Canola Oil - YIKES - Scary - What type of olive oil do you think is best?
 

After what I have been reading about canola oil, (and I just bought a new jar last night) I am throwing it in the garbage!

It's just down right scary!

It seems we are being lied to from the same people that have been lying to us about sat fats!

So that just leaves olive oil and peanut oil left for us. Can anyone tell me what types they use and what they have found works best for different cooking needs? :wiggle:

Pretty soon we won't be able to eat any kind of food. Everything will have something wrong with it. I'm eating my canola oil.

Whoa! What's wrong with canola oil? I purchased some to use for recipes I got off the Atkins site last year!


Joan

I had started researching canola oil after some articles I had read lately in the newspaper, I had also been seeing people here on this forum talking about canola oil, and that got me wondering more, so then I got some books about good fats and bad fats to understand a little more, one person here recommended a few websites, this one below for starters: there are alot more sites. You could also do a search on the net for canola oil danger and it will show you more too. It can put a concern in you, and yes, it can make you afraid to eat just about anything anymore.

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_yo..._your_fats.html

Because most of it is partially hydrogenated.

OHGal1415,

Can you tell me what you find works best for your frying and baking needs?

Frying--butter or olive oil
Baking--peanut oil

I don't really bake much at all (except for fish and breakfast custard). I'm not terribly fond of olive oil, but I do like to sautee with it (and garlic).

When I make mayo (I don't eat store-bought mayo. It has partially hydrogenated soybean oil in it), I use peanut oil, as I'm not fond of the bitter taste of olive oil in my mayo.
What is it that you're baking?

Hey OHGAL1415

Please tell me how to make Mayo.... Thanks ~ Osuzana

Yes,,, tell me too about your mayo, how do you make it? (I was surprised too when I read what store mayo is made out of, and am looking for a healthy version)

As for baking, I make for my dh (his woe is somewhat different than mine) I make 100% oatbran muffins w/splenda and it calls for oil, (I kinda thought the peanut would taste better also)

As the article says, the best fats are:

Butter
Beef and lamb tallow
Lard
Chicken, goose and duck fat
Coconut, palm and sesame oils
Cold pressed olive oil
Cold pressed flax oil
Marine oils

If you buy olive oil it should be virgin cold pressed.
Indian cooking uses clarified butter for frying and British traditional cooking uses lard.

Homemade Mayo

2 whole eggs
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp salt
2 T apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 cups oil (I use olive oil)
4 tbs whey (acquired from making yocheese)

Put everything together into a large mouth canning jar. Insert a hand-held stick blender to the bottom of the jar, starting on low, start the mayo, and slowly lift blender. After a couple of seconds, switch to high, and finish lifting blender to top, incorporating all the oil into the mayo. The whole procedure takes less than 20 seconds. You don't have to slowly drizzle the oil when you use the stick blender.

The whey is REALLY easy to acquire, it adds that little "zip" that you expect from real mayo. And again, I also use peanut oil instead of olive oil, but that's just personal preference.

To make whey--
Get a large tub of plain yogurt. Line a colender or strainer with cheesecloth or paper towels. pour the yogurt into the colender, then set the colender into a bowl to catch the whey. Put the whole contraption in the fridge and let sit until most of the moisture has drained from the yogurt.

BTW, the "yocheese" left over is also very good for you. You can use it as a substitute for cream cheese, and still get the acidophilus benefits of yogurt (with even less carbs!). The whey does add some negligible carbs to the mayo, so to be on the safe side, I'd count the standard 2 tbsp. serving as 1 carb.

I read this article

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/conola.html

It seems to me, all the problems found with canola is when canola is used as the ONLY fat in the diet, and therefore there is an imbalance in fats. Since canola is so rich in omega 3s and contains no saturated fat, eating this as your only source of fat could be problematic. When saturated fat was added to the diets of the animals in addition to canola, all reported problems diminished.

Needless to say, we americans need not worry about consuming too many omega 3s so the findings of those studies aren't really applicable. The food industry raises animals on unnatural corn/grain feed, and the result is an imbalance of fats these animals produce. Corn raised animals have too much saturated fat and not enough unsaturates, especially omega 3s. Supplementing your diet with canola oil seems to me the more healthful thing to do since our food supply is deficient in the EFAs.

Remember people, there is someone out there who is afraid of EVERYTHING and more than happy to scare you about it. Just because someone says canola oil is bad for you doesn't mean it is... objectively examine the evidence presented (example: ask yourself are the side effects caused by the product itself, or a LACK of other food in company with the product), apply it in proper context to your diet, and draw your own conclusions.

Hey OHGal1415 ,

Thanks for all the info and the recipe :wiggle:

I had been making (I think) the mistake of putting Best Foods mayonnaise on alot of things I have been eating, and then when I started to read about the good/bad fats, I realized that my mayo isn't quite as good for me as I had thought :rolleyes:

I guess with the thought of watching for hidden carbs, we also have to watch for "bad hidden fats" :idea:

Thanks again!

Here are two more sites that imho are informative:

http://www.karinya.com/canola.htm

http://www.healthrevolution.com/canola.htm

There are loads of articles out there, I suggest you research it yourself and make your own choices. As for me, I think I will leave it out of my woe. (never really liked the taste of it anyway)

My Two Cents
 

Well I just thought I would jump in here regarding Canola Oil.
I am not sure if I can even back this up but... My Grandmother spent time on the Canadian Prairies and she wouldn't use Canola Oil to grease parts! She used to claim that it is one of the original Genetically Modified Foods. According to her, when she was a kid, canola was a toxic plant until they went in and altered the DNA of the plant and then pushed it on all the Farmers to grow.I do not know when this all took place, I know that canola oil is a relatively new product (1970's) in our cupboards. Ha I think my mom used Crisco for everything :nono:

That is just something my long gone granny told me and I always believed her!
I have a question though. Where do people buy Coconut Oil for cooking? I see mention of it around but I am sure I have not seen it in regular grocery stores!
Thanks