Photo credit: Adventures in Cooking
A Guide to Buying Healthy Hummus!
Hummus is a crowd pleaser, there’s no denying it! And no doubt in the festive season and summer months with gatherings, parties and work functions, you might be eating a lot of it! It’s really easy to make your own dip at home of course but for those occasions when you might be on the go or travelling, you might have to pop in to the store to grab something, and dips with veggie sticks can sometimes seem like a healthy option. Or are they? I really can’t stress enough how much we need to read the ingredients label to find out what you are actually eating. Not just the front of the box that says “organic” or “gluten-free”. Read my tips on choosing the best hummus!
The Good stuff on the ingredients label:
- GMO free (verified)
- Organic (certified)
- Gluten-free
- Olive oil
- Water
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- Spices
- chickpeas, tahini, sesame seeds
Ingredients to avoid: if you see these ingredients on the product, put it back on the shelf and choose a superior product or make it at home instead!
- sunflower oil
- canola oil
- preservatives sulphites
- Sugar
- any ingredients you don’t recognise or can’t pronounce.
- soy (emulsifier)
- msg
- corn syrup
Note if a product says it’s organic or it’s gluten-free or vegan – don’t be impressed by it until you read the ingredients label. It may still have vegetable oil, sugar or preservatives – all the stuff we don’t really need or want in our food, simply because it doesn’t promote health. Some people might think hummus dip is surely a healthy option, and yes it can be, but not when it’s made with vegetable oil or other gmo oils like canola. these inflammatory oils are everywhere in our diet and if you can choose start to choose and decipher the better products, you will be a lot healthier.
For a supermarket alternative while you’re travelling or on the go, choose, avocado and mash it up with salt, or instead of dip choose tahini or almond butter (with no added oil or sugar) and dip your veggie sticks in that!
If you shop at a commercial supermarket you might have trouble finding a clean hommus, so try your luck at a deli or organic store to get the good stuff! I’ve listed some brands below here that i like and would happily buy, and some that i would avoid.
Try my Almond hummus – a Paleo friendly way to enjoy hummus recipe here
YALLA: ingredients: Cooked chickpeas(61%), water, sesame seed paste, lemon juice, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, cumin, salt, organic sugar, pepper, paprika. This brand isn’t too bad, it does contain a little organic sugar, but they use olive oil instead of vegetable oil which is great! I think this is a great option, if you are avoiding sugar or on an elimination/anti-inflammatory or anti-candida diet, i think there are better options, like the whole food kitchen below.
A GOOD CHOICE
The Wholefood Kitchen: ingredients: chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, filtered water, sea salt, spices. This is by far the more superior product of the lot! It’s got no oil, so you don’t run the risk of rancid oils or inflammatory vegetable oils and it has no preservatives.
The BEST CHOICE!
YUMI’s: Ingredients: Chickpeas (47%), Water, Canola Oil, Tahini Paste, Acidity Regulator (575), Salt, Food Acids (Citric Acid, Acetic Acid), Garlic, Preservatives (202). This is a no go for me and probably what you will find at most supermarkets, it has preservatives, canola oil that’s most likely GMO.
BAD CHOICE
Organic indulgence: has the most delicious flavour, however they use sunflower oil. Seriously the flavour is good thug. This would be an occasional buy for me, but not a superior product by any means. Wish they used olive oil! or no oil!
NOT BAD FOR OCCASIONAL EATING
Pureland organic hummus. Ingredients: certified organic chickpeas, vegetable oil, sesame paste, vinegar, salt, garlic, lemon juice, natural spices. As you’ll note vegetable oil is the main culprit for this kind of product. This one says certified organic chickpeas, but the vegetable oil could be GMO as they don’t claim any sort of GM-free verification.
NOT MY FIRST CHOICE
Hafla Hommus ingredients: certified organic Australian chickpeas, Organic Tahini (sesame paste), Cold press (virgin) Australian olive oil and spices. This is a great choice! They are GM Free, have zero preservatives and use cold pressed olive oil!
A GREAT CHOICE!
To learn more about how to buy the best products for your pantry for healthy living Pre-Order my new ebook Pantry Staples here