Know your oils!
Written by Phillip Semaan on 1/6/24
Cooking oils:
Ghee butter
Beef tallow
Coconut oil
These oils do not denature at high temperatures, unlike olive oil and butter which will become rancid and toxic when cooked.
Ghee butter, also known as clarified butter, boosts overall health, strengthens bones, and improves gut health.
Beef tallow and ghee are a rich source of vitamins A, D, E, B1, B12, and K2.
Beef tallow also helps your body absorb more nutrients when consumed with nutrient rich foods, it also makes your sauteed vegetables taste amazing!
Cooking with coconut oil also has many health benefits including, but not limited to, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, improving skin and oral health, and potentially supporting weight loss.
Whenever you are buying butter, ghee, or beef tallow, make sure it is sourced from a farm with pasture raised, grass-fed, grass-finished animals, as the feed of dairy and non dairy cows has a considerable effect on the quality of its butter and fats. Pasture raised cows have a higher healthy fat content, such as omega-3 fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid)
Unfortunately, in the United States, pasture raised cows make up a tiny portion of the dairy sector, making it even more important to know the source of your animal fat products, making sure it is always from pasture raised free-range farms, even better if local!
Oils for consumption in room temperature foods:
Olive oil
Avocado oil
Butter
Saturated fats found in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties. It is rich in nutrients like bone-building calcium. Butter is great to incorporate in your low carb diet to keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Butter and olive oil have a low smoke point. Heating olive oil and butter can cause the breakdown of some of its beneficial compounds, such as antioxidants, turning them into harmful and toxic compounds. On the other hand, olive oil is one of the healthiest oils to be consumed at room temperature. It is packed with healthy monounsaturated fats, antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties, protects against strokes, heart disease, and promotes weight loss. While it is harmful to heat butter to its smoke point, butter is a great finishing fat to add to your foods at the last stages of your cooking process.
Similarly to olive oil, pure avocado oil is rich in oleic acid, lutein (antioxidant), reduces cholesterol and improves heart health, enhances the absorption of nutrients from nutrient dense foods, and improves skin health and enhances wound healing.
The choice of cooking oils plays a vital role in determining not just the flavor of our dishes, but also their impact on our health. Ghee butter, beef tallow, and coconut oil stand out as high-temperature stable options, avoiding the risk of denaturation and toxicity associated with olive oil and butter under heat. These alternatives not only offer a rich source of essential vitamins but also contribute to great overall benefits from bone strength to gut health.
However, the significance of sourcing these fats from pasture-raised, grass-fed, grass-finished animals cannot be overstated! The quality of butter and animal fats is directly influenced by the feed of these animals and their exposure to sunlight, with pasture-raised cows providing higher levels of beneficial fats, like omega-3 and CLA.
In a landscape where pasture-raised cows represent a small fraction of the dairy sector, it becomes imperative to be discerning about the origin of animal fat products, prioritizing those from pasture-raised free-range farms, preferably local.
When it comes to room temperature consumption, olive oil, avocado oil, and butter are your favorable choices. Despite their health benefits, it is important to note that they have a low smoke point, rendering them unsafe for high temperature use. Nonetheless, these oils bring unique advantages, with olive oil offering an array of health benefits at room temperature, and butter providing a valuable addition to low-carb diets with anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties, and amazing flavor!
A well-informed selection of cooking oils, coupled with an awareness of their properties and sourcing, empowers individuals to not only enhance the flavor profile of their meals, but also promote an all around healthier lifestyle!