Homemade Mayonnaise

If you want to reduce your risk of  heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other life altering illnesses, I recommend you read this article!  Recently, my friends over at Redstone Olive Oil held a class featuring nutritionist, Kalene McCrary. She spoke for about an hour on the dangers of the oils we consume.  She’s got some great articles on her website about many important nutritional practices.  In her article called “The Bad Fat” she writes: “Soy, corn, canola and cottonseed oil (all genetically modified) are used to create the chemical fats found in potato chips, boxed cookies, butter-type spreads like margarine, and other low-quality food products. These fats are not healthy in any form, even in their liquid state. These oils, in their natural liquid state, are extremely fragile and go rancid very quickly. They are protected from oxidation while they are in seed form but as soon as they are liberated from their seed, the oils are exposed to air and the breakdown process (oxidation) begins immediately. But rather than discard these inedible oils, food manufacturers found they could take these oils and create a new, very profitable life for them, selling them to unsuspecting consumers as a food product.”

Yes, I am one of those ‘unsuspecting consumers’ who thought that canola oil wasn’t on the naughty list.  Needless to say it was not a good day for me.  I went home, ignored the information and went back to living my life.

Then a couple of weeks later, I was flipping channels and came across a show called “The Doctors” on CBS.  They had a guest author  and brain health expert named Max Lugavere who wrote a book called Genius Foods.  He was talking about the dangers of certain oils in our diets. NOT AGAIN!  This time I figured it was a sign so I ordered his book on Amazon that day.

Max wrote Genius Foods because his mother was diagnosed with dementia at the young age of 58 (I’m 58 which is why I say young).  He was so shocked and concerned about her memory loss that he studied the most up-to-date science and travelled to the highest-ranking neurology departments all over the United States.  Doctors would do the “diagnose and adios” (as he calls it) which made Max even more anxious to find answers for his mom.  In Genius Foods, he talks about all the oils that are bad for us and the types our bodies can process. Plus he makes recommendations on the foods we should eat for optimum brain health. He says we should avoid canola, corn, soybean, vegetable, peanut, safflower, sunflower, rapeseed, grapeseed and rice bran oils because they are all “industrially extracted from their original food sources and heated to high temperatures.  By avoiding these oils (and products that are made with them) and any oil that has been hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, you are covering your bases to ensure that not a trace of man-made trans-fat enters your system. …Even organic, expeller-pressed canola oil is as much as 5% trans-fat. …Trans fats can integrate themselves into your neuronal membranes …this makes it much more difficult for neurotransmitters to do their jobs, and for cells to receive nutrients and fuel.  Studies have also linked trans-fat consumption to brain shrinkage and sharply increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”

After learning about the dangers of certain oils not once, but twice, I decided to make some changes.  First, I got rid of the bad oils in my cupboard (bye-bye canola oil).  Then I started reducing the processed foods we eat containing those oils.  I started looking at labels and found out that just about EVERYTHING we eat contains these oils.  Take a look at the labels in your cupboard and you’ll see what I mean…crackers, salad dressing, peanut butter, bottled sauces and on and on the list goes.  The most difficult thing to give up has been crackers.  We like Wheat Thins and Trisquits because they have the fewest ingredients and don’t contain hydrogenated vegetable oil but alas, they contain canola oil.  We have a long way to go, but I began making my own mayonnaise, using Kalene’s recipe!  Surprisingly, it’s way easier than I imagined and also tastes absolutely de-licious.

You’re probably wondering which oils these two experts do recommend.  This is the list: olive, avocado and coconut oil!  That’s it and extra virgin olive oil is preferred!

If you want to reduce your risk of  heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other life-shortening illnesses, I recommend learning what you can, changing your diet and making your own mayonnaise!

Kalene’s Homemade Mayonnaise

• 2 eggs
• Juice of 1 fresh lemon
• ½ to 1 tsp sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 tsp organic mustard
• 1 ½ cups good quality olive oil or avocado oil

In a blender, mix the first 5 ingredients together.  While the blender is running, add the olive oil in a steady slow stream and continue to blend until ingredients thicken to a mayonnaise consistency.  You can add fresh garlic or other herbs for an interesting twist if you desire.

Transfer to a  covered container.  Stores in the fridge for about a week – if it lasts that long!

Root Notes:
–  What’s at the root of this food?  Safe, tasty, fresh ingredients that will benefit your overall health and well-being!
–  Kalene recommends using a good quality olive oil or avocado oil rather than a processed light olive oil.  A good quality olive oil would be organic, cold pressed and carefully sourced.  She personally prefers avocado oil as the taste is quite mild which works well for mayonnaise.
–  BTW, if you don’t have time to make your own, Costco carries an organic mayo made with avocado oil that is quite tasty and safe!Sources:
Lugavere, Max. Genius Foods. New York: Harper Collins, 2018.
Max Lugavere’s web site
Kalene McCrary’s web site