A Question of Fat

[Alix]

OK, redkitty's coconut oil thread inspired me a bit. I wonder how fat "savvy" we all are. There is so much to know, and we often just take things piecemeal and don't look at the whole picture. So, lets share what we know, or think we know about fat. What are your do's and don'ts?

For example:

I use butter. I'm fully aware that it contains cholesterol, but I'm willing to risk it for the taste. My cholesterol levels are good, and I work at that.

I know that cholesterol is primarily found in animal fat. Plant cholesterol is so insignificant it doesn't even really register.

I know saturated fat = bad and I know unsaturated is slightly better. I can't give you chapter and verse on why though. Anyone?

Trans fats are caused by hydrogenating fats to make them solid at room temp. I know they are not good for me, but can't remember why. However, it seems to make sense to me that a fat that is solid at room temp after being monkeyed with in a lab is likely not as good for me as another alternative.

Hydrogenated = bad. Unhydrogenated = good. LOL. Pretty simplistic huh?

Seriously though, we eat olive oil in salad dressings and canola for most other frying issues. Unhydrogenated becel for the margarine lovers and butter for me.

What about you guys? And can anyone shed some light without being TOO technical about it?

 

[bethzaring]

this comes from my college textbook "Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy". 7th edition.

Saturated fats raise blood serum cholesterol (cholesterol in your blood), a LOT. Cholesterol in food does not appreciably raise the cholesterol levels in your blood.

Monounsaturated fats have no effect on serum cholesterol levels in your blood.

Polyunsaturated fats lower blood serum cholesterol levels.

Evidence suggests that dietary fiber may lower blood serum cholesterol levels, (think oatmeal).

High cholesterol levels in the blood are *thought* (not proven, but much evidence exists) to contribute to CHD, Coronary Heart Disease.

 

[StirBlue]

emulsifier is a chemical agent used in many products to include food and beverages.

They create high cholesterol and weight gain. You may look at one product such as salad dressing. It does not contain enough of the chemical to cause high cholesterol and weight gain. But nearly every product that we use has an emulsifier so we are taking in a very large amount of these chemicals all the time. They are also in liquid medicines and hygiene/cosmetics to include hair dye and gardening supplies. Most of the feed for livestock & poultry also include this stuff. Flavored bottle water does too and sports drinks are loaded.

Fat is not the big bad boy anymore!

 

[GotGarlic]

emulsifier is a chemical agent used in many products to include food and beverages.

They create high cholesterol and weight gain.

Can you be more specific about which emulsifier you're talking about? There are lots - mustard and eggs can be emulsifiers: http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season8/sauce/sauce_trans.htm (Search the page for "emulsifier.")

 

[StirBlue]

Tom's of Maine - About Our Products

This is in the children's allergy benadryl. This is listed on the inactive ingredient list.

 

[StirBlue]

I might add that emulsifiers are also used to clean up oil spills in the ocean! And we see the effects that it has on the fish and birds in particular. The polar bears have been exposed to more emulsifiers than global warming!

 

[GotGarlic]

I might add that emulsifiers are also used to clean up oil spills in the ocean! And we see the effects that it has on the fish and birds in particular. The polar bears have been exposed to more emulsifiers than global warming!

I've seen effects of oil spills on fish and birds, but not of emulsifiers. I'm not one who panics over every chemical I see listed on something - as I've said in other threads, everything we ingest is a chemical and our bodies are chemical factories. Just because we're not chemists and aren't familiar with a long word is no reason to fear it automatically. And the fact that emulsifiers are used to clean up oil spills has nothing whatever to do with food that I can see. Chances are they're not the same things.

 

[GotGarlic]

Tom's of Maine - About Our Products

This is in the children's allergy benadryl. This is listed on the inactive ingredient list.

From that page:

What are the risks?

Poloxamer 335 and 407 have no known toxicity and a long history of safe use in a wide range of oral and topical pharmaceutical products. They are not known or suspected to have carcinogenic effects or any other health-related effects.

 

[Maverick2272]

I'm not one who panics over every chemical I see listed on something - as I've said in other threads, everything we ingest is a chemical and our bodies are chemical factories. Just because we're not chemists and aren't familiar with a long word is no reason to fear it automatically.

I tend to agree. I worry less about the chemical ingredients in the food and more about what chemicals might be on the food.

But, I also shy away from heavily processed foods to begin with and I am sure that helps. To me avoiding processed foods is second nature to loving to cook. I am having a hard time articulating this, but I think I am try to say "If we are into cooking, then why would we be buying alot of pre-packaged and pre-processed food instead of fresh ingredients and making it ourselves?"
Not sure if I made any sence there, but if I make my own sauces, dressings, soups, etc. then I guess i dont have much to worry about concerning emulsifiers, dyes, artifical flavorings etc. since I just dont use them in my own cooking.

Nothing beats homecooked!

 

[Maverick2272]

Um, yea so I noticed the title of this thread is acting about fat, LOL.

Concerning that, my cholesterol was way way up three years ago. I changed my habits and went from so much prepared and processed food to homemade foods using fresh ingredients. I also stopped buying junk food and instead switched to healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables.
Instead of eating out, I began to cook more and more at home from scratch, and many of the same foods that I was eating out to get. I by no means consider myself any kind of chef, but I am proud that my wife tells me, and often, "I would rather eat your food than the resturants, its just as good if not better and considerably cheaper".
So, cut the junk food, processed food, and eating out. Went to making fresh food, using fresh ingredients, larger portions of fruits and vegetables and smaller portions of meat, and now my cholesterol is way down.
As for the the fats I used in cooking: I didnt change that at all. I have always used butter over margerine, and cooked with olive oils, canola oil, and peanut oil. Very little with vegetable oil.
For me the only reason I change the oil I would use is if I was changing the flavor of the recipe by doing so.
I just think, IMHO, that the less we use the grocery store as a kitchen and the more we rely on home grown or farmers markets and our own kitchens the better off we are.
I try not to think to heavily into everything else, just too depressing sometimes.

 

[bethzaring]

The human body needs about 2 tablespoons of fat a day to keep all cellular functions operating happily.

 

[YT2095]

we need them for a variety of Hormones too, compare coleSTEROL with progeSTEROne or testoSTEROne.

they are all fats and some are fatty acids, Stearates are the salts of these acids, ever heard of Sodium Strearate? how about if I say Soap!

they really are an amazing group of Molecule types

 

[Constance]

My husband has been diagnosed with COPD (early stages), and it's recommended that he maintain a high fat/low carb diet. With COPD, one's lungs calcify, i.e., harden up, and the fat helps keep the air sacs in the lungs lubricated.

 

[DramaQueen]

I tend to agree. I worry less about the chemical ingredients in the food and more about what chemicals might be on the food.

But, I also shy away from heavily processed foods to begin with and I am sure that helps. To me avoiding processed foods is second nature to loving to cook. I am having a hard time articulating this, but I think I am try to say "If we are into cooking, then why would we be buying alot of pre-packaged and pre-processed food instead of fresh ingredients and making it ourselves?"
Not sure if I made any sence there, but if I make my own sauces, dressings, soups, etc. then I guess i dont have much to worry about concerning emulsifiers, dyes, artifical flavorings etc. since I just dont use them in my own cooking.

Nothing beats homecooked!

I couldn't agree with you more. I too am an avid cook and I cook everything I eat. I don't use processed foods unless I absolutely have to. I do use butter, never margarine and never canola oil. ACCCCKKKK. Olive oil and corn oil are staples in my house but olive oil is used for most things including my own salad dressings, sauces, soups, etc. just like you do. You can't buy soup or salad dressing that can equal the purity of ingredients or the taste of homemade and the salad dressings only take a few minutes to make.
I make my own bread crumbs too, how easy is that? Ever look on the side panel of can of bread crumbs? Why do bread crumbs need 30 other ingredients? Most of those things are fillers, like cellulose. More AAACCCKKK.

Everything in moderation. Paula Deen and Emeril Lagasse take note.

 

[Alix]

DramaQueen, what is wrong with canola in your opinion? And why is corn oil better? In Canada we get lots of information about canola and its all good. It is nearly free of saturated fat and is almost 60% monounsaturated and has essential omega 3's. I'm not all that familiar with corn oil, but I'm off to do a search on its contents.

Edit: found this on corn oil "Refined corn oil is 99% triglyceride, with proportions of approximately 59% polyunsaturated fatty acid, 24% monounsaturated fatty acid, and 13% saturated fatty acid."

 

[DramaQueen]

DramaQueen, what is wrong with canola in your opinion? And why is corn oil better? In Canada we get lots of information about canola and its all good. It is nearly free of saturated fat and is almost 60% monounsaturated and has essential omega 3's. I'm not all that familiar with corn oil, but I'm off to do a search on its contents.

Edit: found this on corn oil "Refined corn oil is 99% triglyceride, with proportions of approximately 59% polyunsaturated fatty acid, 24% monounsaturated fatty acid, and 13% saturated fatty acid."

Alix, this is one of many, many articles and TV health segments on Canola oil. It's a long article, and I didn't write it so please don't kill the messenger.

I truly have never read anything that praises the virtues of canola oil. I prefer not to use it, I don't like what I've learned about it, but but along with that, it has no flavor and I find it a waste of money. Here is the article:


But let's start with what canola oil is. "Canola" is not a plant. Canola is a made up word for "Canada" and "oil". Canola oil is actually derived from the rapeseed plant. Obviously the food industry didn't think that RAPE was a good word to market their new oil, so they coined the name "Canola" and that's what we call it.

Until the 1970s, rapeseed was not fit for human consumption because it was too high in eruric acid. Eruric acid has been shown to cause heart lesions and vitamin E deficiency. This acid, though, made it the perfect lubricant for engines and it was used industrially. During World War II it's production skyrocketed. But after the war, the need for rapeseed oil plummeted and the food industry set about trying to figure out how to keep this big cash crop going.

They kept cross-breeding the rapeseed until they got the eruric acid level low enough to get the FDA to consider it GRAS (generally regarded as safe) seal of approval. The level "considered" safe is 2 percent or below. Most canola oil has anywhere from .5-1 percent eruric acid still in it. Is that safe? Hopefully. But when it's heated, even low levels of eruric acid have been linked to lung cancer. You should never heat canola oil.

But is that reason enough to not use it? Probably not. That was the big deal in the email hoax - the eruric acid.

Consider the FDA will not allow canola oil in infant formula because it was found to retard growth, according to the Federal Register in 1985. Do I need to make my children midgets?

And here is something that cannot be denied. Eighty percent of the rapeseed crop being planted now is genetically engineered to resist an herbicide called glufosinate ammonium. This herbicide is non-selective and will kill any plant it comes into contact with - unless the plant has been genetically altered to keep it from dying. This means you can dump as much herbicide as you want on the weeds and no longer worry about killing your actual crop. Glufosinate ammonium has been linked to nervous system problems in humans and animals. The FDA says even small amounts of this herbicide are toxic and no one is regulating the rapeseed oil for this residue.

This is big business for the companies that produce herbicides though. Big business!

These genetically altered plants are also posing another risk by crossbreeding with weeds and making the weeds resistant to glufosinate ammonium. Now you need to add a different herbicide in to kill the GA-resistant weeds. Guess what? This means more herbicides are being sold! Somebody is making even more money!

Honeybees are the biggest pollinators of rapeseed. Given the choice, honeybees will choose the rapeseed flower over other flowers. In 1997, the New Scientist published a report showing that proteins from the genetically engineered rapeseed are showing up in honey and may have adverse effects on bees and cause unknown allergens in humans.

Okay, so who cares about bees? Is that reason enough to stop eating canola?

Well then, let's also consider the fact rapeseed is a stinky oil. The reason no one but a few Asian cultures used it for food is that it has a stinky pungent odor. It's also a naturally dark oil. Look at your bottle of canola oil. Is it dark? In order to get the stink out and change it's color, it has to be deodorized and bleached. This process involves heating it and using chemicals. Guess what happens to the Omega 3s when they are heated? They become rancid. I could have linked the whole chemical process, but you would seriously need to be a chemist to get it. Do I need to be a chemist to know what I'm eating?

Okay, so if that isn't enough to convince you, also consider that in addition to being highly refined, heated, and bleached, solvents like hexane and acetone are also used in the process of extracting the oil from the seeds and preventing the crystallization of the rapeseed sediment.

So let's go over this. Canola oil contains potentially dangerous eruric acid, along with residues from herbicides, solvents, and bleaches. It's genetically altered. It's having an impact on the environment and on animal species.

Will it kill you? Probably not. Is is the best choice?

NO!

Your best choice is to use cold-pressed oils. They cost a lot. I use cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. I prefer Greek. I also use high oleic, cold-pressed organic safflower oil. I sometimes use grape seed oil. We use butter. Do NOT use margarine ever. Do not eat hydrogenated anything.


If you want to do one single thing to change your health, your cardiovascular health and your cholesterol, change your oil.

 

[Andy M.]

I consider this a classic example of propaganda from other oil producers.

They make non-specific statements that suggest but do not prove certain things and leave it up to the uneducated consumers' ignorance of the facts to fear the worst. It's very easy to trigger the, "I'm not going to use that stuff just to be on the safe side." response in people.

 

[bethzaring]

the oil I use the most of is olive oil, followed by canola oil. Real corn oil is great, but not easily found, at least not where i live. It should be a dark yellow. It is wonderful in corn bread.

Is this still the fat thread? If it is,

some vitamins are water soluble ( B vit, and C) and some are fat soluble (A, D, E, K). We need that little bit of fat in our diet every day to help transport the fat soluble vitamins around our body.

 

[Alix]

DramaQueen, I can see why you would be worried if that is the only information you have about it. Forgive me, but that article is a load of horse puckies. I will refute a few comments in that article. Thanks for sharing that so I could understand your strong comments earlier. I appreciate that. And don't worry, not shooting the messenger here.

Canola is so named because it is Canadian Oil, Low Acid. It is indeed modified rapeseed oil which was high in erucic acid...canola is not. And it is very low indeed, far below what is cited in that article "Canola oil contains only 0.5 to 1% erucic acid, well below the 2 percent limit set by the USDA."

I guess this reinforces my original statement that there is a lot of information out there and it pays to do some research.

I'm going to continue to use canola oil in the places where I don't use olive oil. And DramaQueen, we will just have to agree to disagree because from what I read, corn oil has the kinds of fats that I'm working on eliminating. (triglycerides and saturated fats).

 

[Andy M.]

I use canola in higher heat applications as it has a higher smoke point than EVOO.