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What’s in your Cooking Oil?

In today’s time, we have the seen the rise of so much information readily accessible for anyone who owns a mobile phone. This includes information on health trends. With so much knowledge available on what’s healthy and what’s not, is it still possible to overlook certain aspects of food preparation? Yes, we choose the right ingredients such as veggies, grassfed beef, etc, but what about the basic things used in the kitchen such as the oil?

Oil and Cholesterol

Oil is so widely used in almost all food preparations. We fry with it, we sauté with it, we sometimes bake with it, too. Oil is even used for food prep that doesn’t involve cooking for items such as salad dressing.  Are we giving the same though to the oil we use as we do to the main ingredients in our food?

There was a time when “cholesterol” was the buzzword when it came to cooking oil. Most people believed that as long as your oil is “cholesterol-free” then you are definitely choosing the healthy option. This was also when everyone started using mostly canola oil, which is touted as the “heart friendly, cholesterol-free” option. However, here is the reality of things, Cholesterol can no longer be bundled as exclusively bad. You know have to check if the cholesterol you are consuming is good or bad, high density or low density. This means that some oils that have cholesterol in them may have HDL or high density lipoprotein a.k.a good cholesterol. Hence, cholesterol is not the only thing you are supposed to look at when choosing your oil.

What is in my oil?

When choosing your oil, you have to look at how the oil was processed and how the source was grown. See below on how most popular oils are grown and processed:

Type of OilSourceProcessing

Why it is bad

Canola

Rapeseed, usually genetically modifiedCanola oil is a modified version of Rapeseed oil, the modification needed to be done to lower the Eruric Acid present in the oil.

 

In order to fully extract the oil from the seed, petroleum-based chemicals are used.

Residues of chemicals are present in the oil from processing. This means you are consuming chemicals from the oil you use! Also, GMO is never good for your body.
Pomace Olive OilOlive fruit as well as pits and stems of olivesPomace Olive oil is the last pressed oil from olives, olive stems and pits, after harvesting Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Olive oil.

 

In other words, it cheap because, most often, chemicals are also used to extract more oil as residue after proper oil is extracted from the olive and olive parts.

Coconut Cooking OilCoconut meatWhile coconut oil is a fantastic oil, most coconut cooking oil in the market is refined, bleached, and deodorized with, you guessed it, chemicals!
Vegetable OilCorn, rapeseed, soybean, peanut, sunflower, safflower seedsWhile olive and coconut are naturally “oily” food which means you cant naturally extract oil from it, the seeds and other sources used for vegetable oil don’t have abundant natural oils. In order to extract oils from these, various chemicals and solvents are needed.

 

Also, corn, soy, and rapeseed are food that is widely genetically-modified.

GMO sources, chemicals in the extraction process= inflammations in the body!

 

So what are my options?

When choosing oil for cooking, opt for ones with “naturally oily” sources such as olive and coconut. For recipes that do not call for high heat cooking, such as salad dressings, use extra virgin olive oil. For high heat cooking methods, opt for coconut cooking oil. However, read the label to ensure that your coconut cooking oil is not refined, bleached, and deodorized. Always remember that it pays to check the label.

Also, another tip is to opt for “expeller pressed” oils when you can. Expeller pressed oils are extracted without the use of harmful chemicals.

Article also appeared here: http://www.thefatkidinside.com/post/what%E2%80%99s-your-cooking-oil

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