Cooking Oil Conundrum

Before I dive into posting about all of my favorite healthy foods and meals I felt it appropriate to discuss an ingredient found more often than not in recipes.  There are essentially 3 types of fat categories that oils fall into, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated.  Based on what we often hear in the media one would likely feel reasonably confident that the oils in the saturated fat category would be the least healthy.  Well friends, I am here to tell you that couldn't be farther from the truth!  Let's take a look at each of these a little closer.  Keep in mind that when talking about these types of fats for cooking we are discussing them in terms of consuming them after heat is applied (because that's generally what happens when you cook), some but not all of the oils listed are much better for you if consumed unheated.  

• Polyunsaturated- this is the most highly reactive type of fat, which leaves them most prone to oxidation and free-radical production when exposed to heat and light.  Most of the oils in this category are already highly processed and refined before they ever make it to the shelves of the grocery store and then we take them home and heat them some more which makes them the most inflammatory inside our body due to their high reactivity to heat and light.  This inflammation is what causes many degenerative diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.  The oils that typically fall into this category are your "vegetable" or soybean oils, cottonseed oil, safflour oil, and corn oil to name a few.

• Monounsaturated- this type of fat is somewhat reactive to heat.  It is known as a heart healthy fat, but when speaking in terms of cooking oil it literally falls somewhere in between the saturated and polyunsaturated fats, meaning that when heat is applied you lose many of the health benefits the oil is said to provide.  This category is where you will find the most popular cooking oil known as extra virgin olive oil.  While EVOO is known as a great source of phytochemicals (known for drastically reducing the risk of cancer) it is best consumed at room temperature.

• Saturated- these are much more stable and less inflammatory than unsaturated and much less reactive to heat and light inside and outside the body, which makes these the best oils for cooking because they can withstand incredibly high amounts of heat without compromising benefits  Coconut oil and real butter fall into this category.  Coconut oil has been linked to lowering cholesterol, promoting weight loss and a healthy digestive tract, as well as having many many other health benefits!

Surprised??  It helps so much to know the science behind the foods we consume.  Who would have thought that a saturated fat would be the best kind of oil to use for cooking or baking?  So, if it isn't obvious already my go to cooking oil is hands down coconut oil.  I could easily write an entire post about the benefits of coconut oil in general but the fact that it can withstand very high heat just makes it that much more perfect.  Saturated fats derived from animal sources have such a bad reputation right now so it is so easy to assume the same to be true for saturated fats from plant derived sources, but you have just learned that it is actually quite the opposite!  Why the difference?  I'll save that for a later post...

I have used many different coconut oils over the years but this is currently what is in my pantry because it was the best value at Mama Jeans last week.