13/12/2025
Stop cooking with olive oil ❌ Here’s why:
Authentic extra-virgin olive oil is delicate. Once heated beyond ~120 °C (248 °F), its antioxidants are destroyed and its unsaturated fats begin to oxidise.
Certain freshly-pressed high-quality olive oils can be heated up to 160 °C, but heating beyond that you are creating liver congesting rancid sludge.
When this happens, it generates toxic compounds called aldehydes & free radicals that:
⚠️ Bind to DNA, cause strand breaks, and create mutations that disrupt normal cell function.
⚠️ Accelerate ageing
⚠️ Trigger inflammation and cellular stress
And the industry doesn’t help: it is well known that most supermarket Extra Virgin Olive Oils “EVOO” is adulterated or refined. Olive oils are actually one of the most commonly adulterated foods in the world! That might make it tolerate heat a little bit longer, but it strips away the polyphenols, flavour, and medicinal potency that make olive oil special in the first place.
🥗 The solution? Keep olive oil raw.
Drizzle it on salads, dips, or meals after cooking to preserve its healing compounds and prāṇa.
Or cook when fresh and on low heat (after 8 months of the press, it goes from EVOO to VOO).
🍳 For cooking, choose stable, heat-resilient fats like a high-quality ghee (clarified butter) & extra virgin coconut oil.
Ayurveda teaches that when you understand the qualities of food, you cook with intelligence aligned with natural law, not according to trends.
💬 Comment ESSENCE and we’ll send you a link to our online course on Ayurvedic cooking (currently 50% OFF).
