Which Oils Are Safe for Cooking? Don’t Make This Mistake!

Healthy fats are essential for good health.  However “bad” fats can be extremely damaging to the body.  We’ll discuss good fats, bad fats and cooking with fats today in our newsletter.

Fat came under scrutiny in the 1960s when the sugar industry paid Harvard researchers to publish a review on sugar, fat, and heart disease. The sugar industry funded the research to cover up warning signs, which emerged in the 1950s, that sugar caused heart disease (1). Shifting the blame away from sugar, the researchers singled out saturated fat as the cause of heart disease.

In the decades following the Harvard study, the media, public health authorities, and the food industry promoted the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. This misleading nutrition advice was touted as the healthiest diet to prevent heart disease. Unfortunately, many folks still believe “fat is bad” and causes heart disease.  Yes, “bad” fat can damage the cardiovascular system, but “good” fat can heal you!

Fortunately, there has been research that has proven that all fats are not bad, in fact many are essential for proper body function.  In fact, healthy dietary fats can help people lose weight, reduce inflammation, boost energy, improve brain health, and extend lifespan.

For fats to provide these health benefits, you must incorporate healing fats, rather than killer fats, into the diet. To do this you must first be able to identify healing fats and killer fats. It is also important to distinguish which fats to use for hot uses and fats for cold uses.

Healthy Fats

There are animal “healthy” fats and non-animal “healthy” fats.  No only are they healthy, but they can actually be healing for the body when you remove the bad fats.

•    Avocados and avocado oil

•    Nuts and nut butters

•    Coconut oil, MCT oil, and coconut milk

•    Olives and olive oil

•    Pasture raised eggs

•    Grass-fed butter and Ghee

•    Tallow

•    Duck fat

•    Flaxseed oil

•    Walnut, pecan and macadamia nut oils

•    Omega 3 fish oil

Incorporating healing fats into your diet has many health benefits. Healing fats provide building blocks for cell membranes and hormones. They also function as carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, and K and aid in the absorption of minerals. 

Toxic Fats

The most common sources of unhealthy fats are man-made saturated fats and highly processed unsaturated fats.  These are the type of fats that are found in processed foods in boxes, bags, frozen, baked goods, and fast foods.  These fats are highly inflammatory and are at the root cause of inflammation in the body that can lead to cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, Alzheimers disease, bowel diseases, skin disorders and more.

If these are in your kitchen, throw them out!

•    Canola oil (yes, we where told this is “heart healthy, not true!”)

•    Corn oil

•    Vegetable oil

•    Soy oil

•    Cottonseed oil

•    Margarine and “butter spreads”

•    Grape-seed oil

•    Sunflower oil

•    Safflower oil

•    Peanut oil

•    Rice bran oil

What to Cook With?

Fats are very fragile so it’s important to know which fats are best for cooking and at what temperature.  Once a fat/oil begins to smoke, it has “oxidized” and can damage the body.

High Heat – 350-520F

•    Avocado oil

•    Coconut oil

•    Ghee

•    Macadamia oil

•    Animal fats like lard and tallow

Medium Heat – 250-350F

•    MCT oil

•    Butter

Low Heat – below 250F

•    Extra virgin olive oil

•    Flax seed oil

•    Walnut or pecan oil

Oxidation occurs when oils are exposed to light, air, or heat. Oxidation promotes free radicals, chemicals that are highly reactive and have the potential to damage cells, including damage that may lead to cancer.

Always buy your oils in a dark bottle and store in a cupboard to avoid light exposure.

Dietary fat is essential for health and wellbeing. The key is to consume healthy fats and avoid toxic fats. To incorporate healthy fats into your diet, you should cook with healing oils and fats, consume proteins that have healing fats, and add healthy fats to vegetables, smoothies, and snacks.

It is critical for good health to incorporate healthy fats into your diet and to avoid toxic fats!