Charles – thanks for all the additional info on fats. I think it is a fascinating topic in part because fats are so misunderstood and demonized. Hmmm.. maybe there’s a post about fat in my future…

Use only traditional fats and oils including butter, beef tallow, pork lard and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame oil and the tropical oils – palm and my favorite, coconut oil. Fat is back and it’s hot! But not just any fat. The fats the government and the “experts” told us to eat a few years ago — hydrogenated, processed vegetable, etc. are dangerous and in the opinion of many, not fit for human consumption. Now the government is on the anti-hydrogenated bandwagon but they are not quite up to speed on the safety AND BENEFITS of animal fats. Click on the link earlier in this entry to learn a LOT more about truly healthy fats. Still worried about fat? Here is something to think about: Saturated fat causes less, carbohydrate causes more heart disease in women. (With thanks to Dr. Ann Childers on Twitter for the link).

One word of caution when cooking with fats; some are more resistant to heat-induced damage than others. Saturated fats, as a class, are the most stable under heat and the most stable of them all is coconut oil. The least stable and therefore most nutritionally dangerous fats to cook with are the omega 6 vegetable polyunsaturates like safflower and sunflower which, because of all their double bonds, break down under heat into toxic substances like free radicals and trans fatty acids you and your body do not want! The monounsaturates like olive oil are more heat stable than the polyunsaturates but your best bet for cooking is still the saturated fats.

One additional heads-up: though flax oil is a popular “health oil,” there is recent evidence that 1; the human body does not have the ability to convert it for proper use; and 2. it is estrogenic.

Charles

Michelle.