Cooking Oil/ Grapeseed Oil Health Benefits
In this section of Seattle Organic Restaurants I’m going to talk about some of the healthiest oils for cooking and salad dressings. Cooking at high temperatures or frying your food can destroy all the live enzymes and nutrients in your food and turn them into dangerous carcinogens. Keep in mind that cooking your food at lower temperatures can help to preserve the nutrients in your food.
Cooking oils:
As you know there are three different types of fats known as saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat. Saturated fat in coconut oil is solid at room temperature. Polyunsaturated fat is liquid at room temperature but it oxidizes quickly like the fat in corn or sunflower oil. Monounsaturated fats are liquid and are found in nuts, canola and olive oil.
There are also two types of oils; cold press oil and extracted oil. These days the food industry uses toxic chemical solvent such as hexane in order to maximize profit and extract more oil from food sources. When buying oils make sure to buy solvent (hexane) free. Olive oil and avocado oil are both cold pressed oils that should not be heated.
Cold press oils like olive and avocado have low burning temperatures and if they are heated they can release cancerous carcinogens. The best oil for cooking is organic grapeseed oil (solvent-free).
Grapeseed oil is made by pressing the seeds of grape (if hexane isn't used as solvent). Grapeseed is a rich source of vitamin E, protein and minerals. Grapeseed oil can be found in facial products, hair and skincare products, and bath oils. Grapeseed oil has great anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. Grapeseed oil is also a wonderful moisturizer. According to researchers, the level of bad cholesterol in people who consumed grapeseed oil decreased by 7% and the level of good cholesterol in those who consumed grapeseed oil increased by 13%. Grapeseed oil has also a high burning temperature like 485 degrees Fahrenheit.
Keep in mind that you can use other oils like sesame oil, olive oil, jojoba oil and walnut oil for salad dressing. Be aware that these oils have a very low smoking point. For example, the smoking point for olive oil is 250 degrees Fahrenheit and olive oil should never be heated. Olive oil also known as "liquid gold" is a great source of monounsaturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fatty acids are one of the healthiest dietary fats and you should replace saturated and trans fats in your diet with unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fatty acids.