So I was thumbing through a recent edition of a popular newsstand fitness magazine (mainly because John Romaniello had a short article published there, which was good by the way) and then came across a rather troubling article full of misinformation in the nutrition section regarding the best fats to cook with.
Unfortunately, their number one choice (canola oil) is actually one of the WORST fats to cook with or to consume in general, and the REAL number one fat to cook with didn’t even make the list…you gotta love newsstand fitness pubs.
Anyway, so let’s go over while Canola oil sucks, and the true “best” fat to cook with.
Canola oil sucks because…
About 30% of canola oil is made up of polyunsaturated fats, very fragile fatty acids that are easily damaged by high heat processing, which is the processing method of virtually all “commercial” forms of canola oil.
Sure, it’s made up of a large portion of heat-resistant monounsaturates, but that still leaves 30% of the oil as denatured, processed crap.
And you know what happens when fragile polyunsaturates are heated to high temperatures? That’s right, they get all flustered and turn to trans fats, the absolute WORST possible thing you can put in your body, period.
Trans-fats have been conclusively linked to a million and one diseases and disorders, including heart disease and cancer. And oh yeah, their toxicity also has been shown to lead to weight gain while making weight loss harder.
But somehow, this particular publication chose canola oil as the “go to option for every day cooking”…yikes.
I really, really hope you’re not getting your fitness info from the mainstream mags…
(unless of course the article is written by me :)
So what should you be looking for in an oil, particularly an oil to cook with?
The oil should be:
1. cold pressed (not high-heat processed)
2. have a high smoke point (meaning it is relatively stable at high temperatures)
3. even better, comprised mostly of saturated fat (saturated fats are the most stable of all fats, and unlike the media has led us to believe, natural saturated fats are some of the more healthy fats available)
So, that gives us a couple options:
1. For cooking, nothing beats unrefined, organic coconut oil. Coconut oil is high in stable saturated fats, particularly the healthful medium chain triglyceride group (MCTs).
2. Organic butter is a close second.
3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is ideal for low-temperature cooking and when used straight from the bottle as a salad dressing base or flavor booster for cooked veggies, etc (added after the cooking process).
If you want to learn about 4 other “health” foods you should NEVER eat if you want to lose fat, click below to watch the video my friend Isabel put together for you:
Enjoy the tips!
Joel
Can coconut oil be used in lieu of vegetable oil if you’re making brownies or something? (or any dessert that asks for vegetable oil in its recipe)
LOL this is probably a rhetorical question by now – given that I’ve seen all the responses here. Since vegetable oil shouldn’t be used PERIOD (my dad never seems to stop using it completely and I want to scream when he does use it), I guess I know what my answer is?!
what if you want to use oil in baking chicken? is heating the chicken on 400 degrees too high when you’re using extra virgin olive oil? I’m very worried about this.
Thanks for this great and simple statement of the facts! I’m getting real sick of hearing about how good Canada Oil, aka canola, is for you from folks in the canola industry and so called health and nutrition experts. Canola is made from GMO rapeseed and is a highly processed basically human created oil. It does not exist in nature without human interference. I guess they are looking to create something similarly healthy from hemlock next.
The bottom line is that Canada wants to sell it’s created oil to all of us whether it’s good or not. The United States does not have a good track record of looking out for our health. Canola is cheap so now it’s in everything. It’s really hard to avoid. It’s really the next HFCS. So, thanks for the to the point article about ‘Why Canola Sucks’!
Also, I don’t know how Canola could be “cold pressed.” High temperature is part of it’s processing. Canola is just the biggest lie.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...read more