Olive Oil is NOT Health Food
Most Americans eat too much added fat and oil:
The average person gets 30 percent of total calories from added fats and oils (and this doesn't include the fat that is naturally present in food).
So, almost 1 out of every 3 calories we eat is added fat.
Added sugar and sweeteners are also a big source of wasted calories, but most estimates are that we eat about 16% of total calories from added sugars and sweeteners. So we eat twice as much added fat as compared to added sugar.
All fats and oils are a mixture of the different kinds of fats:
1. Saturated
2. Mono-unsaturated
3. Poly-unsaturated
4. Hydrogenated and Trans (artificial fats that are similar to saturated fat)
Foods higher in saturated fats:
Butter and tropical oils (coconut, palm, palm kernel, and cocoa butter) are very high in saturated fat.
For example:
Butter is 62% saturated fat, 29% mono-unsaturated fat, and 4% poly-unsaturated fat.
Coconut oil is 87% saturated fat, 6% mono, and 2% poly.
Margarine, shortening, and “hydrogenated fat” have trans fat.
Saturated fat, hydrogenated, and trans fats are clearly harmful and cause heart disease.
Foods higher in mono-unsaturated fats:
Olive, sunflower, and canola oils.
These are only slightly healthier than fats high in saturated fat.
Olive oil has a great reputation, but the fact is, olive oil is 14% saturated fat, (74% mono, and 8% poly).
Research shows mono-unsaturated fat leads to progression of heart disease (see reference below).
Foods higher in poly-unsaturated fats:
Soybean, safflower, and corn oils. Again, these are not health foods.
There are only two kinds of “essential” fats: omega-6 and omega-3. These are the only kinds of fats that we need to eat because our body can’t make them. They are poly-unsaturated.
Omega-6 fat is present in many foods, and we are eating way too much of it.
No one who eats enough food is deficient in this kind of fat.
Omega-3 fat is present in fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
Only a small amount (1.6 gm = 15 calories) is needed per day. One tablespoon of ground flax seed has 1.6 gm.
Please do not use flax oil or fish oil, because they are highly-processed, many other nutrients have been removed, and they are often rancid.
Base your diet on fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, and you will get all the omega-3 needed, even without having any flax seed.
To avoid and treat heart disease (the leading cause of death for Americans) ALL types of fats need to be decreased.
ALL kinds of fats lead to heart disease, it’s just that saturated and trans fats are probably the worst.
The American Heart Association recommends eating less than 7% of calories from saturated fat. Again, olive oil is 14% saturated fat.
There is no need for us to eat ANY saturated fat, mono-unsaturated fat, or trans (hydrogenated) fat.
Plus, fats and oils have the most calories of any food. It is easy to overeat foods that have added oils and fat.
Just one tablespoon of any oil has 120 calories.
What to do:
BAKING WITHOUT OIL
Replace the oil or butter in the recipe with half the amount of another moist food, such as applesauce, mashed bananas, mashed potatoes, or mashed pumpkin.
Use silicone-coated bakeware, and solid silicone bakeware.
Use parchment paper between the metal and your food when using cake pans, loaf pans, and baking sheets.
SAUTÉING WITHOUT OIL
Water makes an excellent sautéing liquid. It prevents foods from sticking to the pan, and still allows vegetables to brown and cook.
Also try: soy sauce, vegetable broth, balsamic vinegar, or salsa.
READ FOOD LABELS
Check the ingredients – if it has oil or other added fat in it, avoid any product that has more than 1 or 2 grams of fat per serving.
References:
Dietary Assessment of Major Trends in U.S. Food Consumption, 1970-2005. Hodan Farah Wells and Jean C. Buzby
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-33) 27 pp, March 2008. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib33/eib33.pdf
The influence of diet on the appearance of new lesions in human coronary arteries. DH, Johnson RL, Mack WJ, el Zein HA, Vailas LI. JAMA. 1990 Mar 23-30;263(12):1646-52. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/263/12/1646.abstract
Olive, soybean and palm oils intake have a similar acute detrimental effect over the endothelial function in healthy young subjects. Rueda-Clausen CF, Silva FA, Lindarte MA, Villa-Roel C, Gomez E, Gutierrez R, Cure-Cure C, López-Jaramillo P. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2007 Jan;17(1):50-7. Epub 2006 Mar 20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17174226
The average person gets 30 percent of total calories from added fats and oils (and this doesn't include the fat that is naturally present in food).
So, almost 1 out of every 3 calories we eat is added fat.
Added sugar and sweeteners are also a big source of wasted calories, but most estimates are that we eat about 16% of total calories from added sugars and sweeteners. So we eat twice as much added fat as compared to added sugar.
All fats and oils are a mixture of the different kinds of fats:
1. Saturated
2. Mono-unsaturated
3. Poly-unsaturated
4. Hydrogenated and Trans (artificial fats that are similar to saturated fat)
Foods higher in saturated fats:
Butter and tropical oils (coconut, palm, palm kernel, and cocoa butter) are very high in saturated fat.
For example:
Butter is 62% saturated fat, 29% mono-unsaturated fat, and 4% poly-unsaturated fat.
Coconut oil is 87% saturated fat, 6% mono, and 2% poly.
Margarine, shortening, and “hydrogenated fat” have trans fat.
Saturated fat, hydrogenated, and trans fats are clearly harmful and cause heart disease.
Foods higher in mono-unsaturated fats:
Olive, sunflower, and canola oils.
These are only slightly healthier than fats high in saturated fat.
Olive oil has a great reputation, but the fact is, olive oil is 14% saturated fat, (74% mono, and 8% poly).
Research shows mono-unsaturated fat leads to progression of heart disease (see reference below).
Foods higher in poly-unsaturated fats:
Soybean, safflower, and corn oils. Again, these are not health foods.
There are only two kinds of “essential” fats: omega-6 and omega-3. These are the only kinds of fats that we need to eat because our body can’t make them. They are poly-unsaturated.
Omega-6 fat is present in many foods, and we are eating way too much of it.
No one who eats enough food is deficient in this kind of fat.
Omega-3 fat is present in fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
Only a small amount (1.6 gm = 15 calories) is needed per day. One tablespoon of ground flax seed has 1.6 gm.
Please do not use flax oil or fish oil, because they are highly-processed, many other nutrients have been removed, and they are often rancid.
Base your diet on fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, and you will get all the omega-3 needed, even without having any flax seed.
To avoid and treat heart disease (the leading cause of death for Americans) ALL types of fats need to be decreased.
ALL kinds of fats lead to heart disease, it’s just that saturated and trans fats are probably the worst.
The American Heart Association recommends eating less than 7% of calories from saturated fat. Again, olive oil is 14% saturated fat.
There is no need for us to eat ANY saturated fat, mono-unsaturated fat, or trans (hydrogenated) fat.
Plus, fats and oils have the most calories of any food. It is easy to overeat foods that have added oils and fat.
Just one tablespoon of any oil has 120 calories.
What to do:
BAKING WITHOUT OIL
Replace the oil or butter in the recipe with half the amount of another moist food, such as applesauce, mashed bananas, mashed potatoes, or mashed pumpkin.
Use silicone-coated bakeware, and solid silicone bakeware.
Use parchment paper between the metal and your food when using cake pans, loaf pans, and baking sheets.
SAUTÉING WITHOUT OIL
Water makes an excellent sautéing liquid. It prevents foods from sticking to the pan, and still allows vegetables to brown and cook.
Also try: soy sauce, vegetable broth, balsamic vinegar, or salsa.
READ FOOD LABELS
Check the ingredients – if it has oil or other added fat in it, avoid any product that has more than 1 or 2 grams of fat per serving.
References:
Dietary Assessment of Major Trends in U.S. Food Consumption, 1970-2005. Hodan Farah Wells and Jean C. Buzby
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-33) 27 pp, March 2008. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib33/eib33.pdf
The influence of diet on the appearance of new lesions in human coronary arteries. DH, Johnson RL, Mack WJ, el Zein HA, Vailas LI. JAMA. 1990 Mar 23-30;263(12):1646-52. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/263/12/1646.abstract
Olive, soybean and palm oils intake have a similar acute detrimental effect over the endothelial function in healthy young subjects. Rueda-Clausen CF, Silva FA, Lindarte MA, Villa-Roel C, Gomez E, Gutierrez R, Cure-Cure C, López-Jaramillo P. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2007 Jan;17(1):50-7. Epub 2006 Mar 20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17174226
