their salad, but the devil is in the details. The only bright spot is the fact that refined soy oil probably doesn't have much in the way of soy estrogens...

I suggest making some animal fat mayo(sub out canola for good olive oil) and using this excellent recipe for Green Goddess Dressing. If you don't do dairy, it's pretty good even without the sour cream.

 

Comments

Another paradox? There must

by Rip (not verified) - 07/31/2010 - 19:01

Another paradox? There must be more paradoxes in food science than in an entire season of Star Trek.

Has no one actually stopped to think: French Paradox - high sat fat consumption, low heart disease...Israeli Paradox - low sat fat consumption, high poly consumption, high heart disease?

I was thinking the same thing

by sr (not verified) - 07/31/2010 - 06:20

I was thinking the same thing last week when I was looking at salad dressings at the local health food store. Unfortunately, Annie's is in good company. Almost all of them were loading with omega 6 PUFAs. I could only find one paleo-friendly brand - Bragg's (better known for apple cider vinegar).

Sometimes I envy you city slickers with your paved roads and broader food choices.

They stock all these Annie's

by JCB (not verified) - 07/30/2010 - 12:46

They stock all these Annie's dressings in the cafe at work and I was really disappointed to see what they are REALLY made of. AND to find out that the bottle labeled "olive oil" next to them is really a blend of SOME olive oil and mostly soybean or canola oils.
Just like the "melted butter" they cook the omelets in is really a "butter oil" - mixed butter and unnamed vegetable oils. I don't trust any restaurant to cook anything in butter any more unless I see the wrapper!

No doubt most Americans

by Stancel (not verified) - 07/30/2010 - 04:29

No doubt most Americans consume soy in the form of soybean oil common in salad dressings, mayonnaise, margarine, and other condiments.

Although Quaker doesn't use real bacon in their grits (I wonder if some people don't even know this), as many vegans might know already. It's made out of soy.

Shelf-stable dairy? New

by archaea (not verified) - 07/30/2010 - 01:35

Shelf-stable dairy? New concept to me. Now I'm worried. I'm assuming the quotation marks you used mean that *proper* sour cream (i.e. just cream that's been fermented) does not fall into this category, right? Which products are considered shelf-stable dairy - and what's special about them to make them harmful?

I love this shitlist idea! Looking forward to more items :)
I would usually be automatically suspicious of any commercial "dressing" anyway, and I'm a compulsive label reader (and short-sighted, which must make me look ridiculous in supermarkets!).

Shelf stable= you don't have

by Melissa - 07/30/2010 - 07:14

Shelf stable= you don't have to keep in fridge, so don't worry.

"Even worst, shelf-stable

by sour taste in the mouth (not verified) - 07/30/2010 - 00:08

"Even worst, shelf-stable dairy products, like the "sour cream" in this, are often those used in studies that show the negative effects of dairy and is a potential source of rancid cholesterol."

this hit me like a sledgehammer in the balls. i've been eating about 2-3 pounds of sour cream a day (in addition to my normal 3 meals) for the last month or so. i'm not doing it deliberately, i just can't help myself. it all started when i bought some organic goats milk kefir in wholefoods. fuck me it was heaven. at $7 a pop it wasnt cheap but the next day i was craving the taste so i went to walmart (no wholefoods where i live) but they didnt have any kefir. nearest thing i could find was sour cream so i gave it a try. before u could say "pass me the blueberries" i was on a two-tubs-a-day habit.

now, the stuff i buy is the creme de la creme of supermarket sour creams - its called 'daisy' brand sour cream and the only ingredient is "cultured grade A cream" (all the other ones have all sorts of nasty additives - except, strangely, the walmart own brand which only has "enzyme" listed as an extra ingredient; still its no match for daisy). i thought it was healthy but now u say it could be loaded with oxidized cholesterol?? say it ain't so melissa! i'm just after buying another batch of tubs from wally walmart :(

Shelf stable=don't keep in

by Melissa - 07/30/2010 - 07:15

Shelf stable=don't keep in the fridge. Cheez wiz is a good example of this. Don't worry about your sour creams, though I know that farm fresh probably has more vitamins and is generally better.

I thought I was the only one

by AnnaA (not verified) - 07/29/2010 - 23:06

I thought I was the only one pissed off at the fact almost all commercial dressings are now made with soy oil. Soy is not good for my hypothyroidism.

I usually end up making my own dressing because life is too short to read that many labels.

Lard from pigs fed a special

by Heath Putnam (not verified) - 07/29/2010 - 21:52

Lard from pigs fed a special low-PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) diet at the end of their lives - like this stuff I make and sell - is a lot less rancid prone than soybean oil.

If you finish a pig on soybean or canola oil or other high-PUFA feed, they'll produce fat that goes rancid very quickly. If you feed them the right stuff, the fat is neutral and clean tasting.

I would rather toss that salad in warm bacon grease than put the soybean oil on it.

MMM, sounds delicious to me.

by Melissa - 07/29/2010 - 21:56

MMM, sounds delicious to me. BTW my family has a farm and might be interested in a pig. If you hear from any Lorands or McEwens I sent them.

Thanks! I will keep my eye

by Heath Putnam (not verified) - 07/30/2010 - 12:52

Thanks! I will keep my eye out for them.

I am just now starting to sell Mangalitsa breeding stock. You can read more about that here: http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2010/07/wooly-pigs-selling-swallow-belly.html

They are the only extreme lard-type pigs for sale in the USA. They are likely idea for paleo people looking for healthy, natural fats.

E.g. they make ridiculously good, traditional fatty products:

http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2010/06/speck.html

http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2010/03/mangalitsa-lardo-swiss-meat-sausag...

http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2010/05/cured-mangalitsa-neck.html

I think they are perfect pigs - fed right, they produce an incredible bounty of high-quality fat and a small amount of super-marbled meat. They do well in traditional pig-keeping systems.

I would greatly appreciate if you could publicize this offer among paleo people. My hope would be that some of them would tell their favorite farmers to buy some breeding stock (or even buy the breeding stock for them) and raise these fatty pigs for them.

There are many farmers who'd be happy to raise these pigs - but they'd need to know that a customer was going to pay for the fat.

I have a lot of paleo and Weston A. Price customers. They buy a lot of lard, speck, lardo, etc.