Healthy Oil?

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meghan171
meghan171 Posts: 80
in Food and Nutrition
I was just wondering what the healthiest oil is to use when cooking? I read something about canola oil being the best, but that it may not respond well to high temperatures. What do you use to cook with?

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  • xlacijeanx
    xlacijeanx Posts: 232 Member
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    I always use extra light olive oil :)
  • vmata1
    vmata1 Posts: 14
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    Olive Oil is considered the healthiest oil out there which is usually what I use or you can go to the health food store and try sunflower or peanut oil. Its more expensive but less fatty.
  • MonsteRawr
    MonsteRawr Posts: 95 Member
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    Because my husband has high cholesterol we use olive oil for everything except baking sweets. To be frankly honest, I can't really taste a difference!
  • elk58
    elk58 Posts: 1 Member
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    I really only use olive oil. Even though it's fatty, it's mostly unsaturated fats, which are very good for you! Plus it gives my food a great taste. Best of luck!
  • nahhan12
    nahhan12 Posts: 79
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    I mainly use olive oil instead of canola or butter. When I can I try to use a few sprays of Olive Oil Pam instead of the actual oil too. There's been times where I've sauted veggies with water even, but that doesn't work too well with onions. Non-stick pans are wonderful for keeping my food lower calorie.
  • teasdino
    teasdino Posts: 228 Member
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    Olive oil for cooking at low temps, Walnut for salad dressings, and if you want high temp cooking use grape seed oil. Hope this helps ;-]
    jac
  • meghan171
    meghan171 Posts: 80
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    Olive oil it is! Thanks everyone!
  • sd59940
    sd59940 Posts: 27
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    Extra Cold Pressed Virgin Olive Oil!!! Yummy in salads!

    When buying olive oil you will want to obtain a high quality EXTRA VIRGIN oil. The oil that comes from the first "pressing" of the olive, is extracted without using heat (a cold press) or chemicals, and has no "off" flavors is awarded "extra virgin" status. The less the olive oil is handled, the closer to its natural state, the better the oil. If the olive oil meets all the criteria, it can be designated as "extra virgin".

    And Coconut Oil!
  • rebecky27
    rebecky27 Posts: 842 Member
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    If you are looking to cook at a really high temp, I recommend Grape Seed oil. It has a high smoke point, where olive oil will smoke at a lower temp than grape seed oil. Grape Seed oil is also more versitile than Olive Oil. It has a neutral flavor and can be used in Salad dressings and Baking. You can't do that with Olive Oil.

    However, Olive Oil does have a very distinct flavor, and that has it's advantages. If you are cooking something that you don't want to be overpowered with the taste of the olive oil, I'd go with the Grape Seed. It completely depends on what you are cooking and the method.
    Both are "good" oils.
  • alecta337
    alecta337 Posts: 622 Member
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    This link should be helpful, it compares different oils and their fat content (remember that saturated and trans fats are the bad ones and mono and polyunsaturated fats are the good ones)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil#Culinary_use

    Although Vegetable oil (Canola Oil) is the lowest in overall fats, a large chunk is saturated fat.

    I hope this is helpful for everyone =]
  • alecta337
    alecta337 Posts: 622 Member
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    I always use extra light olive oil :)

    The "light" when talking about olive oil usually only has to do with the color or flavor, not the calorie or fat content. Those darned advertising people trying to trick us!!
  • orange_avocado
    orange_avocado Posts: 232
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    I like olive oil a lot for cooking, but be careful when cooking at higher temperatures because it has a relatively low smoke point. That means at a certain temperature the fats will break down and burn, giving your food a smoky, unpleasant taste. To be honest though, I cooked high temp foods (stir fry and pan-frying) with olive oil for a few years and never had any problems, but better safe than sorry.

    Nowadays I only use olive oli for low to medium temp cooking, and coconut oil for higher temp. Coconut oil can be found at most health food stores, is solid white, and found in a jar. It has a high amount of saturated fats, but don't worry! Because it has more than 50% lauric acid, the saturated fats in olive oil are not harmful and don't raise LDL levels (which would result in high cholesterol). So it's diet friendly and sooo delicious!

    More info:
    http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
    http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/heating-olive-oil

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