An Oil by Any Other Name…
Sunflower oil, olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, or vegetable oil – the list of all the oils out there can be overwhelming. You have heard about olive oil being good for you – but did you know you can completely ruin those great qualities with high temperatures? What about flax oil? Over the next couple weeks I will attempt to unravel the confusing web of some of the oils out there. The good, bad, and the saturated will come to light!
The Wonder of Olive Oil
Olive oil is mainly monounsaturated fatty acids. While this can sound daunting they are actually really good fats that have been proven to lower your “bad” cholesterol, and according to the Mayo Clinic:
“…normalize blood clotting. And some research shows that MUFAs may also benefit insulin levels and blood sugar control, which can be especially helpful if you have type 2 diabetes”.
An added bonus is having great skin and hair! Olive oil can be used in beauty rituals too! Extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil is best and can be used in place of butter on your bread, mixed as salad dressing, and many other non-heat related applications.
Heated Olive Oil Ruins Your Hard Work!
When you spend a lot of money and time investing in a healthy lifestyle you don’t want to compromise your healthy choices with a simple misunderstanding. The oils you use can make or break your organic lifestyle. Olive oil was pushed for years as safe and healthy – and it is true! However, it was never publicly made clear that olive oil really shouldn’t be cooked with. Thousands of people added olive oil to their diet but then are killing the wonderful health properties through heat damage. One of the reasons olive oil is so great, as mentioned above, is it has monounsaturated fat, oleic acid. This helps with improved insulin resistance, improved heart health, and has many cancer-fighting properties. However, all that is lost if the oil is heated to over 200 degrees. The antioxidant goodness in olive oil degrades as it is heated. It begins to degrade at even lower temps than 200 degrees! No doubt you have heard about Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Heating olive oil completely destroys these too! Every type of oil has its own smoking point. Olive oil is considered to have a low smoke point. This means that if the oil is heated beyond this point it then gives off a toxic smoke! You have just turned your beautiful, greenish-gold elixir into a toxic carcinogen! Now you are both eating something that is actually bad for you and breathing in those dangerous fumes! You don’t have to visually burn it to have this happen. This means you won’t even realize that what you are breathing is unsafe. Savory Lotus noted the other disconcerting fact about your olive oil:
“A study by UC Davis in 2011 found that 73% of the 5 best-selling imported brands of olive oil did not meet the international sensory standards for extra virgin olive set by European regulators. This meaning that they could be adulterated or blended with other vegetable oils such as soy, corn, cottonseed, hazelnut, or canola oil.”
If you are a victim of this oil fraud you may also be heating up other kinds of oils! Heating your oil could be adding to inflammation in your body, which adds to the heart damaging properties of heating your oil! So save your precious olive oil for cold applications like salad dressings, hair conditioner, and body oil! Next week: The beautiful benefits of coconut oil, something you can cook with!
Applications & Resources for Cooking With Oil
- Go to Wellness Mama for some more great news about oil
- Read about palm oil and why you should avoid it at GaiamLife
- Check out Savory Lotus for the 5 Reasons to Stop Cooking with Olive Oil
- Head over to the Mayo Clinic for a little insight on Trans fat
