The Simple Truth About Fats, Oils, and Best Practices For Optimal Health
In today’s health landscape, the truth about the oils and fats we consume is often hiding behind a slick food label or marketing tactic. For example, vegetable oils that are cheaper, low quality, oftentimes rancid and used in many packaged and processed foods, are not beneficial to our health – full stop. This category of oil has been health washed with the word “vegetable” on the label so it’s not surprising that we assume vegetable oils are beneficial (side note: oils don’t come from vegetables). Health washing is just one of the marketing ploys when it comes to confusing, and dangerous mis-information on the fat we eat.
In the last 30 to 40 years, we’ve made some progress in the health industry when it comes to fats. There is A LOT of information to sift through about good fats and bad fats, and to help you out, we’d like to share a brief history of fat in the human diet, what we believe based on our research to be the best fats and oils for our health, how to store and use them, and what to steer clear from.
A Brief History of Fat in the Human Diet:
Fat has always been an essential part of the human diet, along with protein and carbohydrates. Early human diets (which seem to be making a ‘come back’ through the paleo diet trend), primarily consisted of lean meats, fish, and wild plants and provided that perfect balance of nutrition for optimal health.
As early human civilization began to develop, so did the discovery of oilseeds such as olives, flaxseeds, and sesame seeds. These would have been crushed or pressed by hand to extract precious oils for cooking, preserving and as a source of nourishment. Seed oils have always been delicate and sensitive, but the small batch, hand to mouth preparation of these precious fats really worked to protect and uphold their integrity and health giving benefits. Fast forward to the modern world for a brief peek at how we’ve “evolved”, or arguably “destroyed” this process and we can find these oils mass produced, in plastic bottles that have been sitting for long periods, often denatured by light, oxygen, heat and time before we consume them.
Animal fats like tallow and lard became popular in many cultures for cooking, frying, baking, and flavoring foods. Our palates were starting to get spoiled at this point with the sumptuous, saturated fats in our foods. It’s worth noting that saturated fats are very difficult to denature and they have a high ‘smoke point' - they are a hardy, stable fat and a great choice for all high heat cooking methods mentioned above.
The Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th century changed our world in many ways, and in regard to food supply the possibilities were expanding at rapid rates. Mass food production was rolled out and while we were able to create more food for more mouths in less time, the quality, molecular integrity, and life force of food, declined. Interesting parallel – so did our health.
The 19th and 20th Century brought hydrogenation, margarine, trans fats, and degenerative disease. Hands up for those of us that had a tub of margarine in the fridge or the hybrid variation that I remember in our fridge, “I can’t believe it’s not butter”. If we’re being honest, this wasn’t the only spreadable, almost plastic, frighteningly edible, non-food item in our fridge. We were big Cheeze Whiz fans too!
Hydrogenation is the process of drastically changing the natural structure of oils, creating a shelf stable product that lasts unspoiled for years. Margarine was born out of the demand for a cheaper, more accessible, and more shelf stable “buttery spread”. Spreadability was a big factor here. God forbid we dip our bread in a little extra virgin olive oil, like our Mediterranean brothers and sisters have done for centuries, gleaning some of the highest rates of centurions on the planet, I’ll note.
Trans-fatty acids are a byproduct of the process of hydrogenation and the major player in the Country Crock’s and Crisco’s of our time. Not so long ago, research and studies determined that this very handy sub fat product is detrimental to our health. Trans fats gained notability in their link to Cardiovascular Disease, the number one degenerative disease that over 1 in 3 people have lost their lives from.
Fat’s That Heal:
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) are fats that the body requires for optimal health, but we can only get them through the food supply, thus they are essential. They are also extremely delicate and sensitive to light, oxygen, and heat and so we have to take good care in choosing the best sources with best practices for human health.
There are two types of EFA’s: Omega 3 fatty acids and Omega 6 fatty acids – it is the balance of these two types of oils that cultivate healing effects in our body. Ideally, we are consuming a 3:1 ratio of Omega 3 : Omega 6 in our diet. Unfortunately, the reality is closer to 1:25! Yes, too little of the Omega 3 and WAY too much Omega 6, which, in excess, is incredibly harmful, throwing our body into a pro-inflammatory state.
Best Sources of Omega 3 Fatty Acids:
Fish (wild caught salmon, and sardines have the highest amount)
Flax Seeds and oil
Chia Seeds and oil
Walnuts and oil
Olives and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Best Sources of Omega 6 Fatty Acids:
Nuts
Seeds
Soybean oil - *cold pressed, organic
Corn oil - *cold pressed, organic
Sunflower oil - *cold pressed, organic
(note, these are mono and polyunsaturated oils that can also become dangerous in the body (on the “AVOID” list) based on the crop they come from and how they are processed)
Including these sources of EFA’s is important and attainable, but we need to be diligent about consuming these fats and oils in their most natural and optimal form. Remember how I mentioned that EFA’s are sensitive to light, oxygen and heat? Well, this gives us some good information on how we should care for and consume them.
Best Practices Checklist:
For oils - Cold pressed, organic
Stored in glass bottles
Nuts and seeds, stored in cool, dark place
Consume within the expiry date
Sniff test for rancidity - you can usually smell if the oils have gone off - a rancid, chemical-like smell
Store your oils in a cool, dark place, or in the fridge
Stable Saturated Fat, if well sourced and mindfully consumed (organic, unprocessed), is nourishing for the body. In the 70’s we were led to believe that fat was bad for you, in particular saturated fats, claiming they were the culprit to cardiovascular disease on the rise. Actually, we now know that both trans fats from chemical and heat processing and sugar were the enemy.
Saturated fats fuel the brain, contribute to hair and skin health, help deliver fat soluble vitamins into the cells, strengthen immunity, boost our mood, satiate us, are great for gut and bone health, and support the hormonal system. Saturated fats are found in all food fats and oils, but are especially abundant in hard fats. They are the fats that are hardened when in the fridge and often solid at room temperature. They turn to liquid when warmed. These fats are ideal for cooking, frying and baking because they are heat stable meaning their molecular structure does not break down or degrade when placed under heat. Most saturated fat comes from animal sources along with some tropical fruit sources.
Best Sources of Saturated Fat:
Ghee
Butter
Tallow
Lard
Coconut Oil
Avocado oil (monounsaturated)
Uses:
High heat cooking, frying, baking
Spread
Add to elixirs
Ghee and coconut oil make for wonderful skin moisturizers too!
Fats that Harm:
Highly processed Polyunsaturated & Monounsaturated Fats used in processed and packaged foods and often sold in large plastic bottles on grocery store shelves, including:
Canola oil
Peanut oil
Corn oil
Safflower oil
Sunflower oil
Rapeseed oil
Vegetable oil
Soybean oil
Cottonseed oil
Yes, this is a lot of oils to avoid and sadly, such oils are used in so much of our food. Most processed and packaged foods - including vegan products - and many restaurants and take away food businesses use these oils. The vegetable and seed oils listed here are degraded and denatured through their processing, so to be fair to the plants and the oils extracted from them, they aren’t inherently bad, but when we industrialize them and start producing for the masses, this is when things get grizzly. To be clear, it is the chemical and heat processing techniques that scramble up and distort the molecular structure of the fat. This denaturing event produces trans fatty acids and makes these fats highly inflammatory, creating oxidizing free radicals in our bodies. This can lead to a host of imbalance and disease in the body, including Inflammatory Bowel Disorders, Skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.
How to avoid these damaging oils:
Don’t buy these oils (with the exception of some, if they are organic, cold pressed, stored in glass and within their expiry date)
Make your meals at home, from scratch. By simply reducing and avoiding take out, processed and packaged foods, you can greatly reduce the negative effects of these oils in your body.
Fat is an essential macro nutrient to support our brain and entire nervous system, along with a slew of other health benefits. We can eat it, cook with it, and nourish our skin with it. When it comes to incorporating fats and oils into our life, we just need to understand what types are optimal for human consumption, how much to consume based on what season of life we are in or what health conditions we may be dealing with. Equally, knowing how to best utilize these foods and maintaining the integrity of the fats with proper storage, will optimize our overall health.
Check out our latest recipe for your dose of healthy fats: Chocolate Avocado Mousse