There's a lot of misconceptions out there about healthy fats.
In most households that follow the standard American diet (SAD) is vegetable oil. This is 1 of those items that must go in order to preserve your health. But why, you ask?
It's important to so many functions of to the body to maintain a proper ratio of Omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. The proper Omega ratio is 4:1. This is our sweet spot for optimal heath. The "SAD" leans very heavily on the omega 6 fatty acids- yet too many omega 6 fatty acids can cause problems. Inflammation, clogged arteries, heart disease and an increased risk of cancer just to name a few. The average ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids in Americans is between 10:1 and 25:1! This is definitely considered the danger zone! This is mostly because of the high use of vegetable, corn and soybean oils added to so many processed foods. For example, the ratio of corn oil is 83:1! That's are made up of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. The higher the content of saturated fats, the more stable that fat is and also resistant to breaking down or oxidizing when heated. Oils high in polyunsaturated fats will break down quickly when heated and cause oxidation stress to the body. To avoid complications just switch up your fats asap. You'll start noticing the difference in your health fairly quickly too!
The most stable cooking fats are Ghee, Unrefined coconut oil, pasteurized lard (Duck or bacon fat) and grass fed butter.
Oils for Low temp cooking are extra Virgin Olive oil & avocado oil.
Finishing oils or salad dressing oils (zero heat): Flax seed oil, macadamia nut, walnut, pumpkin seed, sesame seed and hazelnut oils are all wonderful choices offering a variety of flavors. Keep in mind that all of the seed oils are high in Omega-6 meaning we want to limit the amount of intake on these so keeping them around as a finishing oil makes it an ideal way to consume them.
Definitely Stay away from these unhealthy man made fats and refined seed oils: Grape seed, canola (or rape seed), vegetable, soybean, corn, vegan butter substitutes and margarine and other industrial seed oils like cotton seed, sunflower, safflower, and even rice bran oil they all contain high amounts of PUFA's, not to mention the highly processed way they are created -just avoid them altogether.
What are the benefits to all the healthy oils listed above? What are PUFA's? Stay tuned, we will be going over some of these details in my next entry.
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