Cooking Oils

[Jenn B]

I have gotten to the point where my 10 year old daughter says (while on the boardwalk at the beach) "oh, mommy won't eat those sweet potatoe fries, they are made in peanut oil". 

 

On this same trip to visit a friend, another friend of ours commented, "at least you won't have to feed Jennifer, she will bring her own food". And true to form, I arrived with my own unrefined coconut oil amongst other goodies in  my cooler. I have been eating compliant since February and have established this (weird to them) reputation amongst my friends and family.

 

So I am poking around online to gain a better understanding (somewhat for myself, but primarily to be explain to others) why it is that I am mainly cook with coconut oil, and only otherwise use avocado and EVOO in my dressings and mayonnaise.

 

This is what I have come up with:

Coconut oil is able to sustain higher temperatures  for cooking (because is it almost fully a saturated fat) and is filled with medium chain fatty acids which are better for your digestion. On a superficial level I understand this, but not one that I can explain to any one with truly understanding what this means.

 

Red Palm Oil was next best on the list, but I have never used this, and probably never will.

 

Olive and avocado were next on the list, but not for cooking, for eating plain. These were mono saturated fats and best for not cooking, and I got lost there.

 

I could only find  that peanut and seed oils were poly saturated only that they were not the better choice, they are trans fatty and increase our risk for breast cancer and chronic diseases (of wchih both I am at risk for). Since this is where most of America rests, I need to be able to understand on a true level when family asks me, why I bring my own oil when I  travel, or dine out at a restaurant (yes, there is this one place my kids love and they cook with soy oil so I bring my own and they cook my food separate!)

 

I find that most people are lazy and uneducated and don't care so much and they all think I am a freak because though I "look" good to them, they do not see enough results to warrant making a change. They are content with status quo.

[GFChris]

Do you have the It Starts with Food book?  Chapter 15 (The Right Fats)  and Chapter 8 (Seed Oils) furnish all the details.