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Olive oil could be causing metabolic dysfunction
As a metabolic health practitioner, I often work with clients who are looking to improve their health through diet and lifestyle changes. One of the most common issues I see is women making healthy choices that may actually be making them sick.
[FREE GUIDE: 5 "HEALTHY" FOODS MAKING YOU SICKER & FATTER]
One such example is the use of olive oil. Now first I'll mention that it is very difficult to find quality olive oil. So many are nothing more than oil blends, meaning they are mixed with another, less expensive oil, like soybean or another seed oil, or mixed with lower-grade olive oil that's been chemically refined. If you do decide to purchase olive oil, make sure it is labeled "extra virgin". If it says "virgin," "light," "pure," or just "olive oil," put it back and walk away.
Next, I want to point out that picking the right food to eat is step 1, but it's not all that matters. What's been done to the food before you consume it and what your body can process once it's consumed, is often even more important.
Now let's talk about olive oil and to start us off, I'm going to share a story about a client of mine, whom I'll call Sarah. Like you, Sarah tried as often as she could to make healthy choices. One of those choices was to stop using vegetable oils (oils that are actually industrialized seed oils) such as canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, and safflower oil. She only used olive oil. While olive oil is often touted as a healthy fat, it can actually be harmful when heated to high temperatures, as it can convert to trans fats.
Now before I go on, you may be wondering what a "high temperature" is. A high temperature is a temperature that creates a smoking point. For olive oil, that's 325 degrees or higher. Yes, that includes when you bake, saute, or fry. If the temp is over 325 degrees, your healthy olive oil, converts to trans fats. (One last point here ... when was the last time you tested the temperature of the pan on your stove? Have you ever? Yeah, me either, and honestly I don't even know how I would. So bottom line here ... you don't know when that olive oil has hit 325 degrees so chances are if you're cooking with it, you're actually eating trans fats.)
So if olive oils (and any other seed oils) aren't good for cooking, what is?
Animal Fat.
Did you hear that? Cook with animal fat. Like all of our grandparents and their parents parents did, before Crisco, margarine and industrialized seed oils took over the world.
Before the non-fat craze of the 1980s, we cooked our food in butter (not margarine), lard, or tallow. It was safe then and it's still safe today. These animal fats are a safer option for cooking as they are more stable at high temperatures and do not convert to trans fats. Not only that but they are a great source of vitamins and minerals too.I know this may be difficult to wrap your brain around a change like this. After all, if you lived through the 80s and 90s, you've been told to eat fat-free and count calories every day of your life and here I am telling you that fat-free is one of the reasons why you're getting sicker and fatter. But what I'm telling you is true and it will make a difference in your health.
If you've started thinking about something else here or you're multi-tasking with facebook, emails, or your kids/partner chatting away, come back to me here for one last point. This is important and I don't want you to miss this.
- Don't cook with olive oil or vegetable oil, which are really industrialized seed oils. There are no vegetables used in these oils. Cooking with them converts them to trans fats, which are linked to a variety of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
- In order to restore your metabolic health, you need to unlearn what you know (and what you've been taught over the last 50+ years) and learn what you need to know, with a fresh slate.
If you decide to make the switch, as Sarah did, you may feel an improvement in your health too. After switching to animal fats in her cooking, Sarah's headaches disappeared, she had more energy, and her digestion improved.
As a metabolic health practitioner, it's important for me to educate my clients on the latest research and trends in nutrition. By sharing this information with Sarah, I was able to help her make simple changes to her diet that had a big impact on her health and well-being and that is why I'm sharing this information with you as well.
Remember if you don't make time for your health,
by Author
you'll be forced to make time for your illness.
