Cooking with Healthy Fats: Which Ones and Wh
Cooking with Healthy Fats: which ones are healthy and how do you use them to keep them that way? There is a lot of conflicting information and slick marketing tactics to make sure the answers aren’t easy to find!
As a new mom, I tried to make educated, healthy choices for my family. I read up on what oil to cook with. So I felt pretty ripped off after cooking with canola oil for years to find out it was exactly what I didn’t want in my home. Hopefully, this will help you avoid the same confusion.
Watch the video or scan the summary below, time tags included so you can skip around!
Don’t miss the link at the end to download a FREE EBOOKLET: Your Fat Friends
What I Cover in This Discussion
Fats to Avoid (2:57)
Processed, cheap oils made from seeds and vegetables. These are generally refined with unnatural methods (think chemical solvents) and then bleached and deodorized to hide rancidity. They are often made with spent by products, contain GMOs and pesticide residue. When it comes down to it, they are cheap for a reason! Oils you should avoid include: canola, soy, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, cottonseed, and vegetable oils.
Plant oil is fragile (3:45)
listen in to learn more about why this matters.
When you go out, do you know what your food is cooked in? (By the way, the best fries I ever had at a burger stand were cooked in TALLOW! mmmmm)
Eating out, a hidden pitfall (4:57)
A lot of us take care to order healthy meals when we eat out, but often don’t think to consider what oils are used to cook that steak in or mix that salad dressing. Even high end recipes have been known to use cheap, processed oils to cut costs. Depending on your health and sensitivity to inflammation, this can keep you from eating out altogether or motivate you to limit it to special occasions. Take care and ask questions!
What Makes an oil/fat good? (5:50)
Omega 3 vs Omega 6 Rations (6:18)
Our body contains lots of checks and balances. Omega Fatty Acids are an example. Omega 6s rule our inflammatory response—necessary in times of trauma and sickness. Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory and are necessary to balance us after an immune response. To many 6s to 3s but us out of balance and in an inflammatory state. Remember, inflammation = illness. It manifests in so many ways from brain fog and mood disorders to joint pain to stomach trouble. We want to do all we can to keep inflammation in check. Unfortunately, the processed seed and vegetable oils are high in omega 6s with little to no omega 3s. And we eat them. A lot. In everything! The Golden Ration for health is 4:1 omega 6s to 3s. Many holistic practitioners go further to say 1:1 is the ideal and for health and even anti-aging! Any guesses at the Standard American average? Those eating the SAD range between 12:1 and 25:1! That is a recipe for inflammation!
How to balance (8:50)
Eating fats and foods that are high in Omega 3s can help us achieve the balance we’re craving. Animal fats are one way to do this.
A Tale of Two Eggs (9:18)
Listen in to find out why one egg has the golden ratio and the other is 19:6 in favor of inflammation!
Conventional Fat Deserves a Bad Rap (10:40)
Pig Fat: Lard (11:30)
What’s a Smoke Point? (12:17)
The temperature at which a fat begins to smoke, a sign that it is “unraveling” and creating free radicals, or becoming damaging to your health.
Beef Fat: Tallow (12:44)
Butter and Ghee (14:06)
Olive Oil: (15:18)
Tropical Oils: Coconut and Palm: (16:47)
Flax and Hemp: (19:36)
Peanut Oil: healthy or not? (20:10)
Avocado Oil (22:00)
What does Virgin and Extra Virgin Mean? (22:51)
When I was younger I wondered how anything could be “extra virgin.” hmmmm The titles mean something significant when it comes to Olive oils. EVOO is the best. Virgin may be acceptable, and thought plain old olive oil (aka pomace) has a higher smoke point, it is void of the health benefits we get form it’s purer counterparts.
When it comes to Avocado Oil and Coconut Oil, the terms are not regulated and can be a hint at quality or a complete scam. Listen to learn more.
Another Label Heist: BLENDS (26:40)
Before you get excited by a really good deal on a quality oil, look for the word “blend” in small letters and then check the ingredients to make sure it’s not in fact a quality oil…diluted with garbage.
Which fats do you use when? (27:30)
Bacon Fat (29:43)
When you cook bacon from pastured pork, don’t throw that grease away! You have a nutritious, flavorful goldmine on your hands!
Would you like to know more?
I taught a class on fats not long ago and created a handout that goes much further in depth about the nutritious profiles of fats. It has a great reference sheet for smoke points and some tasty recipes too! If you would like a copy of it, click here.
Farm Announcements (31:30)
Hungry for More? Talk to Me!
Let’s chat about what’s in your pantry and ways to align your diet with your health goals. Remember, your food should be serving you!
One on One:
Need some more intensive help? Schedule a free 20 minute consult by phone or video chat so we can discuss your challenges and goals and ways I can help.
Classes:
In this chat I referenced a Fat Class and a Keto Class we’ve hosted at the farm. Check on our Education Page at the Farm to see what classes I have coming up.
Don’t see one? Request one! I often wait till I get a few requests to pencil one in. Getting a few friends together is a great way to get a class tailored to your needs on the schedule. Classes are also available for private bookings.
NOTE: I don’t work at the farm anymore (though we are still best friends and I am a customer for life!) Still worth a peek at their education page to see what they’re brewing lately! (updated 1/24)
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