With there being so many different oils on the market, its hard to know which ones are healthy are which ones aren't.
Coconut oil is derived from the kernel or meat of the coconut from the coconut palm. Coconut oil has been the primary source of fat for millions of people across the world for thousands of years. This slow to oxidize, therefore resistant to rancidity oil is one of the best oils not just for cooking but for overall body health.
Coconut oil is beneficial in many ways; almost too many to mention. In brief, coconut oil is helpful to the body in the following ways:
• Hair Care
• Skin Care
• Heart Disease Prevention
• Weight Loss Aid (Short and medium fatty acid chains help with weight loss as well as its ability to help balance the thyroid and enzymes in the body.)
• Digestive Aid (The antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial traits of coconut oil fight off bacteria that cause indigestion.)
• Immunity Booster
The main reasons why coconut oil is so healthy is the content of the following components:
• Lauric Acid
• Capric Acid
• Caprylic Acid
These components have vital properties that make coconut oil protect the body by utilizing the following characteristics:
• Antimicrobial
• Antioxidant
• Antifungal
• Antibacterial
Why I don’t cook with Olive Oil??!!!
Most of you have heard about the Mediterranean diet and the much praised use of olive oil. Olive oil is a great, healthy oil to use in its raw form, but you must not use it to cook with. One of the biggest dangers surrounding olive oil is that it begins to decompose at around 200F. Research also shows that olive oil heated repeatedly or to a very high level can oxidize and become hydrogenated. That is why I suggest you use coconut oil to cook with!
Genetically Modified Cooking Oils are NOT Good For You!
One of the most misunderstood and most talked about cooking oil is canola oil. The name was originally LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed) but for marketing purposes was changed to canola oil. This word was derived from the combination of the phrase, “Canadian oil.” Canola oil is a much more appealing name than LEAR oil or rape oil. But is the oil appealing for you and should you be using it in your foods?
Canola oil was developed as the food industry began to search for healthy and cost effective alternatives to saturated fats in oils. These saturated fats had come to the mainstream attention as a result of the American Heart Association and other government agencies spreading reports of saturated fats, often found in commonly used cooking oils, being bad for your heart health. Many of these reports were particularly aimed at corn oil and soybean oil. As food manufacturers searched and experimented they discovered rapeseed oil. Rapeseed oil is monounsaturated oil. The problem with this original type of rapeseed oil is that it was very high in erucic acid. Erucic acid is a fatty acid found in rapeseed and mustard oils that is linked to heart damage in particular Keshan’s Disease, a disease characterized by fibrotic lesions of the heart. Food manufacturers continued their journey into refining rapeseed and canola oils until they came up with a formula in the late 1970’s to genetically manipulate the rapeseed plant by seed splitting. This seed split oil produced canola oil with less erucic acid and higher amounts of oleic acid. This was the oil referred to at the time as LEAR as in Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed. Although there are not the previously high levels of erucic acid in canola oil there are still reasons for serious concern if you use canola oil.
Problems with Canola Oil
Canola oil has still been linked to Keshan’s disease (characterized by heart lesion,) as well as a host of other health concerns.
Canola Oil Health Concerns:
• Heart health problems
• Vitamin E Deficiencies
• Blood platelet abnormalities
• Retarding normal growth (for this reason canola oil is banned from infant formulas)
• Increased cancer risks from hydrogenation process and created trans fats
• Free radical damage
During this hydrogenation and processing Trans fatty acids are created. You want to avoid consuming these dangerous by products of processing oils at all costs. In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons to avoid cooking with the following oils:
• Corn
• Soy
• Safflower
But that’s not all you have to be concerned about when it comes to canola oil. Monsanto has recently been using genetically modified organisms or GMO’s in its canola oil seeds. In fact, Monsanto is selling genetically modified seeds for the following plants:
• Canola
• Alfalfa
• Corn
• Cotton
• Sorghum
• Soybeans
• Sugarbeets
• Wheat
Sources: www.draxe.com
great and informative. thank you
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