The olive oil problem

LyndaBSS wrote: »

I don't avoid it. It's a healthy fat. I also use avocado oil, grass fed butter and ghee. You would have to pry them from my cold, dead hands.

I don't use sweeteners other than real sugar and that's for a rare cup of tea.

Agree, I don't avoid olive oil or avocado oil. I look for dressings that have these and avoid the ones that contain vegetable oils and canola oils.

goatelope wrote: »

Yes I do lower the amount but you do need some fat for cooking on hot pans etc.

Agree healthy but I find if you’re not careful it can hugely increase the calorie count of the meal.

Me too. I also lower the amount for cooking, if my calories are close to topping my calorie range for day. Often use 1/2 a tbsp.

If Im having trouble meeting my calories for the day, I throw 1--2 tbsp in pan to up my calories.

apullum wrote: »

Depending on what you're cooking, you can usually get away with less oil or even no oil at all. When I roast vegetables, for example, I spray on a smaller amount of oil rather than tossing the veggies in oil.

If it's a marinade, I usually leave the oil out completely and see how it works--it will depend on what you're marinating and what the other ingredients are.

We eat a lot of salad greens with just a nice balsamic vinegar and no oil.

For baking, though, you may not be able to reduce or substitute for oil unless you're okay with changing the taste/texture substantially. It all just depends on what you're using the oil for.

I do much of this. i use very little oil. i always have though.
LOVE balsamic vinegar in salads. a good one you need very little.
As a volume eater, I need to make choices on calories. and for me that means often opting for foods low in calorie density. I have noticed this can leave my fat macro a bit too low, so have worked to ensure i hit them (I added nuts, 2-4% yogurt...).

for things that need a bit of oil in the pan, i use a spray and try to keep it as light as possible.

I do the same veggies with la tourangelle garlic oil. Less calories and great flavor.

Edited to add: I was wrong, it's actually higher in calories BUT the flavor is so concentrated, I use less of it.

I love olive oil. Probably where most of my fat macros go. Mostly on fresh salads.
I don't really substitute that much .. marinades I don't use too much oil. Sugar/honey I just use less.

goatelope wrote: »

Yes I do lower the amount but you do need some fat for cooking on hot pans etc.

Agree healthy but I find if you’re not careful it can hugely increase the calorie count of the meal.

When I took stock of easy ways to cut cals/ways I was getting too many at the beginning of my weight loss, a heavy hand with olive oil was an easy one to identify. I now use a spritzer with olive oil, cut way down the amount I use in vinaigrette (still tastes as good IMO), or use coconut oil where it's easy to add just a tiny bit. (I also use avocado oil.)

Basically where I would have estimated a TBSP before (and probably gone over), I now use a tsp -- it's plenty.

33gail33 wrote: »

I cook my breakfast veggies (spinach, onions and mushrooms) with olive oil every morning and had to cut back due to the calories. Now I use 1/2 tbsp and add a bit of water to the veggies while sauteeing them.

YES. I found myself doing this-- cut the oils/fats and adding water. Sometimes that's what you're really needing to cook that darn food anyway.

And sometimes it's just being mindful that you don't need that much oil in the first place! I had pancakes this morning, carefully added very little oil to the pan, and they cooked fine. Perfect actually: I had never made pancakes before today that didn't require a screw-up to start, and I think that's because I used less oil.

Well I'm gonna have to check Amazon for a spritzer 'cause EVOO is a staple in my kitchen. Does anyone cook with any other oils-- avocado, truffle, coconut, etc? Will a spritzer work with those as well?

floofyschmoofer wrote: »

Well I'm gonna have to check Amazon for a spritzer 'cause EVOO is a staple in my kitchen. Does anyone cook with any other oils-- avocado, truffle, coconut, etc? Will a spritzer work with those as well?

I cook with evoo, avocado, garlic and coconut oils. I keep my avocado oil in my spritzer. The only one you couldn't is coconut because it solidifies in cooler temps.

I skip or massively scale down liquid oils, and have my fats as nuts, seeds, avocados and other foods. So my current favorite salad dressing is one I make with avocado instead of oil, and it's delicious! Lots of dishes that I used to start by sauteing an onion in oil, I now start by cooking the onion in a small bit of water. I still get the onion flavor.

As far as sweeteners -- I mostly consume sweets in the form of fruits and vegetables (thinking of things like butternut squash and sweet potato). Bananas and dates are both very sweet and work as sweeteners in a number of recipes.

use an air fryer. don't need very much oil if any at all, and i have one that can fry/roast/reheat/dehydrate, was like $90 at walmart. my wonderful fiance got it for me for valentines day bc ive been asking for one for a while now. He loves it more than me I think.

I sometimes use it make our meats in (main chicken or pork, im too picky about steak to try it in there), and I add no oil to that, it comes out delicious and moist as long as I pull it out on time (sometimes I get busy with the kids or animals and let it go a few minutes to long). I often use it for potatoes as well, and it recommends like 2-3 tbsp oil to put on but I usually put less than 1 or sometimes skip it all together and they come out crisp. Made squash in it with no oil as well that was delicious. As for things like eggs, Ive switched to soft boiling those as it still gives me that nice gooey center that I like, and i find the white to be more enjoyable that way as well, and it eliminates the need for oil/butter/etc to fry them in the pan. z

Other than that, I suppose you could use less, but not sure if that would meet your requirements for whatever you're using it for.

All oils -- olive, peanut, veggie, canola, whatever -- have about the same cals.

It's not something that I really worry about. In fact, I don't even measure it unless I'm making a dish where I think I'm actually going to consume the oil used to prepare it, as I would in salad dressing (which I don't use anyway).

If I grill or saute something I just toss some in the pan, cook whatever I'm cooking and drain off the excess oil which is almost all of the oil I used (including whatever fats melted away from the food).

Hasn't seem to make any difference in my logs and my prior weight loss and current maintenance efforts.