- recipe for a salad dressing that helps you lose weight
- why your body loves this recipe!
- example meal that unlocks your H 🙂 PPY weight
So you’re at the grocery store pushing your cart down the condiment aisle, looking for a salad dressing that helps you lose weight.
Your eye catches the words:
Low-fat!
Ultra-low fat!
& No-fat!
Hmmm… they all sound like a good idea, right?
WRONG.
When you understand the type of salad dressing that helps you lose weight, EVERY single food choice will be easier!
Ready to unlock your H 🙂 PPY weight without punishing yourself?
I’ll show you how!
Let’s get started…
Got salad dressing in your fridge?
My friend Julie’s husband is from England.
As you know, my partner Alex is too.
I actually met Julie, Nigel and Alex all on the same night, at a pub on Munster Road in Fulham.
Here we are on a boat.
This pic was taken pre-Instagram.
Anyways, when Alex and I moved back to Canada, Julie and Nige came to our rental apartment on the first floor of a small house on Bathurst St. in Toronto.
They’d just popped in for dessert (after he proposed to her atop the CN Tower).
And I distinctly remember Nigel saying:
I thought that was an astute observation from a guy busy playing beer pong on the floor of our front room.
Why we didn’t have oodles of salad dressing in our fridge
The 4 of us were used to our tiny flats in London that only came with a bar fridge.
Alex and I (and so many other young couples) bought everything fresh on our way home from work.
After supply teaching at a different primary school around London, almost every day, I’d go to Caffè Nerd (Caffè Nero) to wait for Alex.
I’d park myself at a table and nurse a latte over the 2 hour window I could dedicate to writing. I tapped away on my lap top—our first ever “win” off ebay (!)
My goal? To complete a fictional story about a girl who had an eating disorder.
Eating disorders are almost never discussed
Why aren’t there any movies that even take a peak at this topic? More than 30 million Americans alone live with a complicated relationship with food. I mean, the disordered eating bit could just be a subplot! A side-story to something bigger—there’s always something bigger, unexpected and waaaaay more interesting going on, isn’t there?
Silence creates unnecessary shame around weight loss and disordered eating. And shame leads to secrecy which isolates you with misinformation that keeps you sick. Like everyone thinks weight loss is about willpower. It’s not! This web of confusion traps people and keeps them jumping from diet to diet so you keep investing in an industry that sets you up to fail.
…As the fog of my disordered eating was lifting, all the above was coming clear.
But I had no idea how to tell my disordered eating story
I just wanted it out there so someone who’d been really ill—someone like me, only a few months earlier—might read it and realize recovery is possible. Things can get better quickly. And it can be one of the most exciting times of your life.
Anyways… after Alex finished work and arrived at my “office” we’d head to Sainsbury’s and then walk up Wimbledon Hill with a backpack full of fresh food.
(I still have those stories I wrote. One for each of The 10 Principles. And every story is true.)
So many fridges are full of fake food
Nigel’s right.
Growing up it was bog-standard to have a big salad with dinner. (Still is!)
And whether you were at home,
a friend’s house
or a two-hour drive off the main drag at Aunt Tilda’s…
There’d be a bounty of store-bought salad dressing bottles in the middle of the table to choose from.
And the greasy labels always said: low-fat, ultra-low fat or no fat!
Soon manufacturers replaced these glass bottles with plastic—a perfect pairing, in my opinion, for the phoney ingredients inside.
Why don’t reduced-fat salad dressings help you lose weight?
Quite simply, your body is natural so it loves natural food.
As Marie Kondo would say, keep like with like.
And by fresh food I mean the kind that rots.
Here’s an easy way to remember the food that helps you lose weight
It’s the fresh stuff that’s found around the exterior of the grocery store, like fish, carrots, lettuce, cheese, milk, meat, butter, bread and so on.
Whole foods are almost always found near a wall where they’re baked in an oven or kept in a fridge to keep them FRESH! (This pic is from my book on page 34.)
Fresh food works with your body the best
Whereas reduced-fat salad dressings and other processed factory foods are stacked on shelves in the middle of the store where they can sit for MONTHS, because they’re full of:
- preservatives
- artificial colors
- fake flavors
- artificial sweeteners
- unnatural fat
- salt
- sugar
And lots of other unnatural ingredients mixed together that confuse your body!
When you eat these factory-made foods you stay hungry, crave more processed foods and eat more than you need.
(That’s why you can inhale a whole bag of florescent orange Doritos—a color that stays on your fingers for days—and still feel hungry.)
Check out the back of this store-bought salad dressing bottle:
I have no idea what xanthan gum is.
And neither does your beautiful, super-smart body.
And that’s an order.
🙂
Tell me more about these salad dressings that help you lose weight
Well, when you eat whole foods (packed with nutrients from Mother Nature) your body recognizes all the natural:
- vitamins
- minerals
- fiber
- fat
- water
- protein
- & carbohydrates
So your body can use all the vitamins, etc. to nourish your body (keep your heart pumping, hair growing, etc.)
Natural food helps you reach your HAPPY weight
Because natural food hasn’t been processed in a factory your body has to do the work.
So the food takes time to break down.
Thus… energy from whole foods enters your blood stream slowly and your body can use the energy as it becomes available.
Fresh food keeps you full longer.
Whereas when you eat processed foods, they’re already, well, processed. So they enter your blood stream all at once. And overwhelm it with confusing chemicals. Then the energy is quickly stored as body fat.
You know the feeling. It’s like a sugar high and then a sugar crash. Then you crave more sugar…
When you stop eating fake food, unlocking your HAPPY weight becomes a whole lot easier (and you have waaay more energy!)
More good news about natural food
When you eat:
ROUGHLY balanced meals made MOSTLY of whole foods
You get the variety of energy and nutrients your body needs.
Then you feel full and don’t eat more than you need.
Natural food helps you fill up naturally and then you reach your H 🙂 PPY weight naturally.
Here’s what a balanced meal looks like
Aim for these proportions on your plate:
Just visualize the Eatwell Guide when you make your next meal out of MOSTLY whole foods.
Here’s a salad dressing that helps you lose weight
This salad dressing is made of natural food. And it’s the “oils & spreads” part of a ROUGHLY balanced meal.
I came across this recipe YEARS ago on a gossip blog (!) Then I asked the chef for permission to reprint. He said YES (yay!) So I included this salad dressing that helps you lose weight as one of the recipes found in my book.
Not only is it delicious but it’s made of one-ingredient foods.
Big thanks to the amazing catering company called Fresh Thinking. Their recipe is called Tim’s Salad Dressing.
I’ve adapted this recipe a little because you gotta be flexible when you cook! And I didn’t have all the ingredients in.
Tim’s Salad Dressing that helps you lose weight
I triple or more Tim’s recipe to make enough for about a week. It doesn’t look as pretty as the days go on but it keeps tasting better as the ingredients infuse.
An empty salsa jar (this one will be soon) is perfect to store this salad dressing that helps you lose weight!
It makes transporting your salad dressing easy, whether you’re going to a dinner party, having a picnic in the park, staying at a friend’s cottage or you’re on a boat.
Simply put a dab of red nail polish at the 2/3rd cup mark. Then you never have to measure the oil again!
Here’s the ingredients for this salad dressing that helps you lose weight
Tim’s Adapted Salad Dressing
(makes enough for a few big salads)
2/3 cup of extra olive oil
1/3 cup of red wine vinegar (I used red & white vinegar plus balsamic combined to make about 2/3rds of a cup – so I sort of doubled Tim’s vinegar)
3 shallots minced (I diced a big red onion)
3 garlic cloves minced (I pressed 5 gigantic garlic cloves)
1 teaspoon of grainy mustard (I added 2 tbsps of mustard powder)
10 cherry tomatoes cut in half (I just kept putting them in until the jar was full)
fresh chopped basil (I ripped up a big handful of basil)
dash of salt & pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together and you’ve got summer in a jar.
Let this salad dressing sit until you’re ready to serve.
This dressing is so thick that I just give the jar a shake or swirl it around with a spoon and then scoop it out onto fresh romaine lettuce.
(Use any lettuce you like—I gather by now you know I’m not stuck on things being just so.)
For instance, I didn’t have grainy mu-tard, so I used this:
As for basil, we planted some at the start of the summer in this purpley-ceramic pot. Alex found it in our common garbage room’s dumpster. There isn’t even a crack in it! (Please excuse the look of this end-of-season basil. It was bushy and bright green for most of the summer.)
Make this salad dressing that helps you lose weight part of a balanced meal
Ok, so here’s a big beautiful ROUGHLY balanced meal made of MOSTLY whole foods your body loves.
When you eat natural food you fill up naturally and reach your H 🙂 PPY weight naturally.
(You could throw in some cheese cubes to make this meal more balanced… or add some Parmesan to the mashed herb-y potatoes.)
Make Today Count
What-cha eating for dinner tonight?
Is there a natural food you can add, like a few radishes or carrot sticks?
How ’bout a natural salad dressing that helps you lose weight!?
Build healthy eating and exercise habits. A healthy weight will follow.
Next Steps
Go to your fridge and throw out all your salad dressings that are made of fake ingredients! Then plan a ROUGHLY balanced meal made MOSTLY of whole foods you can eat for your next dinner. Look at the corn, sausage and salad dinner I put earlier in this post. If you don’t like corn, eat potatoes instead (like these French Fries). Don’t like sausage? Substitute with another protein. Not a fan of lettuce with a salad dressing that helps you lose weight (gasp!)? Include a different vegetable.
Pleeze Note!
“I’m on a boat” is a satirical song by Lonely Island that was featured on SNL (Saturday Night Live); a comedy show in the USA. So… there’s a lot of swearing. Eeeek! This is the beeped out version. Part of the charm is that Andy Samberg actually has a bit of a serious side, is married to a classically trained harpist and lives in the opulent estate Moorcrest in LA (Charlie Chaplin once lived there!) I love that he can write characters so different from his own.
It’s a ridiculous song (!) And the joke (to me anyways) is that it kinda captures the curated “look-at-me-ness” of Instagram:
“I’m at the park!”
“I’m at my cottage.”
If cursing isn’t your cup o-tea, I totally get it. And you might want to give this one a miss:
What’s your favorite salad dressing that helps you lose weight?
“Take a good, hard look…”
…at your recipe book!
And let me know it in the comments below.
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Sharing what I learned makes the 10 years I STRUGGLED worth it
Thank you for this great post, Kelly– I need to make this today! Love the picture of you and Alex from early on in your relationship! xo xo
Thanks so much Kathy!! Alex smiles all the time and isn’t in that photo (just noticed it now!) You’re such an incredible cook I can’t wait to hear what you think of this salad dressing recipe and/or how you adapt it! xoK
Good afternoon from East Texas! Your book has been such an eye opener for me!!
You have explained healthy eating in such a way, no one could go wrong with this new way of eating. What is the saying? Eat To Live! (Vs. Live to eat.)
Your one-day meal plan made me feel so satisfied after I ate. Plus the coffee cappuccino! I am excited about the whole milk too. What can I say? But….God Bless You!
Elizabeth!!!
You’re so kind to take the time to write to me.
I’m excited you’re enjoying eating the way I explain in my book. And your body LOVES it too! I hope you’ll also try the salad dressing in this post (above). I love it so much (and the Caesar Salad dressing that’s in my book you read) that I’ve hardly ventured out to try others. If you have any questions about eating or exercise just let me know. I love troubleshooting 🙂 Sending lots of love to you in Texas,
xoKelly and Rocky (my dog, who’s in a lot of my posts!)
Hi Kelly,
Love your salad dressing. (Salad in a jar!) What a great idea, just add it to your lettuce & your salad is made. Sooo easy. Great site, I am now planning to eat your way instead of trying to diet all the time thank you
No more dieting!!!
LOVE that Pauline.
95% of dieters gain back all the weight and more.
When you eat balanced meals made of natural food you fill up naturally and unlock your H 🙂 PPY weight naturally.
Thank you so much for your super sweet comment and I’m so happy you’re here… and “breaking up” with dieting for good.
xoKelly