09/03/2020
Hi Everyone!
I love cooking oil. I’m sure most of you do, too.
Cooking oil doesn’t just add culinary flair to the average kitchen— it’s a staple for preparing food, and we need it for some of the best dishes and meals out there!
Besides the usual suspect ingredients on your plate though, do you ever think about your cooking oil? Where it comes from? How it’s made? How it affects the planet?
Turns out some of the most commonplace cooking oils you reach for on grocery store shelves are culprits for bad health, pollution, and even environmental and species degradation.
We need to think twice before we buy these oils, as much as we love them for cooking.
Luckily, not all cooking oils are bad. In the spirit of keeping things positive (and we could sure use it these days), here are three cooking oils you should be wary of—followed by three infinitely better cooking oils that you should absolutely try.
BAD: Canola oil
This one is practically everywhere! It’s hidden away in processed foods, fried foods, and the average kitchen for cooking and frying, too. But we might not realize just how bad it is — and when you do, you may want to stop using it or chuck out the bottle altogether.
Because of the way it is heated and created, canola oil can cause chronic inflammation (I emphasize this with my clients all the time) and even be bad for your heart...as well as your memory! The way it’s grown and produced is no good for the environment either, as it's almost all genetically modified and blasted with pesticides.
GOOD: Extra Virgin Olive Oil
If you have this grade of olive oil in your kitchen, you’re on the right track.
Olive oil is chock full of healthy fats and produced in a way that’s gentle on the environment. But, if you get extra virgin (the crème-de-la-crème of olive oils), your olive oil will have a unique grade of antioxidants that could boost heart health, metabolism, and much more.
BAD: Palm oil
Like canola oil, palm oil is just about everywhere. Yes, you can buy it as a cooking oil, but it’s more likely you’ll find it hidden in all sorts of processed foods.
Palm oil is absolutely terrible in more ways than one. Because it’s processed and heated so much to be created it’s really bad for heart health. But what’s truly bad about it is that pristine forests are being rapidly destroyed just to make way for palm oil production.
This is terrible to both wildlife and the local human populations that live near these oil farms.
GOOD: Coconut oil
This oil is the focus of many a health craze, and I’m happy to report that its impacts on the environment are pretty low. So, keep using it for cooking, detox, skincare, natural toothpaste, and all those other rad alternative health uses!
Coconut oil is here to stay as a less environmentally harmful and healthier oil. Like extra virgin olive oil, it’s full of healthy plant-based fats that are great for heart health, the immune system, and curbing inflammation.
BAD: Safflower oil
Most people would consider this type of cooking oil relatively harmless.
However, compared to more omega-3 fatty acid-rich oils, safflower could actually be considered not all that great for your health! It’s higher in omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3’s. The problem is, our general diets are often already loaded with omega-6’s and we’re trying to optimize a ratio with omega-3s. So omega-6 rich foods will further push us out of optimal balance, and can have problematic effects on things like heart health, inflammation, and cancer risk in your body.
GOOD: Avocado oil
(My FAVORITE) It might not have the reputation of olive oil, but apparently avocado has similar health benefits and qualities. It also contains oleic acid: an antioxidant most famous for being in olive oil, which helps keep down chronic inflammation and reduces heart disease risk. It’s also got a high smoke point (meaning fewer carcinogens in your food) and can be used to roast and bake just about anything!
Do you use any of these oils? There are far more out there besides these. I love using sesame oil, walnut oil, avocado oil, and almond oil. And of course, I use ONLY organic non-gmo oils, like last thing in my kitchen.
Be proactive in protecting your healthy- educate yourself before you buy!
