Here's an interesting blog post by Registered Dietician Lily Nichols.
Quoting the post titled 5 Reasons to Ditch Low fat Salad Dressing:
"You need fat to absorb the nutrients from your vegetables – That beta-carotene found in carrots is fat-soluble and so is the lycopene in your tomatoes and so is the zeaxanthin in your kale… (I could keep going). This means you must consume it with some fat to get the benefits of these powerful antioxidants. Also, the fat soluble vitamins – A, D, E and K – require fat for absorption."
It turns out this has been studied. This study found "a substantially greater absorption of carotenoids was observed when salads were consumed with full-fat than with reduced-fat salad dressing."
This one found that "adding adding avocado fruit can significantly enhance carotenoid absorption from salad and salsa, which is attributed primarily to the lipids present in avocado"
Plus that low fat salad dressing taste's terrible and we all could use another excuse to eat avocados:)
Thanks for mentioning this. I first read it a couple of weeks ago.
I recently purchased one of Dr Atkins books (from 1991) at a thrift store. I wanted to compare it to Bernstein's diet. It was harder for me to read than Berntein's, because Bernstein and I seem to think more alike (I am a diabetic engineer, too), and Atkin's book primarily talks about losing lots of weight, which I don't need.
Atkins does make the point in that book that people who eat low fat diets over time end up deficient in all fat soluble vitamins, and people who consume too much caffeine and/or alcohol become deficient in water soluble vitamins. He says that people who are deficient in fat soluble vitamins tend to make up for the lack of energy by consuming too much carbs and caffeine. He recommends in getting all of those checked, and if you don't get the lab work done, at least take supplements with all of those fat soluble vitamins for the first few months you are on the diet.
Bernstein may have also mentioned it in his book, but I didn't remember it.
I actually don't think Bernstein recommends supplementing water soluble vitamins. The B vitamins as well as vitamin C are water soluble, all the rest are fat soluble. He argues that if you eat red meat once or twice a week and eat lots of non-starchy veggies, you will do fine. That being said, my doctor tests my B-12 and D levels and I take supplements for them.
Some others seem to agree with Dr. B. Dr. Steve Parker recently said:
If one of my diabetics prefers to eat Bernstein or Atkins-style over my program, I have no problem with that at all. (The Atkins program recommends some nutritional supplements that I’m not convinced are necessary or even minimally helpful.)
Almond milk tastes much better than skim milk also. It is more nutritive, has fewer grams of carbohydrate, and some monounsaturated fat to facilitate vitamin absorption.
How much fat is needed when eating carrots, tomatoes and kale ?! Also, can you recommend a particular brand of salad dressing that is ok for gluten free diets? I get tired of Olive Oil all the time!
I eat a lot of coleslaw. Since I try to limit omega 6's I often substitute sour cream for the mayo. Sour cream can also be used to make ranch type dressing. Here's a link to some recipe's. Also you can Google "sour cream salad dressing" for more ideas. Many are a mix of mayo and sour cream, but in my experience you can use all sour cream if you wish.
For others who aren't tired of olive oil, I often make my coleslaw with just oil and vinegar.
