The Healthy Cooking Oils You Should Be Using
When it comes to your health, there are strict dos and don’ts when it comes to cooking oils. Read ahead to learn about the healthy cooking oils you should be using.
If you knew that just by adding a few healthy everyday ingredients to your diet, you could substantially boost your heart health and your brain health, would you try it? Of course you would. Well, these healthy cooking oils you should be using are all readily accessible, fairy inexpensive, and will do just that.
My favorite conference of the year is David Wolfe’s Longevity Conference. Each year, I come away with so much information, but there always seems to be a few take-aways that all of the experts at the conference agree on. This year, one of those things was the amazing benefits of olive oil and other healthy cooking oils. So, I’ve taken the research and whittled it down for you. Keep reading to learn about the healthy cooking oils you should be using now.
My passion is helping you heal yourself with food and herbs. It’s truly my calling. When I was studying for my Masters Degree in Oriental Medicine, I knew that all of these amazing tenets of Eastern Medicine could be applied to food and used as everyday healing agents for so many people. I knew that if I combined what I was learning about the properties of food and herbs with what I already knew from my chef’s training, it would be life-changing.
And it is. My training in both Eastern and Western medicine, combined with my obsession with food and cooking, has given me a unique skillset that has helped so many people. And I want to help you. Nothing aggravates me more than knowing that these tools exist but that so many of you have not been taught them. Especially when the benefits are so easily accessible to everyone — like in these healthy cooking oils you should be using.
Everyone should know how to heal themselves with food and herbs. This should not be a secret.
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If you eat the right foods for your unique body and circumstances, you can heal yourself. All you need is the correct information. And I’m here to give it to you. So, read on and learn how you can easily start to heal yourself with ingredients are easy to get and easy to use. And, if you want me to create a healthy lifestyle plan specifically for your unique needs, sign up for a free phone consultation and we can chat about it.
Food really is medicine!
Why Is It Important To Use Healthy Food Oils?
First let me just say that it is so important that you make sure you have healthy fats in your diet. And, NO, fat does not make you fat. In fact, low-fat diets do not help you lose weight. Current research is also clear that healthy fats do not increase your risk of disease or heart problems.
One of the simplest ways to get healthy fats into your diet, is with cooking oils. You can saute your food in them, make salad dressings and sauces with them, add them to smoothies, and drizzle some of them on top of whatever you are eating.
Below, you can see some basic reasons why you need healthy fats in your diet. Then, keep scrolling, and you’ll see the list of healthy cooking oils you should be using. Go out, buy one or two…
Here’s how healthy fats work for you, not against you:
1. Youthful Skin
Yup, fewer wrinkles, better elasticity, and a healthy complexion are yours for the asking… all you need to do is consume a good amount of healthy fats. You are what you eat, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the look and quality of your skin. Our cell walls are made up of fats and it’s these fats that keep our skin looking youthful and glowing. By the way, this is true for your hair too…
2. Boosted Immune System
I know that traditionally, when we talk about immune-boosting foods, we talk about things like ginger, turmeric, and the like. But, healthy fats play an important role in keeping your immune system at a high level. To keep you healthy, your white blood cells need to be able to fight bacteria and viruses. When you deprive your white blood cells of healthy fats, they cannot do their job properly. So, feed them. With healthy fats. You’ll have a much better chance of boosting your immune system enough to stay healthy even when people around you are sick.
3. Brain Health
Your brain needs healthy fats. Because your brain is made up of about 60% fat, it needs fat to feed on. When you deprive your brain of fats, it’s impossible for this organ to perform at the high level it is capable of. Think: memory, focus, concentration… if you are having some issues in this area, perhaps you are not giving your brain the healthy fat it craves.
4. Heart Health
Yes, fat is good for your heart. There is no evidence that saturated fats increases the risk of heart disease. In fact, evidence is to the contrary. Healthy fats can raise your good/protective cholesterol levels way up, thereby protecting your heart and arteries. Some of these healthy fats can even help to lower your bad cholesterol.
5. Boosted Energy Level
Fats provide your body with more energy than carbohydrates. I’d rather eat a meal with healthy fats than a traditional carbohydrate-loading meal before physical activity. Healthy fats keep you full and satisfied and they keep your energized.
6. Weight Loss
The start of the obesity epidemic in the United States coincided with the introduction of low fat-and non-fat foods in the marketplace. These foods upped the sugar content to make up for their lack of fats. I tell my clients all the time that if you want to lose weight you have to add healthy fats into your diet. This is a hard concept to embrace for lifetime yo-yo dieters who have been calorie-counting forever. But the results don’t lie. And I’m telling you, you will lose weight if you cut out sugar and embrace the correct healthy fats for your body’s needs.
Add These Oils To Your Pantry:
1. Avocado Oil
Avocado oil has a mild taste and is a perfect multi-purpose oil. You can use it to cook with, to make dressings with, and to drizzle on top of your salads, vegetables, and everything on your plate. Avocados raise good cholesterol while simultaneously lowering bad cholesterol. They also contain vitamin E and are great for your skin.
2. Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has gotten a bad rap in terms of raising cholesterol, but it raises the good kind of heart-protective cholesterol, not the bad kind. This oil can be used to cook with and you can add a spoonful to your shakes, smoothies, and soups. Coconut oil will boost your energy level very quickly, so add it to whatever you are eating or drinking whenever you need a boost. This oil is not a neutral flavored oil; it sometimes has a distinct coconut taste, so it may not be good for all of your recipes. I like to bake with it, and I find it especially good when cooking Asian food — Thai curry… yum…
One thing to keep in mind about coconut oil is that it is solid unless heated. So, if you need it in a liquid form, you’ll have to melt it… which is a very quick process.
3. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Extra-virgin olive oil is amazing. It is good for just about everything. It is great for your heart and has even been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks when added into a healthy diet. It’s also good for your brain, and can reduce some of the inflammation in your body. I recommend buying extra-virgin olive oil because it is less processed than some other olive oils. Also, with olive oils, sometimes you get what you pay for, so if you are able to taste the oils before you buy, that’s a great thing to do.
One of the important messages I came home from the Longevity Conference with, is to drizzle a hefty amount of olive oil on everything. Really. If you cook a plate of food, before you eat it, drizzle a good quality extra-virgin olive oil all over the top of the food. We’ve been going through a lot of olive oil in my house…
Use extra-virgin olive oil primarily for salad dressings, drizzling on top of foods, and for cooking things that don’t require a very high heat. I cook with extra-virgin olive oil all the time, but I switch to a different fat if I need to cook on extremely high heat for a lengthy period of time — this is because extra-virgin olive oil does not have a high smoking point and can burn.
4. Nut Oils
There are many types of healthy and delicious nut oils available. Try out some walnut oil, hazelnut oil, or macadamia nut oil. These oils are best used in non-cooked foods. These nut oils can be the base of delicious salad dressings and adding a healthy drizzle of a delicious nut oil to the top of your cooked foods can really make the taste pop.
Nuts have the ability to lower bad cholesterol and enhance brain performance, and nut oils are an easy way to reap these benefits.
5. Ghee
Ghee is not technically an oil, but I’m including it in this list because it’s one of the best fats to cook with. Ghee is a clarified butter that has had the milk solids removed and it is lactose free. And, it has the delicious taste of butter. It has a high smoking point, and it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. I recommend buying organic ghee if possible.
Ghee contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease.
I love to add a spoonful of ghee to my coffee or tea, blend it up, and drink it for a great energy boost in the morning.
Try Some Of These Recipes With Healthy Oils:
Seafood Salad With Garlic And Oil
Bulletproof Coffee
The World’s Best Nut Butter Recipe
The healthy benefits in healthy fats and healthy oils can be truly amazing. And, if you combine these fats/oils with the right foods and supplements, you really have a powerful healing protocol. One of my favorite things to do is to introduce my clients to the healing powers of everyday ingredients because the results can be so amazing. If you’d like a free phone consultation, please go to my calendar now and pick a time slot that works for you. We can discuss herbs and food that will help whatever your concerns are. It’s only food — it’s not rocket science — together we can help you live your best life.
Another article you may be interested in is: 5 Ways Coconut Water Can Improve Your Life.
Download your free copy of my Radiant Skin Ebook now!
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