For the amount of calories in 2 tablespoons olive oil (238 calories, 0 protein, 0 fiber), you could eat...
Salad:
1 cup iceberg lettuce ... 10 calories, 1 gram protein, 1 gram fiber
1 thick (1/2") slice large tomato ... 5, 0, 0
1/4 cup sliced cucumber ... 4, 0, 0
1 thin slice onion ... 4, 0, 0
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar ... 2, 0, 0
Plus Soup:
1/2 cup cooked cauliflower ... 14, 1, 1
1/2 cup cooked broccoli ... 27, 2, 3
1/4 cup cooked green beans ... 11, 0.5, 1
1/4 cup cooked carrots ... 13, 0.5, 1
1/4 cup cooked lentils ... 57, 4.5, 4
2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce ... 8, 2, 0
Plus Dessert:
1 cup cantaloupe ... 60, 1, 2
1/2 cup strawberries ... 24, 0.5, 1.5
And get 13 grams of protein and 14.5 grams of fiber. That's a lot of food!
5 comments:
I don't mean to disparage olive oil. Just wanted to show how energy-dense fats are. A snack bag of chips has almost this amount of fat, and what do you get for it?
Don’t worry about disparaging oils. I just finished reading the books “Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health” based on the work of T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. and “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure” by Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. I had watched the documentary “Forks Over Knives” some months back. These guys are adamant that no oil, including olive oil, is good oil. They say all oils are bad and should be avoided. They say that fat damages the blood vessels and is a major cause of cardio vascular disease. They also believe in a really low fat diet of not more than 10% fat. They say USDA recommendation of 30% of calories from fat is way too high and guarantees a high rate of cardiovascular disease. Your post aptly shows how much extra good nutrition we can have by avoiding just 2 tablespoons of oil. I stopped using salad dressing years ago because of its low nutritional value and high amount of calories from fat. I probably cut at least 238 calories from my salad that way.
Oh, dear. Here we go again. One cannot trust T. Colin Campbell. He's damned by his own writing, one example (out of many) of which I gave on a previous blog post of Bix. It is, of course, logically possible that something he claims may accidentally turn out to be true, but you should look for evidence elsewhere.
I stopped using oil in salad dressing over the summer. The first time I was like, what?, no way. I used balsamic vinegar. After about 2 weeks I got used to it. I swear. Now when there's oil it feels all greasy and dirty and tastes rancid. I saw a video where Campbell said your tastes change and he's right.
I am going to that agree olive oil is not so great for you. I will liken it to the recommendation from my nutritionist regarding fruit juice; "eat the fruit - don't drink the juice" so, eat olives, which are likely better for you than using olive oil. It's just that there is no subsitution for it in a salad dressing - so, I just try to use less.
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