Make It Yourself

I’ve always made my own salad dressings, dips and marinades but I recently started making my own hummus. It’s so simple, I don’t know why I relied on store-bought, other than sheer laziness. But the more I learn just how bad vegetable oils are for your health, the more I stay away from grocery products that contain them. These oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, soybean) are high in omega 6 fatty acids which are inflammatory. Omega 6 fats not only cause inflammation, but also reduce the availability of anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats in your tissues, resulting in more inflammation.

According to Dr. Joseph Hibbein of the National Institutes of Health, eating too many foods high in omega 6 fatty acids and too few high in omega 3 fatty acids (including olive oil, avocados, salmon, nuts) significantly increases your risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, cancer, asthma and auto-immune diseases.

Always look at a product’s label. If it contains oil, chances are it’s a vegetable oil because they are much cheaper than anti-inflammatory oils high in omega 3 like olive and avocado oil. The Sabra hummus brand, for example, is made with soybean oil; Simply Balanced Organic Hummus (Target brand) is made with canola oil. and Cedar’s Hummus uses sunflower oil.

Here’s my favorite hummus recipe. It takes five minutes, makes about 4 cups and is delicious.

Homemade Hummus

 2 cups canned organic chickpeas, drained (reserve liquid)

1 ½ tsp. kosher salt

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/3 cup organic tahini

6 TBSP lemon juice (1-2 large lemons)

2 TBSP chickpea liquid

8 dashes Tabasco sauce, or to taste

Extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in food processor (fitted with steel blade) and process until smooth. Add more chickpea liquid if too thick. Adjust seasonings to taste. Stir in extra virgin olive oil to taste. Store in fridge up to a week.