I've been looking into cooking oils lately and I want to make the right decision with which one to cook with. I use EVOO on salads and over cooked veggies but do not use it to cook with. Mostly I cook with coconut oil and butter. I've been thinking about cooking with canola because I a wary of the saturated fat in the coconut and butter. I have heard that at around a certain temperature that's too hot the oils can encourage cancer because the fatty acids break apart and become toxic...
So I want to make the right decision with which to cook with. Also, as a side note I try to cook everything not higher than medium heat. But sometimes with meats and fish I become impatient and turn it up to medium-high.
What do you cook with?
Canola oil comes from the rapeseed plant, one of the most genetically modified crops. Not only is it unnatural and unhealthy for those reasons but it's also very unstable to cook with. Cook with canola oil and you end up with a big old plate of free radicals. YUM!
Coconut oil on the other hand, is completely stable to cook with and very healthy on many levels. The canola oil thing is a total scam.
Canola oil comes from the rapeseed plant, one of the most genetically modified crops. Not only is it unnatural and unhealthy for those reasons but it's also very unstable to cook with. Cook with canola oil and you end up with a big old plate of free radicals. YUM!
Coconut oil on the other hand, is completely stable to cook with and very healthy on many levels. The canola oil thing is a total scam.
what happen if you eat alot of free radicals?
Here's a video on how it's made
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Extremely industrial process. It needs to be treated with a bunch of nasties in order to be presentable.
And just a little bit of history on how vegetable oils became so prominent
/> http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/how-vegetable-oils-replaced-animal-fats-in-the-american-diet/256155/
You draw your own conclusions.
Thanks for starting this thread, I was recently really confused about cooking oils also. I just discovered unrefined red palm oil, and it is amazing! I have switched over to using it for all of my savory cooking. It is similar in heat and oxidative stability to coconut oil, due to it's saturated fatty acid content. But unlike coconut oil, it is high in natural carotenoids that give it its rich orange-red color, as well as being very rich in tocopherols (Vitamin E), and a rarer class of "super vitamin E"-- tocotrienols. It's like cooking with a nutritional supplement. Before I switched I was cooking with grapeseed oil thinking that the high smoke point was related to the oils stability. As it turns out, grapeseed oil is not good at all for cooking, it's a polyunsaturated oil that is highly reactive when heated and creates oxidative stress and inflammation in the body. I am all about scientific evidence, so I did a lot of research on this stuff. There are many medical and nutritional studies you can find online that showed impressive health benefits for red palm oil.
Here is one example --- "Red Palm Oil: nutritional, physiological, and therepeutic roles in improving human well being and quality of life" http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/20095133
I have also been applying it to my hyperpigmentation spots for a few weeks and it has accelerated their fading without clogging my pores. For those that are concerned about the palm oil industry's affect on orangutans, it's worth noting that this is a traditional oil from west africa, and it's easy to find west african sources for it. I bought mine (Omni brand liter bottle) for $6 at a local market that specializes in west african and carribean foods. I have been giving bottles of it to all my family members!
hmm.. I came across something on the internet claiming that canola oil is bad for female hormone balance. It interferes with the production of thyroid hormones. I cannot seem to find any other evidence supporting this claim. Has anyone else heard anything regarding this? I am most curious because we primarily use canola and have ever since I can remember.
Don't be wary of saturated fats. Humans have been consuming them since the dawn of man.
For heated cooking, definitely stick with coconut oil. Ghee (clarified butter) is also great and full of health benefits. You basically take a good quality (preferably organic) unsalted butter and heat it in a sauce pan at a low simmer for around a half hour. All the solids in the butter burn and are left brown and crispy at the bottom. This is when you know your ghee is done. Strain it through some cheesecloth (or paper towel of you're lame like me) into a jar or plastic container. It has an amazing nutty flavor and has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for ages. Definitely check it out.
Along with canola oil, steer clear from any vegetable oils. Stick to olive and coconut oils, and ocasionally other nut oils like macadamia.