Cooking Oils 101: Shocking Truth and Some Better Alternatives

Today, I’m going to be talking about the top oils you want to stop consuming immediately. These oils are inflammatory. They’ve been linked to heart disease, cancer, weight gain, and a whole lot of other health issues.

Vegetable oil dangers

GMO ingredients

We know genetically-modified organisms have had the DNA wired in of pesticides and herbicides, and other chemicals.

These are toxic to your body, and one of the side effects is it kills off good bacteria in your gut known as “probiotics.” Now, the fewer probiotics you have, the weaker your immune system becomes. The fewer vitamins and minerals, and nutrients you can actually absorb.

So we know that GMO ingredients are dangerous to the body because they’re so highly toxic to your system. So again, stay away from those GMO ingredients.

Kidney / Liver Problems

Now, especially when you look at oriental or Chinese medicine, we know that the liver is responsible for producing cholesterol, for digesting fat, for creating bile, which breaks down fat. What happens is if you consume a lot of bad fats, hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils can actually clog up your liver. It causes something called “liver stagnation,” to where your liver isn’t producing enough bile.

Well, that happens when you’re consuming these bad and toxic fats on a daily basis. There’s still a lot of people out there, consuming vegetable oil and canola oil that’s genetically-modified on a regular basis, and it’s really backing up their liver, causing liver toxicity over time.

A liver is especially one of these organs that you won’t notice you have a liver problem until it’s really far gone, until there’s been a problem there for a really long time. Don’t wait, change out your oils.

Heart trouble

Vegetable oil clogs up your arteries. Part of what happens with vegetable oil, we all know this, but bad fats are bad for the heart. Now, there was this misconception years ago, that all fat is bad. Well, that’s not true. Not all fat is bad. There’s good fat and there’s bad fat. Bad fat that’s found in things like vegetable oils, like soybean oil and corn oil, and cottonseed oil, those types of oils are going to cause inflammation in the body. So here’s what happens.

They cause inflammation of your arteries, so then cholesterol builds up in your arteries. One of the greatest things you could ever do for your body is to follow an anti-inflammatory diet. So an anti-inflammatory diet is going to be full of fruits and vegetables. It’s going to be full of omega-3 fats. That’s what an anti-inflammatory diet is.

An inflammatory diet is full of sugar and vegetable oils or hydrogenated oils. If you can get off hydrogenated oil and start consuming more omega-3s, that’s one of the fastest things that can start to reverse heart disease immediately.

Hypertension / stroke

We know that inflammation can constrict the arteries. It can cause those blockages, leading to issues, not just a heart attack, but also a stroke as you build up that extra plaque in the arteries, as those arteries start to constrict more over time due to inflammation.

Trans fat exposure

You’re going to have more trans fats in your diet if you’re eating a lot of bad fat. We know trans fats have been directly linked to obesity.

One of the things, this actually is pretty incredible, but I read a study that said if somebody is 20 pounds overweight, it doubles their risk of cancer and triples their risk of a heart attack.

If somebody would go and lose 20 pounds of unwanted or unneeded fat, they can decrease their risk of cancer by 3 times and cut their risk of heart disease in half.

Trans fats have been directly linked to your body, actually building up not just fat that’s on your arms or areas like that. It’s actually the fat that surrounds your organs right in your midsection. It’s called “adipose fat.” It’s the fat that surrounds your organs, and it’s the most toxic type of fat you can have in your body.

So trans fat has been linked to specifically that belly fat that accumulates right here in your midsection.

Better alternatives

Coconut oil

Now, coconut oil contains something called MCTs {Medium-chain triglycerides}. These types of fat are actually good for your body to burn as energy.

Another major benefit of coconut oil is that it contains lauric acid, capric acid, and caprylic acid. Those are antimicrobial in nature, which means they can actually kill off bad bacteria, candida, and just bad microbes that can get in your body. So a great benefit of coconut oil, it’s the energy-boosting fat. It’s the fat that’s the least likely to be stored as fat, and it’s antimicrobial in nature.

Animal fat (Tallow)

Our ancient ancestors would always consume animal fat. They would use tallow as a natural skin moisturizer. They would use animal fat for flavoring and cooking.

Also, we know when they would make bone broth, the fat would rise to the top adding more flavor to their chicken soup they would make throughout history. But animal fat in small to moderate amounts can actually be very healthy to your body.

A lot of people, for their skin moisturizers, use plant-based oils. Here’s the thing you need to remember. When your cells are made up of fat, well, especially your skin, 50% of it is saturated fat and different fats like stearic acid. Well, does it make sense that animal fats are better at moisturizing your skin because they’re more like the human body than vegetable oil? So a lot of people are actually using different types of vegetable-based oils to try and hydrate, and for antiaging of their skin.

When in fact, animal fat, tallow or chicken smelter, those types of things, are much more hydrating to our body. Also, they’re better for our body to utilize for energy, easy for us to burn. So actually, animal fats and tallow as cooking oil as well, these are much healthier for us than actual most vegetable oils out there today.

Extra virgin olive oil

We know the Mediterranean diet, which is consumed over in the Mediterranean Sea and in Greece, and in Italy and areas of the Middle East, this diet is very high in polyphenols, which are found in large amounts in extra virgin olive oil. It’s been shown to combat heart disease and reduce the overall risk of weight gain.

Now, when you’re opening a bottle of olive oil, it should smell like fresh herbs bursting in your nostrils. It should be very herbaceous. It should have this very wonderful flavor and taste. You should be smelling basil and sage, and just really strong olive when you are opening up a bottle of olive oil. If it doesn’t smell like that or if it has a very light smell, it’s probably not the real deal and there’s a lot of fake olive oil out there today that’s actually watered down with vegetable-based oils, which are not olive oil.

Butter / Ghee

Now, ghee is also known as “clarified butter.” This is one of the most commonly used fats in India today and was even used as part of Ayurvedic medicine.

Now, they would use ghee because, in order to absorb and digest certain herbs, you need some fat there. So you may not realize that. A lot of times you think, “Well, I’m taking an herbal extract and I’m going to digest it all.” The same would go even for certain vitamins like vitamin D. In order for you to fully absorb certain nutrients, they’re best taken with fat and actually, oftentimes something that’s a little bit spicy can help, as well.

So one of the ancient beverages that were consumed in China was the golden milk. Golden milk was a makeup of either coconut milk, a little bit of ghee, as well as turmeric and some sort of, a little bit of maybe a black pepper there. The reason is, to totally absorb turmeric, you needed something a little spicy like black pepper or cayenne, and also fat improves absorption of herbs.

So ghee was used as part of a medicine or turmeric tea, also known as “golden milk” or “golden tea,” to actually help nourish the body in Ayurvedic or Indian medicine. So ghee very high in healthy saturated fat, such as butyric acid, which is actually good for your colon and your gut.

Avocado oil

Now, avocado oil is very high in omega-9 fats or monounsaturated fats. Avocado oil, actually, also avocado itself, is very high in magnesium, as well in terms of as a mineral.

But avocado is one of the best oils for cooking, has a very, very high heat threshold. So again, if you’re frying something up or cooking something at a higher heat, avocado oil, one of the best oils you could use on a regular basis.

Some Important References:

14 Types of Cooking Oil and How to Use Them – by – EatThis

10 Best and Worst Oils for Your Health – by – EverydayHealth

Every Question You’ve Ever Had About Cooking Oils, Answered – by – RealSimple

The truth About Cooking Oils – by – YourHealth

Are Vegetable and Seed Oils Bad for Your Health? – by – Healthline

8 Cooking Oil Facts Everyone Must Know – by – SmallBites