But coconut is more than just a sign of summer or the hallmark of a winter vacation somewhere warm: it is one of the healthiest foods you are probably not eating (or drinking!). Coconut is rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber and it sustains about one-third of the world as a functional food:  one that yields numerous health benefits even beyond its nutritional benefits.

Today I want to look at some ways you can incorporate this powerhouse of nutrition and wellness into your diet beyond cracking one open and eating its nutritious meat beyond shimmying up a tree (or over to the grocery store) to crack one open and eat its nutritious meat.

Coconut Oil

Saturated fat has been labeled as a villain, but the truth is that the body needs high-quality saturated fats to perform necessary functions. In previous newsletters, we have talked about how the quality of meat and dairy has declined; they are now full of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics and are depleted of many nutrients. But coconut oil is a healthy saturated fat that has been proven to benefit heart health and even helps kill viruses, bacteria and fungi in the body.

The difference between coconut oil and many other fats and oils is its size. Most all (an estimated 98-100%) of the fats and oils we typically consume are long-chain fatty acids or LCFA. But coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, or MCFA. Our bodies metabolize each fatty acid chain size differently, so the effects of coconut oil in our bodies are very different than the traditional meat, milk, eggs and plants we consume that are made up of LCFA.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat that has tremendous health benefits to us and offers a form of fatty acids we don’t typically find in our diets. Coconut oil actually regulates blood cholesterol levels as well as triglycerides; therefore, it actually helps with heart disease prevention and treatment. Coconut oil also helps to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. And it has been shown to be effective at lowering lipoprotein(a).

Coconut oil also has an antimicrobial effect in the body and can be used to treat bacterial infections including even severe antibiotic resistant strains. By eliminating and healing bacterial or viral lesions on artery walls, we can prevent inflammation and the barrage of white blood cells that can accompany it.

A study in clinical biochemistry confirmed the benefits of coconut oil on heart health. The study proved that virgin coconut oil lowered very low density lipoproteins (the troublemakers), raised HDL, lowered triglycerides and phospholipids, and reduced total and LDL cholesterol levels and was shown to inhibit LDL oxidation.

The study concluded that we know that oxidized cholesterol can initiate the process of atherosclerosis and the fatty acids in coconut oil prevent this oxidation. The effects of coconut oil on heart health were deemed uniformly beneficial.

So why haven’t you heard much about it? Coconut oil became the victim of government and food organizations about thirty years ago in an attempt to minimize importation of the oil and get consumers to buy American corn and vegetable oils instead. Because coconut oil is a saturated fat, it was easy to latch onto the anti-saturated fat bandwagon and drag coconut oil along with it.

But an abundance of research shows that we need saturated fat (in moderation) to perform healthy body functions and that extra virgin coconut oil is one of the best and healthiest options for that. It has been called the healthiest oil on earth by some and has been a foundation of the nutrition of numerous cultures for thousands of years.

Even though my family does not care for the taste of coconut, we find coconut oil non-offensive. It actually adds a nice flavor to a vegetable sauté and we cook with it often. My daughter, who wouldn’t eat a Mars or Almond Joy candy bar for all the money in the world because she doesn’t care for that kind of coconut, will even eat it out of the jar with a spoon when she’s hungry. Her growing body sometimes craves saturated fat and she listens!

Coconut oil is heart healthy and can help you regulate lipoprotein imbalances. Adding some to your diet, especially in lieu of dairy or hormone-ridden meat, is a great option.

Coconut Milk

Another option beyond cracking open a coconut and eating the meat is to add some coconut milk to your diet. Coconut milk is also proven to improve cardiovascular health, balances electrolytes naturally, and also has antimicrobial properties.  Coconut milk is commonly used in many cultures including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Brazilian, Caribbean, Polynesian and Pacific island cuisines and serves as the foundation for many curries.

Coconut milk can be made to be thick or thin, depending on your preference and what you are using it for. Coconut milk is made by squeezing grated coconut meat through cheesecloth. The meat is then soaked in warm water. The thick version makes desserts and rich sauces. To use it in soups and for general cooking, a thinner version is made by repeating the squeezing and soaking process 2-3 times. If you are not making it yourself, you can buy it canned, which is usually a combination of thick and thin versions using water as a filter. Once opened, the canned version lasts only a few days before souring.

Fresh coconut milk tastes very similar to cow’s milk and when made well should have little to no coconut smell. You can drink it “raw” on its own instead of traditional dairy or use it as a milk substitute in coffee or tea; it can also be used in baking and can even be used to make a yogurt substitute. It’s a great and healthy dairy alternative for vegans as well those with animal milk allergies or those just looking to reduce dairy or try new sources of liquid nutrition.

Coconut Water

Finally, another way to add some coconut goodness to your life is through coconut water. Coconut water is simply the water that comes from inside the coconut. It is full of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. It has a faint coconut taste, but is not overpowering. Because of its nutritive content, it is an excellent alternative to sports drinks made with sugar (or sugar substitutes), chemicals and dyes, none of which we – and especially our kids – should be consuming.

Coconut water will naturally re-balance electrolytes and replenish losses after strenuous or sweaty workouts. My kids love it and take it to soccer games and sports activities. I keep some in my fridge at all times and find it a refreshing drink alternative when water alone isn’t calling to me. And I love that the brand I buy, Zico, which has nothing added and is just pure coconut water, comes in paper containers so I am not adding to the excess of plastic bottles we generate each year from bottled water and other drinks.

Coconut water is a win-win option for healthy water alternatives and if you haven’t tried it yet, you should definitely give it a try. You can find it in most supermarkets and convenience store drink cases, as it is becoming increasingly popular as a nutritional drink option.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

If animal fat was so bad for you, how could we have survived all these years dependent on it? Let’s look at what saturated fat is and why it causes so much concern.

Saturated fat became the “bad guy” of heart health back in the 1950s when Dr. Ancel Keys published his hypothesis in a research paper in which he linked saturated fat to heart disease. Unfortunately, as is all too often the case, the research was flawed. Dr. Keys picked through the data and used only some of it: he looked at the intake of saturated fat based on data from six countries that he personally selected and made a case on only that limited data that consumption of saturated fat was tied to heart disease mortality. It took off from there.

That may well have been the case in the six countries he selected to make his case (though he didn’t look at all the other factors) but he chose to ignore data from 16 other countries that disagreed with his theory. It’s been argued that his paper was released to support the marketing strategy for Crisco, which was being introduced in the marketplace as a plant-based fat for frying and cooking to replace lard and butter.

In order to make Crisco more appealing to consumers, an argument needed to be made that a plant-based product was better than an animal one. There wasn’t a reason to justify that marketing until Dr. Keys paper came out and Crisco sales took off.

Regardless of the reason for the paper’s initial release, had Dr. Keys included the data from all 22 countries without bias, he would have shown that the highest consumption of saturated fat was linked to the lowest risk of heart disease, exactly the opposite of what he claimed! His hypothesis has not stood up since then either, despite the fact that the myth remains.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported on a study done by Dr. Ronald Krauss which analyzed 21 existing studies that included nearly 350,000 people and found “no significant evidence that eating more saturated fat increases a person’s risk of heart disease or stroke.”

A British report looked at data from ten large studies which included more than 400,000 men and women over several years. They found that the number of heart attacks and strokes were smaller among those who consumed the most (whole fat) dairy products and a recent Swedish study confirmed the same result.

Saturated fats provide the building blocks for hormones and for our cell membranes. They make you feel full when you eat a meal so you don’t overeat calories, they are carriers for our fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, they are the fuel for the heart and they rovide energy when we need it for exercise or exertion. Saturated fats are also required for mineral absorption, for converting carotene to vitamin A and for many other functions and processes in our bodies. We need saturated fat and we’ve depended on it for thousands of years.

Other than faulty research (which likely had a food company marketing angle much like the raw milk smear campaign that led to pasteurization in order to sell dirty milk that was otherwise unsellable), the only reason for saturated fat to be labeled a “bad guy” is that the meat and milk we ingest today is very different than that which we consumed one or two generations ago.

Animals today are bombarded with growth hormones, antibiotics, and environmental toxins like pesticides in their food, their environment and their health care. These toxins remain in the fat cells of the animals we eat. When we eat the animal fat or drink milk, we take in all of these toxins and they too can remain in our fat cells, and so the cycle continues.  The cumulative result of eating these toxins over time can lead to a number of health problems including inflammation, cancer and heart disease.

Most of us eat large quantities of meat, milk and especially cheese every day and what the animal (beef, fish, chicken, pork, turkey, fish or otherwise) eats, we eat. That used to be good and it kept us healthy. Animal feed today, however, includes GMO products including lots of corn, and whatever else they can afford when corn costs are high (or sometimes even when they are not) including gummy bears, oreos, deceased animals or other fillers.

If you are trying to eat well and avoid such foods but yet you eat traditionally raised animal meat (and this includes chicken and pork as well as beef), milk or cheese, you haven’t avoided them at all!  This is the only real concern that whole fat milk or cheese or eating animal fats poses to your health.

Grass fed beef and milk products have not been shown to lead to heart disease; they’ve actually been shown to keep you healthy and can definitely be part of a balanced diet. Beef labelled as grass fed can be purchased now in most stores. It costs a little more, but it is totally worth the investment in your health!

(For example, Trader Joes sells a pound of grass fed beef for $6.99. They also sell pre-made grass fed hamburger patties in the frozen section, 4 for about $5.99.) If you can’t find grass fed beef, or if you are more adventurous, try bison, elk and venison as these animals remain wild and so still eat a natural diet.

Finding milk from grass fed cows is a challenge still despite efforts and may send you to a local farm or farmer’s market. If you are lucky and you can get raw milk, even better. Cheese and butter from grass fed cows, however, can increasingly be found in stores; if not from raw milk, then in a pasteurized form. (If you don’t remember why pasteurized milk poses a challenges, you may want to re-read my article on milk: Not Your Parents’ Milk.)

The good news with butter and cheese is that if you buy European, most European products come from grass fed animals. Cheeses from France and Switzerland are typically made the traditional way, with milk from cows or goats allowed to roam free and eat their traditional diets. European cheese are plentiful and you can also find raw milk cheese, which offers even more health benefits, in mainstream supermarkets.

Finding grass fed butter from an American farm in a grocery store in the U.S. is very hard, even at health food supermarkets. If you can find a local farm, great: I love to support local! If not, brands such as Kerrygold butter from Ireland are readily available and are made from milk from grass fed cows.

Please note that organic butter does not mean it comes from grass fed cows, just as organic chicken and eggs do not come from chickens fed a natural diet. It just means the food the animals were fed meets organic standards: better than gummy bears, yes! But they were still fed grain or animal flesh or filler instead of their natural diet of sun-soaked, vitamin D-rich, grass.  You have to look for the words grass fed: if they are not there visibly on the label, then the product isn’t made from grass fed cows.

Many people are avoiding red meat thinking it poses health risks from saturated fats and are turning to chicken instead. But chicken is also rich in saturated fat and the diets and farming conditions of chickens are even worse than cattle, so if you are really trying to eat healthy, red meat that is grass fed is a much better choice today than most “white” meats.

I have found it very difficult to find any chicken or eggs in a store that are not fed “vegetarian feed” fed instead of their natural diet of grass and bugs, even if they are labelled organic. If you can find it, it is usually very expensive. If you can find it and you can afford it, that’s definitely the way to go. If not, definitely choose organic, but keep in mind that even organic products will have a higher ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids, which can lead to internal inflammation.

If you are trying to feed a family on a limited budget, grass fed beef, venison, elk or bison is usually a healthier and more economical option than finding the equivalent in a chicken, turkey or pork offering. Prices and selection will vary depending on where you live, but don’t be afraid to include saturated fat in your diet especially if you can find a good affordable option.

I wanted to keep this article focused on what you really need to know about saturated fats and I’ve shared that here with you now. But if you are curious about what saturated fat really is and want to read on just a little longer, I’ll provide a quick overview of the three kinds of fats and how they are different below.

Fatty acids fall into three groupings: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Each type is made up of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms to fill in the spaces around them.

Saturated fatty acids are acids where all of the spaces around the carbon atoms are completely filled, i.e., saturated. As a result, they are very stable regardless of temperature. They are found mainly in dairy, red meat and chicken, but also in tropical oils like red palm oil and coconut oil. We can also make some saturated fat from eating carbohydrates.

Monounsaturated fats are fatty acids have a double bond between two carbon atoms and they are missing two hydrogen atoms. They are called mono because of its single carbon double bond and unsaturated because not all of the spaces are filled: two hydrogen atoms are missing. Because the chain can bend at the double bond point, when you mix a large number of these chains together, it won’t be dense or compact; there will be room in between.

As a result, these acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are relatively stable, though not as stable as saturated fats because they are not packed as tightly. The most common monounsaturated fat is oleic acid and examples are olive oil, avocados, peanuts, cashews, pecans and almonds. Your body can also make monounsaturated fat from saturated fat as needed.

Polyunsaturated fats are missing several hydrogen atoms and they have two – or more – double bonds. As a result, since there are more than one double bond, they are called poly, meaning many. At each double bond, there is a kink in the chain, so they tend to be very loosely packed and remain liquid, even in colder temperatures. The good polyunsaturated fats are found in whole food sources such as nuts, seeds, fish, algae, leafy greens and krill. These are the foods that have great health benefits for us.

However, it’s really important to distinguish that not all polyunsaturated fats are healthy. While the good forms can yield great health benefits, other forms of polyunsaturated fats are not so good for us and can do great health harm. These are the polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils such as soybean (a staple in packaged goods), corn, sunflower or safflower oil. They are highly unstable fats and they can go bad, or turn rancid, easily when exposed to heat and light.

When they turn rancid, such as when they are heated or fried, free radicals are created which travel around in your blood causing damage to just about everything they interact with. Free radical damage has been tied to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cataracts, tumors, and aging.

We need all three types of fats for a healthy body, so don’t be afraid to include saturated fats in your diet: just be sure to choose fats from good sources and try to avoid processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal and a free copy of Inger’s bestselling ebook at www.IngerPols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: courtesy of SOMMAI / Free Digital Photos

We have been told that high cholesterol is bad, that it causes heart disease (the leading cause of death in the U.S.), that we should all be tested for it, and that high levels must be treated, usually with statin drugs. With those assumptions and statistics, the problem would seem epidemic.

But in this article, I’m going to shatter five myths about cholesterol and hopefully change the way you think about it forever.

Myth #1: Cholesterol is Bad for You

Cholesterol plays several key roles in a healthy functional body. It keeps cell membranes from falling apart and plays an integral part in cellular repair. Cholesterol is also a vital pre-cursor to many major hormones including testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and is required for synthesis of vitamin D.

The body manufactures about 75% of the cholesterol it needs. The rest we must take in from foods. Without adequate dietary cholesterol, the body may divert cholesterol to where it is needed most: cellular repair and healthy function in key areas, especially the brain. When this happens, there may not be enough left for use in hormone synthesis, which can cause hormonal imbalance.

This is why some people (especially women going through perimenopause) who do not eat enough cholesterol may experience more severe hormonal reactions and symptoms.

In fact, the body has a built-in mechanism to increase its cholesterol production to override a severe shortage. In extreme cases, when cholesterol is not being consumed in appropriate levels, the liver will step in and actually overproduce cholesterol. If you were to be tested at that time, your cholesterol levels could be considered high, even though you would actually be cholesterol deficient.

But that’s not the case for most of us. So for those of us eating healthy diets with moderate amounts of fat, how concerned should we be about cholesterol in food?

Myth #2: High Cholesterol Comes from Eating Foods High in Cholesterol

Despite popular belief that it’s the cholesterol in your food that influences cholesterol in the bloodstream, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, it’s actually the mix of fats in your diet that’s important.

Saturated and trans fats (often called “bad” fats) increase the risk for certain diseases while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (often called “good” fats), do the opposite—they are good for the body and heart, and cells need them to help manage what goes in and out of cell membranes.

Cells need fat and cholesterol to function, but fat and cholesterol can’t readily travel through the blood. So the body combines them with protein-covered particles called lipoproteins. Lipoproteins can carry a good amount of fat and travel easily through the blood. There are three types of these particles that are important: low-density lipoproteins (LDL), high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and triglycerides.

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

LDL is responsible for taking the cholesterol from the liver to the body’s cells. Once the lipoprotein reaches the cell, the cell attaches to it and extracts the fat and cholesterol it needs.

High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL)

HDL then takes over and plays clean up, collecting cholesterol from the bloodstream, LDL and artery walls, and transporting it back to the liver to be recycled, an equally important role in healthy cholesterol function.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are the body’s main method of transporting fat to cells. They make up most of the fats you eat and that your cells use. They are an important part of healthy body function, but in excess they can cause problems. If your triglycerides are high, you have a lot of fat in your bloodstream, which means you are either making too much or are unable to burn it.

Myth #3: There is Good Cholesterol and Bad Cholesterol

Despite needing LDL, it has been argued that when there is an excess of it, particles can be deposited in the walls of the arteries of the heart and elsewhere, limiting blood flow. The deposits, known as plaque, can break apart and cause a heart attack or stroke. Because of this, LDL has been called the “bad” cholesterol.

The truth is, there is no good and bad cholesterol. There is only one cholesterol: LDL and HDL are lipoprotein cholesterol carriers and they are both equally necessary for survival and wellness.

While LDL has been labeled bad because it can cause plaque development, we now know that there are many types of LDL. In fact, if we want to create labels for good and bad, we could argue there is good LDL and bad LDL. Research has shown that LDL particles come in different sizes and that the large LDL particles cause no problem. The small, dense LDL particles can be troublesome, as they are tiny enough to squeeze through the lining of the arteries.

If they oxidize, or turn rancid, they can cause inflammation, which can lead to many if not all of our chronic conditions. C-reactive protein tests measure general levels of inflammation and can be an early warning sign to take action. Inflammation can be reduced through dietary changes such as increased consumption of vitamin E and fish oil.

Myth #4: Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease

We have known for a while that there is a correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks, but is it causal?

Research now shows that damage to the lining of arteries (such as what can occur when small dense LDL squeeze through and oxidize) causes the coronary heart disease associated with heart attacks.  The damage causes inflammation and it’s the inflammation that leads to the heart attacks.

How does this happen? Let’s look briefly at the inflammatory process.

When you cut yourself, the damaged tissue releases chemicals to start inflammation. Blood vessels constrict to slow down bleeding. Blood thickens so it can clot and cells multiply to repair damage and facilitate healing while the immune system calls on cells and chemicals to protect against viruses and bacteria from attacking the cut.

This is very similar to what occurs within the arteries. As damage occurs, chemicals are released to begin the inflammatory process. Arteries constrict, blood begins to clot, the immune system sends help, and nearby cells are told to multiply. As this process occurs over and over again in the artery lining, scars called plaque form. Over time, blood thickening and artery constriction combine to make a heart attack or high blood pressure more likely.

So remember the first step after trauma: Chemicals are released to begin inflammation and start the healing process. Enter cholesterol, whose primary function is cell repair. Cholesterol is sent to help repair the damaged tissue in the artery linings and elsewhere: it is actually helping your body heal to keep you alive.

Now if this process is occurring repeatedly, cholesterol is continually being manufactured or recycled in order to facilitate the healing process. When tested, your cholesterol levels will seem high.

Because your body needs cholesterol to heal, what effect will lower levels have on the body?

Instead of trying to deal with the symptom, the high cholesterol, we need to look at the cause: The inflammation that is being caused by excessive and/or repetitive damage, particularly from small dense LDL particle oxidation.

Pomegranate has also been shown to be highly effective as an LDL anti-oxidation agent. Subjects taking pomegranate supplements in a clinical study were able to reduce artery thickness by 35%, increase blood flow by 45% and improve markers related to LDL oxidation by up to 130%.

As you can see, the connection between cholesterol and heart attacks is correlated but not causal. High cholesterol may not be anything to worry about; it may in fact be an important component of your body’s healing mechanism. The real focus should be on reducing high LDL levels and preventing its oxidation.

If you decide that you must take action to lower your cholesterol, there are two ways to do so: Change your diet and/or take statins.

Myth #5: Statins are a Safe and Effective way to Lower Cholesterol

A January 2008 cover story in Business Week concluded that there isn’t much evidence to support taking statins.

Upon review of statin data, a leading physician and professor at the University of British Columbia found there is no benefit in people over age 65 no matter how much their cholesterol declines and that there was no benefit to women at any age. Middle-aged men who took statins saw a small reduction in heart attacks, but no overall reduction in deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization even though their “bad” LDL cholesterol went down.

The only time the drugs were seen as effective was with patients who had already had one heart attack, as it reduced the likelihood of having another. He concluded, “Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm.”

But what about the marketing hype the pharmaceutical companies put out? Let’s read the small print on Lipitor’s claim that it reduces the risk of heart attack by 36% … in patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease. It says, “That means in a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a heart attack compared to 2% of patients taking Lipitor.”

In other words, out of every 100 people, three on placebos and two on Lipitor had heart attacks. That means that to spare one person a heart attack, 100 people had to take Lipitor for more than three years while the other 99 got no benefit. A useful statistic known as the NNT, or number needed to treat, means the number needed to treat in this case for one person to have any benefit is 100. Several recent studies have shown that the NNT for statins may be even higher: 250 or more for lower risk patients.

Dr. Jerome R. Hoffman, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, put it this way: “What if you put 250 people in a room and told them they would each pay $1,000 a year for a drug they would have to take every day, that many would get diarrhea and muscle pain, and that 249 would have no benefit? And that they could do just as well by exercising? How many would take that?”

It’s true that statins can lower cholesterol levels by (guess what?) reducing inflammation! Statins might be acceptable solutions if they were shown to be completely safe, but they are not. Statins have common side effects including muscle pain, cognitive impairments and sexual dysfunction and have been shown to increase cancer risk in rodents.

The Business Week article posed this question: What would work better?

Prescription: Change Your Diet

The answer, not surprisingly, according to Dr. Jerome R. Hoffman, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, is not a pill but rather diet and lifestyle changes. Several studies have shown that lifestyle changes, such as switching to the Mediterranean diet and eating more fish, brought greater declines in heart attacks than statins.

If you still want to lower your cholesterol levels, in addition to fish and omega-3s, walnuts and soluble fiber like oatmeal have been shown to be effective cholesterol reducers and most of us need more fiber in our diets anyway. Niacin (or vitamin B3) also lowers cholesterol and triglycerides and it recently outperformed Merck’s drug Zetia in arterial plaque prevention (resulting in Merck canceling the study.)

Physical fitness also plays a role with exercise and lifestyle changes such as stress reduction, diet changes and weight reduction.

Keep in mind that your doctor had little, if any, nutrition training in medical school and may not be comfortable guiding you in this regard. In addition, some physician friends tell me they are reluctant to suggest dietary changes because they find that people don’t always stick to them. So you may have to take the initiative with your physician to get the right plan in place for you.

Studies prove that the anti-inflammatory aspects of the Mediterranean diet and fish or fish oil, combined with a healthy lifestyle and reduced stress, are the most effective prescription for wellness, in the arteries as well as in the rest of the body. Read more articles on cholesterol and heart health at www.nehealthadvisory.com

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You by clicking the active link or go to www.ingerpols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

Omega 3 and omega 6 are both essential fatty acids, which means our body cannot produce them, we have to eat them. In a perfect food world, we would eat omega 3 and omega 6 in equal amounts and ingest a 1:1 ratio. In today’s food reality, however, that is rarely the case. Today many of eat 20-50 times more omega 6 than omega 3. That’s because omega 6 oils are commonly used for cooking and are prevalent in processed and restaurant foods, while omega 3 is taken in through eating fish like salmon, meat, eggs and vegetables. We just can’t eat enough of those to offset the omega 6 that we take in today.

Research shows that 99% of us are omega 3 deficient, and a recent study at Harvard directly linked omega 3 deficiency to death in an estimated 72,000-96,000 people a year. To put that in context, there are approximately 40,000 deaths a year due to breast cancer; this makes omega 3 deficiency something we need to pay attention to.

Omega 3s help reduce internal inflammation, which is linked to most every chronic condition that plagues us including – and especially – heart disease. They play a very important role in heart health as they inhibit the thickening of the arteries, lower the amount of lipids that circulate in our bloodstream, and help the arteries to relax. They also help reduce obesity by stimulating the hormone leptin which regulates food intake, body weight and metabolism, and they help prevent cancer cell growth.

In addition to directly impacting coronary heart disease and stroke, omega 3s can help reduce depression, improve mental clarity and focus, reduce dry or itchy skin, hair and nails, and help prevent autoimmune disorders and type 2 diabetes. Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid; it is essential because our bodies can’t make it. Fatty acids fall into three groupings: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Let’s take a brief look at the science behind it so you can understand why it matters.

Each type of the three fats is made up of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms to fill in the spaces around them. Saturated fatty acids are acids where all of the spaces around the carbon atoms are completely filled, i.e., saturated. As a result, they are very stable regardless of temperature. They are found mainly in dairy, red meat and chicken, but also in tropical oils like red palm oil and coconut oil. We can also make some saturated fat from eating carbohydrates.

While we are on the subject of saturated fats, let me dispel the myth that saturated fats cause heart disease. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported on a study done by Dr. Ronald Krauss which analyzed 21 existing studies that included nearly 350,000 people and found “no significant evidence that eating more saturated fat increases a person’ risk of heart disease or stroke.”

A British report looked at data from ten large studies which included more than 400,000 men and women over several years. They found that the number of heart attacks and strokes were smaller among those who consumed the most (whole fat) dairy products and a recent Swedish study confirmed the same result.

One reason saturated fat may have been labeled a bad guy is that the meat and milk we ingest today is very different than that which we consumed one or two generations ago.

Meat today is bombarded with growth hormones, antibiotics, environmental toxins like pesticides. These toxins remain in the fat cells of the animals we eat. When we eat them or drink their milk, we take in all of this and the result is health problems including low grade inflammation.

Just as we discussed before, occasional ingestion is fine, but when we eat large quantities every day, the inflammation is ongoing and this leads to an increased likelihood of oxidation and heart disease. Small amounts of grass fed meat and milk products will not lead to heart disease and can definitely be part of a balanced diet. So don’t take this as license to go eat a 16 oz porterhouse every night! But by all means, don’t stress about occasional meat or dairy and lose the guilt over a pat of butter on your vegetables. It won’t hut your health or your waistline to ingest good fats in moderate amounts.

Another finding was that if people cut back on saturated fats and replace them with polyunsaturated fats, they may improve their heart health. For every 5 % in total calorie intake from polyunsaturated fats the study participants’ risk of heart attack or heart-related death fell 10%. And the longer their diet remained polyunsaturated rich, the greater the benefits for heart health.

But if they replace the calories with refined carbohydrates, sugar and trans fats, they will increase their risk and they’d be better off enjoying a steak and some butter on their baked potato instead. Dr Krauss concluded, “I agree strongly with the notion that rather than focusing on further reductions in saturated fat per se… we should be thinking much more seriously about finding ways of increasing our intake of polyunsaturated fat.”

Ok, more on this in a minute. Let’s get back to our discussion about fats.

Monounsaturated fats are fatty acids have a double bond between two carbon atoms and they are missing two hydrogen atoms. They are called mono because of its single carbon double bond and unsaturated because not all of the spaces are filled: two hydrogen atoms are missing. Because the chain can bend at the double bond point, when you mix a large number of these chains together, it won’t be dense or compact; there will be room in between.

As a result, these acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are relatively stable, though not as stable as saturated fats because they are not packed as tightly. The most common monounsaturated fat is oleic acid and examples are olive oil, avocados, peanuts, cashews, pecans and almonds. Your body can also make monounsaturated fat from saturated fat as needed, another reason not to be afraid of saturated fat.

Polyunsaturated fats are missing several hydrogen atoms and they have two – or more – double bonds. As a result, since there are more than one double bond, they are called poly, meaning many. At each double bond, there is a kink in the chain, so they tend to be very loosely packed and remain liquid, even in colder temperatures. The good polyunsaturated fats are found in whole food sources such as nuts, seeds, fish, algae, leafy greens and krill. These are the foods that Dr. Krauss was encouraging we eat more of that have health benefits for us.

However, it’s really important to distinguish that not all polyunsaturated fats are healthy. While the good forms can yield great health benefits, other forms of polyunsaturated fats are not so good for us and can do great health harm. These are the polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils such as soybean (a staple in packaged goods), corn, sunflower or safflower oil. They are highly unstable fats and they can go bad, or turn rancid, easily when exposed to heat and light.

When they turn rancid, free radicals are created which travel around in your blood causing damage to just about everything they interact with. Free radical damage has been tied to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons’s, cataracts, tumors, and aging.

The most common polyunsaturated fatty acids are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. They are called essential fatty acids because our bodies cannot make them; we must get them from the food we eat. But while polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for us, some are better than others. The ones higher in omega 3 and the ones less likely to turn rancid, the ones found in whole foods rather than processed oils, are all good for us. But high heat processing of omega heavy oils is not desirable and not a good healthy fat source as we’ll see in just a minute.

So we started off by saying omega 3s can do a host of good. But let me just detour for a moment and share with you that rancid omega 3s can do a lot of damage. We need them, but we need to ensure that they do not turn rancid in our bodies. Antioxidants will mitigate this impact in the body, so regular antioxidant intake along with your omega 3s is a great preventive measure. Since fish oil is low in antioxidants, that is one reason why people like krill oil as an omega 3 supplement. Krill oil in addition to being a very pure omega 3 source contains antioxidants to help mitigate any free radical damage that may occur if oils turn rancid in your body.

Let’s go back to omegas 3 and 6. We need both of these essential fatty acids.

The problem is that in today’s food supply, omega 6 acids are used heavily in processed foods. Vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed and safflower oil contain at least 50% omega 6 and very little omega 3. Corn oil, for example, has a ratio of 60:1 omega 6 to 3, while safflower oil has a ratio of 77:1. In addition, factory farming reduces the amount of omega 3s in meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables, and increases omega 6 because it is the base of most animal feed, also contributing to the imbalance.

A chicken that is free to eat its normal diet of grass and bugs will lay an egg that is a perfect balance of omega 6 to omega 3. However, the traditional vegetarian grain fed chicken will yield an egg that is more like 20:1 omega 6 to 3. Nature undisturbed knows to work in perfect balance, but our changes in farming have disrupted that balance and left us with an overabundance of omega 6 in our diets.

Ideally, we need a 1:1 ratio of omega 6 to 3, but up to a 4:1 ratio our bodies can still cope fairly well. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is more like a 20:1 up to a 50:1 ratio of 6:3 and that is why it is so important to eat more and supplement with omega 3s. Not only do we need them in isolation, but we need them to be in balance together with our omega 6 intake and our current diet is highly imbalanced in favor of omega 6s.

An imbalance will prevent all the wonderful health benefits we mentioned earlier from omega 3s from occurring.  In addition, too much omega 6 versus omega 3 has been shown to lead to inflammation, heart disease, weight gain, sterility, high blood pressure, digestive concerns, blood clots, inhibited immune function, and even cancer.

We covered a lot in this article series so let’s sum this all up. If you eat trans fats, fructose, or a processed food diet heavy in omega 6, cholesterol levels will be higher as a result because cholesterol is stepping in to try to help our bodies deal with the inflammation and the imbalance that ingesting these substances create. Forcing cholesterol levels higher to deal with these choices is not in our body’s best interest; so we should avoid eating these.

Artificially forcing cholesterol down without removing the cause simply inhibits the body’s ability to heal. It’s the old don’t shoot the messenger! Cholesterol is necessary for the body to deal with our choices: cholesterol isn’t the bad guy. In each case, it is helping our body to deal with the true bad guy: it’s a reflection of what is going on as our body tries to stay healthy, not an enemy.

We need to address the cause and remove these harmful substances from our diets so they don’t force our bodies to dispatch cholesterol continually to deal with their impact. That means limiting fructose consumption (no high fructose corn syrup!), avoiding trans fats (no products containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil; even if the label says trans fat free, check for hydrogenation!) and balancing omega 3 and omega 6 intake.

Balance can be achieved by avoiding vegetable oils and processed and restaurant foods which are heavy in omega 6. Taking in good quality omega 3 such as eggs from chickens allowed to eat a natural diet (not vegetarian feed), wild sockeye salmon, grass fed meat and supplementing with a high quality omega 3 or krill oil will help restore balance and reduce internal inflammation.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of winnond | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So in this article, I am going to cover that information along with why I believe supplementing with omega 3 is essential for most everyone. Then next time, I’ll tell you how the information here plays into choosing the best cooking oils and I’ll share some oils that if made a regular part of your diet can actually improve your health and enhance your wellness.

Research shows that 99% of us are omega 3 deficient, and a recent study at Harvard directly linked omega 3 deficiency to death in an estimated 72,000-96,000 people a year. To put that in context, there are approximately 40,000 deaths a year from breast cancer. Clearly, we need to start paying more attention to omega 3!

Omega 3s help reduce internal inflammation, which is linked to almost every chronic condition that plagues us. They play a very important role in heart health: inhibiting thickening of the arteries, lowering the amount of lipids that circulate in our bloodstream, and helping arteries to relax.

Omega 3s can reduce obesity by stimulating the hormone leptin, which regulates food intake, body weight and metabolism, and helps prevent cancer cell growth. Omega 3s can also reduce depression, improve mental clarity and focus, reduce dry or itchy skin, improve hair and nails, and help prevent autoimmune disorders and Type 2 diabetes.

Three Types of Fatty Acids

Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid. Fatty acids fall into three groupings: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Each type is made up of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms that fill in the spaces around them. All fats have a combination of all three of these elements, but are identified by their most prominent fat type.

In saturated fatty acids, all of the spaces around the carbon atoms are completely filled in, i.e., saturated. As a result, they are very stable regardless of temperature. Saturated fatty acids are found mainly in dairy, red meat and chicken, but they can also be found in tropical oils like red palm oil and coconut oil. Our bodies can also make some saturated fat from eating carbohydrates. Despite what you may have been told about saturated fat, our bodies require saturated fat to function properly, and saturated fat has been shown to improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels when eaten in moderation.

Monounsaturated fats have a double bond between two carbon atoms and are missing two hydrogen atoms. They are called mono because of their single carbon double bond and unsaturated because not all of the spaces are filled—two hydrogen atoms are missing. Because the chain can bend at the double bond point, when you mix a large number of these chains together, it won’t be dense or compact; there will be room in between.

As a result, these acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are relatively stable, though not as stable as saturated fats because they are not packed as tightly. The most common monounsaturated fat is oleic acid and examples are olive oil, avocados, peanuts, cashews, pecans and almonds. Your body can also make monounsaturated fat from saturated fat.

Polyunsaturated fats are missing several hydrogen atoms and they have two—or more—double bonds. As a result, since there is more than one double bond, they are called poly, meaning many. At each double bond, there is a kink in the chain, so they tend to be very loosely packed and remain liquid, even in colder temperatures. They are highly unstable fats and they can go bad (turn rancid) easily when exposed to heat and light.

When polyunsaturated fats turn rancid, free radicals are created and travel around in your blood causing damage to just about everything they interact with. Free radical damage has been tied to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons’s, cataracts, tumors and aging. The most common polyunsaturated fatty acids are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. They are called essential fatty acids because our bodies cannot make them; we must get them from the food we eat.

Omega 3s can do a lot of good. But rancid omega 3s can do a world of damage. We need omega 3s, but we need to ensure that they do not turn rancid in our bodies. Antioxidants will mitigate this, so it’s important to take antioxidants regularly along with omega 3s. If you don’t want to buy both, there are fish oils out there that add the antioxidant Astaxanthin to the oil, which alleviates this concern. Or you can try krill oil.

Krill oil is a very pure omega 3 source and also contains antioxidants to help mitigate any free radical damage that may occur if oils turn rancid in your body. Recent studies on Neptune Krill Oil have documented its benefits on a number of health conditions, so I do recommend Neptune Krill Oil.

Balancing Act: Omega 6 Versus Omega 3

Let’s go back to omegas 3 and 6. Omega 6 sometimes gets a bad rap but the truth is that we need both of these essential fatty acids. The challenge in today’s food supply, however, is that omega 6 acids are used heavily in processed foods. Vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower, soybean, canola, cottonseed and safflower oil contain at least 50% omega 6 and very little omega 3. Beyond the vegetable oils in packaged and prepared foods, most people rely heavily on these vegetable oils for their in-home cooking, which is a concern (I do not even have a bottle of any of the above oils in my house).

In addition, factory farming reduces the amount of omega 3s in meat, fish, eggs and vegetables. I’ve read that a chicken that is free to eat its normal diet of grass and bugs will lay an egg that is a perfect balance of omega 6 to omega 3. However, the traditional vegetarian grain-fed chicken will yield an egg that is more like 20:1 omega 6 to omega 3. Nature undisturbed knows to work in perfect balance, but our changes in farming have disrupted that balance and left us with an overabundance of omega 6.

Ideally, we need a 1:1 ratio of omega 6 to 3, but our bodies can still cope fairly well with up to a 4:1 ratio. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is more like a 20:1 and can be up to a 50:1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3. This is one reason it’s so important to supplement omega 3s. Not only do we need them in isolation, but we need them to balance our omega 6 intake.

An imbalance of omega 6 and omega 3 will prevent all of the wonderful health benefits I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. In addition, an unbalanced ratio that favors omega 6 over omega 3 can lead to weight gain, sterility, high blood pressure, digestive concerns, blood clots, inhibited immune function, inflammation and even cancer.

Three Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids

How do we get omega 3s back in balance? I recommend you eat a varied whole food diet to get the three types of omega 3 essential fatty acids: ALA, EPA and DHA.

ALA or Alpha-Linoleic Acid is found in dark green leafy vegetables, flax and hemp seeds, walnuts and vegetable oils. EPA or EicosoPentaenoic Acid is found in cold-water fish like salmon, tuna, cod and mackerel and in seaweed. It can also be found in grass-fed beef and free-range (non-vegetarian fed) eggs in smaller amounts. DHA or DocosaHexaenoic Acid is found in the same foods as EPA.

Eating abundantly from these food groups will ensure that you have ample healthy fatty acids and a good balance of them in your body. If needed, the body can convert ALA to EPA or DHA, though the conversion process is slow. While we probably cannot overdo our dark leafy green vegetable consumption, supplementing ALA at high levels has been shown to have some adverse effects on the body. So when taking omega 3 supplements, EPA and DHA are generally recommended.

Increasing omega 3 consumption overall is important, but so is ensuring that we have a healthy balance of omega 6 to omega 3 at every meal. I try to pay attention to my omega 3 food sources, as well as restrict my consumption of omega 6 laden foods and oils, but given modern farming practices and the overabundance of vegetable oils in foods, I still feel the need to take an omega 3 supplement with every meal to ensure I stay in balance.

While I prefer pills because they tend to be more stable and they are more portable, my daughter hates pills but will drink a spoonful of fish oil. Today, fish oil often has a citrus flavor and is no longer a challenge to swallow, especially when mixed into a drink. Choose a brand that screens for impurities like PCBs and mercury and keep it in the refrigerator or away from heat and light. If it smells funny or changes color, throw it out.

Because of its proven absorption and extensively studied research benefits, as I mentioned earlier, Neptune Krill Oil may be a great supplement option. Many people I know have switched from taking fish oils to only krill oil, while others take both, but choose a fish oil with antioxidants or take an antioxidant supplement such as astaxanthin along with it.

Because we take omega 3s with every meal, we choose to use both omega 3 supplements and krill oil as well to balance the benefits and the cost. Whatever option you choose, adding fish or krill oil into your supplement routine has proven benefits. Making sure your diet is rich in antioxidants is also a good way to prevent potential damage from any oil that may go bad.

One caveat: Omega 3s can exaggerate the effect of prescription medications that are trying to do the same thing. For example, if you are on blood thinning medications like Coumadin, Plavix or even aspirin, you should discuss omega 3 consumption with your physician because it can be a blood-thinning agent. And while omega 3 can be a helpful part of insulin and diabetes management, it can raise fasting blood sugar levels, so if you are on blood sugar medications such as Glucotrol and Glucotrol XL, Micronase or Diabeta, Glucophage or insulin, talk to your doctor as your dosage may need to be adjusted.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

In a previous article

But in today’s world, we are eating too many omega 6 fatty acids and not enough omega 3s. So instead of the 1:1 balance our body desires, the ratio can be more like 20 or even 50:1 omega 6 to omega 3. Since we are so omega 6 dominant, we need to look to minimize our consumption whenever we can, and knowing this plays an important role in the selection of the best fats and oils to use for cooking.

The good news is that there are some wonderful healthy options out there to cook with instead. So let’s look at the five fats I use to cook with on a regular basis.

Olive Oil

Everyone has heard about the benefits of olive oil. Because it is a monounsaturated fat high in oleic acid and antioxidants, it provides numerous health benefits including one you may not have heard about: displacing omega 6 fatty acids while not impacting omega 3s, helping to balance our omega 6-3 ratios.

Studies have shown that olive oil can help control and lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol while raising HDL levels. It has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory benefits and to inhibit LDL cholesterol oxidation, a leading cause of heart concerns.

I don’t need to spend a lot of time singing its praises, because unlike some of the other oils I am discussing, this one is well-known and its benefits are well-marketed. So don’t let the shorter write-up lead you to minimize its benefits!

The one thing you may not know about olive oil, however, is that it should not be used for high heat cooking. Other than a low heat sauté, it should only be used cold as it does not have a high enough smoke point to withstand higher heat without being damaged. This means that if you cook with it on higher heats, it can oxidize and turn rancid, leading to internal inflammation and health concerns.

So definitely choose olive oil for salads and dipping and even baking! But let’s look at other oils you can use for higher heat cooking.

Butter

Yes, it’s true. Despite what you have been led to believe by food manufacturers trying to sell trans fat-laden margarine, butter is a heart (and whole body) healthy option. Your body needs saturated fat to function and saturated fats like butter (and coconut oil which we’ll talk about soon) are easy to digest because unlike polyunsaturated fats which are long-chain fatty acids, short and medium chain fatty acids don’t require emulsification by stomach acids first. Rather, they can be used directly for energy instead of being stored as fat.

Saturated fat is required to absorb calcium and other minerals (a good reason to avoid skim milk: without fat, calcium and vitamin D cannot be absorbed). Saturated fats build immunity, are integral in cellular membrane structure and integrity, and are more stable and so less likely to oxidize; they can even help cells resist oxidative damage. Our brains run on cholesterol and saturated fat; they also make up a significant portion of the myelin sheath surrounding our nerve fibers and regulating message relays between the brain and our nerves, so we can’t live without cholesterol and saturated fat.

We will talk more soon about heart health and when we do, I will share the extensive research that shows that saturated fats actually have a beneficial impact on heart health and cholesterol levels as well as blood sugar levels. We were raised on a diet of butter and lard and animal fat and only when we began to reduce our consumption did heart concerns escalate.

For now, until we go deeper into the research, do not worry about indulging in some butter, though choose raw butter if at all possible, and if not, then opt for organic butter. The biggest concern about dairy products today is not the fat, but the hormones, pesticides and antibiotics we consume along with them when we eat them.

Coconut Oil

We discussed coconut oil in a previous article and it is an excellent cooking option. In case you missed it, or even if you did read it since we often need to read something several times to take it all in, I will share a bit of why this oil is such a great health option. Coconut oil is a healthy saturated fat that has been proven to benefit heart health and even helps kill viruses, bacteria and fungi in the body.

The difference between coconut oil and many other fats and oils is its size. Most all (an estimated 98-100%) of the fats and oils we typically consume are long-chain fatty acids or LCFA. But coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, or MCFA. Our bodies metabolize each fatty acid chain size differently, so the effects of coconut oil in our bodies are very different than the traditional meat, milk, eggs and plants we consume that are made up of LCFA.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat that has tremendous health benefits and offers a form of fatty acids we don’t typically find in our diets. Coconut oil actually regulates blood cholesterol levels as well as triglycerides; therefore, it actually helps with heart disease prevention and treatment. Coconut oil also helps to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol and has been shown to be effective at lowering lipoprotein(a). And coconut oil actually increases your metabolism, so despite being a saturated fat, it is often used in weight loss and weight management programs.
Coconut oil also has an antimicrobial effect in the body and can be used to treat bacterial infections including even severe antibiotic resistant strains. By eliminating and healing bacterial or viral lesions on artery walls, we can prevent inflammation and the barrage of white blood cells that can accompany it.

A study in clinical biochemistry confirmed the benefits of coconut oil on heart health. The study proved that virgin coconut oil lowered very low density lipoproteins (the troublemakers), raised HDL, lowered triglycerides and phospholipids, reduced total and LDL cholesterol levels, and was shown to inhibit LDL oxidation.

The study concluded that we know that oxidized cholesterol can initiate the process of atherosclerosis and the fatty acids in coconut oil prevent this oxidation. The effects of coconut oil on heart health were deemed uniformly beneficial. It can withstand higher heat, so it’s a great cooking option. The only downside is that while it does not have a strong taste, it does have a slight coconut flavor. So it may not work in every dish but for sautéing vegetables or meat, it’s a go-to in our house.

Rice Bran Oil

The best oil for high heat cooking, and the best oil you may never have heard of, is rice bran oil. Rice brain oil is similar to peanut oil in composition, with 25% saturated fat, 38% monounsaturated fat, and 37% polyunsaturated fat. You’ll recall that every fat is a combination but it gets classified based on what it has the most of, so technically, it is a monounsaturated fat, though just barely!

Rice bran oil has a very high smoke point of 415 degrees and it is often used in
Japanese restaurants for tempura and in Chinese restaurants for stir fries. It is extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice and has a very mild flavor. While I try to avoid frying or high heat cooking, if you cannot live without mom’s fried chicken or a family favorite recipe that involves deep frying or high heat cooking, you will definitely want to use rice bran oil.

But here’s the best part: not only can you cook with it at high temperatures, rice bran oil has so many health benefits that it is being taken as a supplement! Imagine finding an oil and a fat source that you can cook with that is so good for you that people are taking it in pill form! (Coconut oil is probably in the same league but it has a different flavor and doesn’t work as well for stir fry or frying.)

Rice bran oil contains an antioxidant gamma oryzanol as well as high fractions of tocopherols and tocotrienols taken together as vitamin E. It also contains phytosterols, the benefits of which have been shown to increase HDL cholesterol, and reduce total cholesterol and triglycerides. One study published in the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology showed rice bran oil decreased total cholesterol by 42% and decreased LDL cholesterol by 62%. The antioxidant stability of rice bran oil remains consistent even at high temperatures, which means it doesn’t change molecularly at high heat and doesn’t oxidize or cause internal damage.

In addition, the antioxidant gamma oryzanol contained within it was shown to relieve hot flashes in women during perimenopause. After taking a supplement for 4-6 weeks, 90% of the women in the study found some relief. It has also been shown to inhibit platelet aggregation and gastric acid secretion. It is regularly taken in Japan as a supplement to improve cholesterol and no negative impacts have been associated with its consumption.

Ok, this may be sounding too good to be true, and with all things, there is a downside. Rice bran oil has not caught on in America as it has in other parts of the world, and so it can be harder to find and more expensive. I recently bought some and paid about $8 for a 16oz bottle though you can definitely get it cheaper if you buy in larger quantities. This is significantly more than a bottle of olive oil or coconut oil. But I don’t cook on high heat often, so my bottle lasts me a LONG time. And given the harms of cooking on high heat with other fats and the benefits of using rice bran oil, it’s totally worth it to me.

If you cook on high heat a lot, it may seem too pricey. But I would argue that if you cook on high heat a lot, rice bran oil is a health investment you need to make if you’re not willing to change your eating habits.

Grapeseed Oil

If you can’t find rice bran oil or you can’t afford, it, there is another oil that is suitable for higher heat cooking. It is often used by chefs because it has very little flavor and so unlike many fats that have distinctive tastes, grapeseed oil lets the flavors of the foods shine through.

Many chefs will cook in grapeseed oil and then toss with olive oil when done to impart the olive oil flavor. While grapeseed oil is able to withstand higher temperatures, the downside to using it instead of rice bran oil is that in addition to not having the health benefits of rice bran oil, grapeseed oil is predominantly an omega 6 fatty acid oil.

As we discussed previously, our diets are highly imbalanced in favor of omega 6s over omega 3s. So if you use grapeseed oil, you will need to increase your omega 3 consumption or supplementation. I take omega 3 supplements with every meal, but if you do not, you will definitely want to consider supplementing at mealtime if you are cooking with grapeseed oil. But grapeseed oil is cheaper and readily available in supermarkets and stores like Trader Joe’s. As long as you compensate for the omega 6 consumption, grapeseed oil can be used on occasion, but I prefer using the other four fats whenever possible.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal and a free copy of Inger’s bestselling ebook at www.IngerPols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

For centuries, olive oil has been a prized commodity, traded in some cultures as currency and guarded fiercely by the many including the Romans. But more recently, olive oil has become the business of choice for the mafia. Not because olive oil has always been in high demand and has skyrocketed since World War II, but because altering olive oil is highly lucrative business that is not very well regulated. As New Yorker writer Tom Mueller put it when assessing the viability, “Profits were comparable to cocaine trafficking with none of the risks.”

Even though authorities broke up an illegal operation in 2005, confiscating 100,000 liters of fake olive oil worth over $8 million, reports continue to surface around fake or adulterated olive oils. In 2007, it was reported that only 4% of the olive oil leaving Italy was pure.

Suspicions were raised when it was discovered that Italy sells three times as much oil as it produces. Recently, it was discovered that Italy was importing almost twice as much oil as it was exporting, raising questions about where the imported oil was ending up and launching an international investigation said to include13 of the biggest olive oil producers.

A recent study at UC Davis found more than two-thirds of common brands of extra virgin olive oil were NOT what they claimed to be. The problems are two-fold. First, many companies are importing cheaper lower grade oils such as hazelnut oil, sunflower oil canola oil or soybean oil mixed with flavoring chemicals to give it the look and taste of olive oil, and mixing them in with some pure olive oil.

This is a concern not only for those with allergies to other oils but also to those consuming olive oil to improve heart health and cholesterol among other benefits. Buyers seeking the monounsaturated fat and polyphenol health benefits of olive oil are actually consuming less healthy polyunsaturated fats heavy in omega 6 instead. These oils are overly consumed in our diets and are exactly what we are trying to reduce in our imbalanced diets. They are also more likely to turn rancid and oxidize, causing the very inflammation we are consuming the olive oil to avoid.

The other concern is that there are no enforced regulations around what constitutes extra virgin olive oil, the premium and desired form that provides the health benefits we seek. Because it’s not regulated or enforced effectively, in addition to using other cheaper oils, manufacturers can mix non extra-virgin olive oil in with some extra virgin and still call it extra virgin. This means low-grade olives that would normally be used for industrial purposes or low-grade oils can find their way into your extra virgin olive oil.

Because it is such a lucrative business, producers are getting better and better at the deception. It used to be recommended that you put your olive oil into the refrigerator for a couple days and see what happens. Olive oil is about 70-85% oleic acid, which will solidify when cold. And that is still a good test because if your oil does not solidify, then it’s a cheap grade imitation and you should toss it.

But now manufacturers use high-oleic oils, such as high-oleic sunflower, safflower oil, or canola oil, designed to better mimic the properties of olive oil. These high oleic versions will solidify as well, so just because your oil turns solid does not mean it is true and pure olive oil.

While olive oil connoisseurs can taste the real thing because of its unique flavors, we don’t always have the opportunity to do so. (Though if you ever have the chance to go to an olive oil tasting, I highly recommend it. You will experience first-hand what pure olive oil should taste like and find the flavor profile/manufacturer that most appeals to you. Farmer’s markets may have tastings and specialty shops are springing up around the country.)

Like everything else, though, the more you know and the closer you are to the source, the better. Local oils and domestic oils from California, etc. are more likely to be the real deal. You may have to spend a little more, but the health and flavor benefits are well worthwhile. Look for a harvest date on the label as opposed to a best buy date, a specific place of production, and/or a D.O.P. seal on European oils and a California Olive Oil Council seal on oils made in the U.S.

If you want to have some fun trying new and different oils, have a look at the winners of the Los Angeles International Olive Oil competition.

Or you can use the list below as a guide (and I’m willing to bet your brand is among them). The list was provided by the UC-Davis and includes brand names of olive oils falsely labelled as extra virgin for one of the previously mentioned reasons.

• Whole Foods
• Rachel Ray
• Safeway
• Newman’s Own
• Colavita
• Bertolli
• Filippo Berio
• Pompein
• Star
• Carapelli
• Mezzeta
• Mazzola

They found the following to be accurately labeled as extra virgin:

• Kirkland Organic
• Corto Olive
• California Olive Rand
• McEvoy Ranch Organic

For more information, read the full report.

To your wellness and health:  your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art