Salad Dressings for the South Beach Diet

Understanding how to select salad dressings while undertaking the South Beach diet is relatively easy once you understand the basic principles underlying the diet. Because it focuses on lower total carbohydrates and higher protein and monounsaturated fats, the South Beach diet can require careful consideration of bottled salad dressings, as they are usually full of sweeteners and saturated or polyunsaturated fats--ingredients that are not part of the South Beach diet.

Bottled Salad Dressings

• When thinking about bottled salad dressings that will fit within the parameters of the South Beach diet, remember the diet's focus: low carbohydrates (sugars or starches), higher levels of monounsaturated fats. Good natural sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, grape seed oil and canola oil. Corn oil and soybean oil, common ingredients in most bottled salad dressings, are not good natural sources of monounsaturated fats--in fact, they are high in saturated and polyunsaturated fat, which is not part of the South Beach diet.

  Avoid bottled salad dressings that contain sugar or other sweeteners. Check the label on the back of the bottle for the amount of sugars in a single serving--that will be a primary clue. Look for sugar in the ingredients list, as well as corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup.

Homemade Salad Dressings

• The simplest solution to finding a good salad dressing while on the South Beach diet is to make it at home. A basic vinaigrette consisting of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper will provide salads with flavor while avoiding ingredients that do not adhere to the diet plan. Online food websites have hundreds of recipes for basic vinaigrettes--just remember to focus on using ingredients that are high in monounsaturated fats and do not contain sweeteners.