Originally published October 13 2005
Health food expert debunks some myths about cooking oil
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Doc Mendel talks about the misinformation surrounding cooking oils and gives tips on how to cook healthy with olive oil and vegetable oils.
# Jackson resident Doc Mendel is a customer service representative at a local health food store who literally has made a career the past seven years of healthy food choices.
Like any other consumer, Mendel knows firsthand how oversaturated the market is with information when it comes to choosing the right oil.
It's my personal thing," says the 62-year-old who gave up smoking and started eating healthy in 1985 after reading Fit For Life by Harvey Diamond.
"I stay away from manufactured things like margarine and Canola oil.
Depending on which publication you read, olive oil may be perceived as more healthy than butter or vegetable oil, but no one oil is more healthy than the other, she says.
It is important to understand what kind of fat the oil being used is --- whether it is saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated or transfats --- and how each can positively or negatively affect the body.
# Anything liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil, canola and peanut oil, are monounsaturated fats that add rich flavor to sauteed foods, but still have less fat in them.
Hydrogenated is when a typical good vegetable oil has had hydrogen forced through the oil at a high temperature and changed it to a saturated fat.
"This includes bacon grease, ham hock and salt pork ...
Peanut oils are most often used in restaurant and commercial cooking because of their ability to be heated to higher temperatures before producing smoke and olive oil is a favorite to use with onions or in salad dressings, but thinking olive is more healthy than peanut oil is just untrue, she adds.
It is like margarine, you cannot digest it."
Although the oil has passed Food and Drug Administration approval tests for healthy consumption, like many in the health food industry, Mendel says he prefers to stay away from not only Canola, but other oils that have been altered through the process of hydrogenation.
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