Wheat Belly Facebook follower, Stella, found this unexpected source of wheat: Pam Baking.
There are a number of different Pam products which do not contain wheat. But Pam Baking does.
Personally, I simply spread coconut oil on my pans to prevent sticking or use a coconut oil spray, given the superior qualities of this oil for baking.
But, whatever you do, don’t let the Pam Baking product provide a source of unexpected exposure.
So can you use any Pam product or just not the Pam baking product? For example if I only live close to a Wal Mart what could I purchase at Wal Mart instead of Pam? Could I purchase an Olive Oil cooking spray?
It is specifically the Pam Baking product.
Seems our old friend Dr. T. Colin Campbell has just launched a new book titled “The Low Carb Fraud” and it’s scathing of our chosen way of living. I, for one, can’t wait for the fireworks when all of our favorite doctors and writers dig in with blasting him.
There’s something very odd about the anger (not to mention the sarcopenia and malnutrition) of the vegan/vegetarian community.
Our coconut oil is almost always solid, so I warm a little in a glass dish and use a silicone pastry brush to spread it in the baking dish. I don’t bake much these days anyway.
I also have a pressurized (no propellant–you have to pump it) oil sprayer for olive oil but I try not to expose olive oil to prolonged high temperatures so I wouldn’t use it for baking pans.
I never liked using Pam. It left a residue you could never get rid of on pans, and who knows what it did inside us?
Janknitz,
Exactly right!
Some people use these sprays for all their meal preparations instead of going to the trouble of using coconut oil, butter or olive oil. They believe the advertising which strongly suggests that by using this kind of product, they save on calories and fats, it tastes good and is part of a healthy diet, besides ease of use. Lots of different flavors to choose from. Good way to use more canola and soy oils. Corporate chemistry at its best!
As an alternative to a pump sprayer for coconut oil, I will warm it until liquid then add any spices. I place my veggies in a bowl or plastic bag and pour this seasoned oil over my veggies, tossing or shaking as needed to coat. I then place the veggies on a foil lined baking sheet and roast according to recipe. Olive oil is only used outside on the grill for veggies since it has a relatively low smoke point.
QUESTION : IS GRANOLA REALLY THAT BAD WITH ALL THAT FIBER BECAUSE IF YOU TAKE THE NET CARBS AND SUBTRACT THE FIBER IT REALLY ISNT THAT BAD RIGHT??
What granola?
Wheat Free Market Foods granola is fine, but most on the market are off-scale in net carbs, and loaded with deceptive junk like “honey”.
Also, watch out for Altoids “Smalls,” their sugarfree mints, which contain at least two forms of wheat. Even the plain regular mints aren’t as questionable.
We found Epicdental xylitol mints and gum at the health food store…..they also have a fluoride free toothpaste. Two mints equal 1 net carb.
I wasn’t aware of that!
Thanks, Lizp!
OK, many references to coconut nut oil so I’ll ask a very complicated question. This morning I was searching around to see if there is any new nutritional trials being done for osteoporosis treatment. One referenced the use of coconut oil. Googled that and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of references/studies w/rats. I’ve used coconut oil for 5-6 years but have never known it to be used for many of the diseases they’re testing for now, including arthritis. Does Dr. Davis have any new info or any of our great posters here? I read several fine articles but many are nothing more than a cut/paste job. Do any of you know anyone personally that has tried it?
Very interesting, Neicee!
Maybe I should post a full summary of the clinical data that support the use of coconut oil in future. Thanks for the inspiration!
That would be so very much appreciated. Some of the papers were so technical I had to read and reread several times. But I did leave with the impressions they were on to something. I would surmise that most women will face the thief called osteoporosis at some point in their lives.
I know this is a site about wheat. But i am big on coconut oil. Most oils are gmo. Most salad dressings use cheap gmo oils,fast food restaurants use cheap gmo oils. Given up wheat is great. But be carefull of gmo oils.
I simply cannot remember ever buying coconut oil that wasn’t labled with ‘organic’ nor ‘non-gmo’ and of course, ‘pure extra virgin’ …..my favorites have been Nature’s Way Efa Gold and Nutiva – and I’ve used them for years. I don’t care for Nutiva as much as the other but it’s a lot cheaper. My motto has always been to not buy one if it doesn’t have a slight sweet smell of coconuts.
A site you might enjoy visiting is http://www.gmo-compass.org where anything new of the world of GMO news is there.
Oh, have never purchased one that didn’t use cold press methods of extraction either.
These sprays are all manufactured for convenience and not for health benefits.
Soy lecithin is added to nearly all cooking sprays in minuscule amounts which shouldn’t cause anyone a problem except for the most soy sensitive people. These commercial sprays should only be used sparingly where the hard oil is not practical, such as for the fluted baking pans which are difficult to coat evenly because coconut oil remains hard all year in northern climes. When it is in a liquid state, obviously there isn’t any problem using an ordinary spray bottle. You just have to chill the pan to prevent the batter from rapidly absorbing the coating. All the commercial sprays have to use a thinned, refined oil, a propellant, a stabilizer to prevent rancidity and an emulsifier to keep the coconut oil soft enough to spray out evenly at lower room temperatures. Clever engineering at its best!
The price points are astounding: $2.99 for Trader Joe’s coconut oil spray to $26.93 ($22.44 + $4.49 shipping) for Kelapo brand purchased from Amazon. Both are for 5 oz. spray cans.
Barbara,
I think that $22 figure was via a specialty company…..because Amazon also sells it for $7 and change. Kepalo is a fair trade, highly rated company, and appears to keep their price points in line with other extra virgin, organic, unrefined coconut oil products. They also offer their coconut oil in amber glass jars, rather than plastic (which we prefer not to buy). Once you establish your monthly consumption, it can be automatically drop shipped for convenience sake……and with Amazon Prime….no shipping costs.
Jan in Key West,
Do you not mind the selling and reselling of your personal information by these mega sellers and specialty companies? Just curious. It seems to me this practice is as invasive in our personal lives as wheat is in our personal selves.
CA
Of course I mind the intrusions of this cyber world we live in……but have reconciled that as long as I am connected to the internet, drive a car with tracking features, anti theft tracking devices on my phone and bike, use a credit card, walk by banks and businesses with surveillance cameras, use a Costco card, buy online….along with a thousand other things I do daily, then my life is pretty much an open book. Because I choose to live where I do, online buying is a necessity and I’m ok with that. I’d rather get stressed about labeling GMO foods and keeping my city from unleashing GMO Mosquitos , keeping the reef clean, supporting my world to be healthier…..among other things. Whether someone knows what kind of sheets, or coconut oil or towels I buy……I just don’t have the energy to worry about that.
The propellants that aid in ejecting the liquid out is always the culprit. It also doesn’t stay stable long; becomes rancid quite soon. Those that don’t are crammed with preservatives. Have only owned one can of the stuff since they came out years ago. Thanks, but no thanks. Seldom buy a bottle or can of anything with more than one ingredient.
Well yeah it says it has flour right on it! I appreciate that this was passed on but really? It’s pretty obvious unless , and I really doubt this, that some of your readers don’t read the labels!
There are a lot of products where most people would simply not expect to find wheat contamination. This is one of them. I suspect this article is less about the specific product than about being a reminder to read labels for anything that has labels.
Actually, anyone who bakes knows that greasing and flouring a pan is how you keep cakes from sticking, so it would absolutely be expected to find flour in the “baking” version of the Pam spray. Otherwise what would be the difference between it and the regular version? And it does say “FLOUR” right on the front of the can, not just in the fine print on the ingredient list.
Perhaps there are lots of non-bakers here who might not know that, but then they wouldn’t be buying Pam for baking anyway if they don’t bake….
Hi Grace,
Many years ago, I was delighted to discover Baker’s Joy spray which greased and floured the pans in one easy step. Neater than greasing and then flouring the pans. I always seemed to get the flour on the counter or floor or a lump of flour in the pan. Sometimes despite my best efforts, the grease and flour didn’t prevent a portion of the baked goods from sticking and then requiring a careful “patch”. This never happened with Baker’s Joy. Food chemistry at its’ best! Perfect name! Just don’t read the ingredients.
Now I use the coconut oil spray only for those fluted muffin or cake pans and for tart pans where coconut oil greasing is not practical. I find it helps to chill the pans after spraying to keep the oil from being absorbed in the batter. I don’t use the spray for anything else because I can spray olive oil over any food I am basting/roasting or melt a bit of coconut oil and pour it on the item or shake the food in a bag with oil. Pans used for most entrees can easily be greased with coconut or olive oil or butter.
Coconut oil stays solid all year round here in NJ. For any spray to work, it must be thinned, emulsified and a propellant added. That has to be obvious to anyone with a container of coconut oil north of the Mason-Dixon line. Unless the oil is heated right then to make it less viscous, it cannot be sprayed in a manner that creates a fine mist. The best grade oil will never be used for a spray.
These sprays simply should not be used instead of a pat of butter or tablespoon of oil. Grace, too many people do use the sprays instead!
I never suggested that people don’t use these, of course they do or they wouldn’t be on the shelf at the store. My point was that for most it would be obvious that there is FLOUR in this particular spray, since it is specifically for baking, and is what differentiates this spray from the “regular” Pam that does not have flour.
I don’t use any of these sprays because I don’t like the oil used or the gummy propellants, but the point was made that a typical person “wouldn’t know” that there was wheat in this, and I just disagree with that (irrespective of the evils of spray oil in general).
I have been cooking/baking for 40 years and wheat free for 1-1/2 years now. I totally get it. No need to sell me on anything.
And, I actually used to work at the Baker’s Joy factory… (I was in the office). But I have used many a can of Baker’s Joy in my day….
With the return of coconut oil becoming hot. I am concerned that companies will use the cheap refined version.
> … concerned that companies will use the cheap refined version.
Which means that brands matter, and we need to re-examine them periodically.
Got a recommended/avoid list for coconut oil?
I use nativa organic oil. Also i heard about cosco selling a good organic oil.
I have been buying from my local Costco and it’s Nutiva. Don’t care for it as much as a couple of others but it does the job and Costco only sells the top end of all of it’s products…..or, so they say.
I use Dr Bonners coconut oil. I love it and I tried several brands before settling on this one. Its In a glass jar and has the fair trade label. Extra virgin, cold pressed, non GMO. My son eats it, drinks it, bathes in it and puts it in his hair. Thinks its magic in a jar.
Trader Joe’s sells a coconut oil spray which works well. I use this when oils, butter or parchment paper are not practical.
I had that coconut oil spray in my cart once; until I took another look and noticed it also contained soybean oil. I couldn’t put it back on the shelf fast enough!
Among Kelapo’s coconut products, which are of high quality, they provide a coconut spray without added soy. Or, if you live in a warm climate, as I do, and your coconut oil rarely solidifies, you can use it in a small spritzer bottle.
It is definitely advisable to not use any spray cooking oil at all. Besides gluten PAM also contains questionable Genetically Modified Canola Oil (canola oil was originally called rapeseed oil and used to lubricate machinery), nitrous oxide for propellant (a greenhouse gas – some even use propane, yuck), and when heated PAM releases diacetyl which causes severe lung disease.
http://www.examiner.com/article/5-reasons-not-to-use-commercial-cooking-sprays
http://truefoodmovement.com/what-is-in-pam-cooking-spray-bad-things
If you want you can make your own organic cooking spray from olive oil and water (it’s as easy as making a bowl of corn flakes (which you also should not do):
http://www.organicauthority.com/eco-chic-table/make-your-own-organic-cooking-spray.html