Here’s a typically worded ad from a well-known brand name cooking oil: “Our organic canola oil is free of unhealthy cholesterol, preservatives and additives. It has less saturated fat and more vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids than any other brand. Our canola oil is the world’s healthiest food!”
Sounds like a good cooking oil, doesn’t it? Well, get this…
Canola is not a real plant by itself, but derived from the rapeseed plant. Rapeseed oil has been historically used for industrial purposes and lubricant for machinery. It has been linked to lung cancer and lesions on the heart.
Canadian scientists wanted to turn rapeseed oil into an edible oil, so they used selective breeding techniques to “create” seeds that contained less of these harmful, bitter substances, and thus canola oil was created.
Oh, and “canola” is a marketing term. It stands for Canada Oil and Low Acid.
Pretty sneaky, huh?
How’s that fried chicken tasting now?
Since the year 1995, biotech giant Monsanto has manufactured rapeseeds that are genetically engineered to be resistant to herbicides.
Today, about 90% of the world’s canola crop is genetically modified.
Did you know that oils lose much of their taste when heated?
Frying oils, especially in restaurants, are the top culprits behind heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s.
In this video Karen asks: “I’m so confused about healthy oils. I hear contradictions all the time. Use canola, don’t use. Use grape seed oil, don’t use. What’s the truth?”
So, what’s the healthiest oil for everyday frying? Is it olive oil? Sunflower? Grape seed?
I talk a lot about oils in The Brain Warrior’s Way Cookbook as well as The Omni Diet, but I want to start by saying avoid cheap oils that are high in Omega 6 fatty acids. This includes corn, sunflower, soybean and safflower oils.
There are many oils that are healthy on salads, but they become toxic when they are heated. All oils breakdown when they reach their smoking point. So the oils that begin to smoke very quickly should be avoided.
Some oils start to smell of rubber and plastic almost as soon as they become warm, and fume at 350 degrees.
One of my personal favorite oils is macadamia nut oil (or avocado oil if you are allergic to nuts). So give that a try!
Learn more about how to cook healthy in The Brain Warrior’s Way Cookbook as well as The Omni Diet.
