Do your products conform to the no-SOS or SOS-free guidelines? (no added salt, oil, or sugar)

The short answer is, YES! All meals are either SOS-free by default, or have that option.

All LeafSide products come with zero added oil or sugar; zip, nada, zero  We have had that constraint — of no added sugar and no processed (nutrient-stripped) ingredients — from the beginning of our product development.

All of LeafSide’s sweet meals (smoothies and sweet-bowls) are SOS-free: no added sugar, oil, salt.

For our savory dishes (soups and savory-bowls) there are two options: the first is low-salt & miso, using a minimal amount of sea salt and miso powder, which has been shown to remarkably offset the negative effects of sodium in salt, even when the effective amount of sodium in miso is the same.  We also follow Dr. Greger’s low sodium rule, that a meal should have its milligrams of sodium (mg) number, be less than its calories (kCal) number, e.g. here’s our popular Tex-Mex savory bowl with a sodium number lower than its calories number — a rule which holds for all our meals.

Why: With our savory meals, minimizing and cutting the salt is a balancing act of what tastes good, and health concerns from current nutrition science.  Most of the population regularly eats far too much salt/sodium (as that is the cheapest way to increase flavor and increase the addictive aspect of food) and their taste buds are used to high salt.  Until someone’s taste buds have adjusted to the more subtle, fuller flavors of whole-foods plant-based eating (it only takes 3-4 weeks after fully switching to 100% WFPB), there needs to be just enough salt (and many other flavors) in a LeafSide meal to discourage people from adding more salt.

However, for those customers already eating 100% WFPB and SOS-free, who want a “no SOS” or “SOS-free” compliant meal, we offer SOS-free versions of all savory meals, i.e. without any added salt or miso.  Note: all SOS-free savory meals contain 100 mg (or less) of sodium that is naturally occurring in the ingredients. Please contact us or write a note in your order if you want your savory meals SOS free.  (And if you’re wondering about whether to choose the regular or SOS-free version, please read the other FAQ on sodium, thanks.)