BEST OILS FOR AYURVEDIC COOKING

The myths of oils and fats

The Ayurveda Practice

Oils and fats are a much misunderstood area of our modern diet.  We moved away from cooking with saturated fats (e.g. meat fats, dairy fats) as we were told they were causing us too many problems.  We started processing seed oils to replace them and jumped from the frying pan into the fire.  There is still much debate about oils but here are the important points and we’ll update them as new research occurs.

Types of oils and fats

Oils and fats are members of the same family, the only difference is that, at room temperature, fats are solid and oils are liquid.  Coconut oil is liquid (oil) in its native climate but solid (fat) here in the UK.  There are three categories of natural fats and oils to be aware of: 1. saturated, 2. mono-unsaturated, and 3. poly-unsaturated.  With modern manufacturing methods, we also now have some unnatural forms of fats called hydrogenated fats and trans fats.

  Saturated Mono-unsaturated Poly-unsaturated Hydrogenated / Trans fats
Processing Natural, very little processing Natural, some processing Natural, some processing Unnatural, extensive  processing
Naturally occurring in… CoconutButter fatAnimal tallow (fat from meat, e.g. goose fat) Extra virgin/virgin:Olive oilAvocado oil(Rapeseed) Virgin:Safflower, flax, sunflower, soy, sesame(Rapeseed) Nothing!These don’t occur naturally, they are artificially produced.
Properties Stable, heavy fats Fairly stable, light oils Fairly unstable, light oils Stable, heavy fats (but different structure to natural saturated fats)
Visualise… Saturated FatDense, heavy, square Unsaturated FatLight, circle Unsaturated FatLight, circle Trans fatDense, heavy, square with jagged edge
Best for… cooking at high heating Cooking but not at high heat Cooking at low temperatures, adding to food avoiding completely

Which fats and oils are good for us?

All natural fats are good for us in moderation.

Saturated fats and mono-unsaturated oils are best for cooking

Saturated Fat

 

Mono-unsaturated oils (extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin avocado oil) have many health benefits and are fairly stable to cook with at light to medium-high heats such as sauteing, baking and roasting to 175°C.  Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) particularly contains many health promoting polyphenols.  Choose to cook with extra virgin olive oil when you aren’t going to very high heat.

Saturated fats are heat- and light-stable, these are the best fats to cook with (in moderate amounts) to high heat such as frying or tempering spices.  They can be heated to high temperatures and they don’t change their form or shape or disintegrate into harmful substances.  With the levels of meat and dairy in most of our diets, we generally get plenty of these so we don’t need to add them into our diets beyond cooking with them.

Poly-unsaturated fats are best for cooking at low temperatures or adding to food

Unsaturated Fat

Seed oils high in polyunsaturated fats such as flax, sunflower, sesame and soy are very beneficial to the body if used unprocessed and unheated or only heated to low temperatures.   They help to reduce blood pressure, develop and promote a healthy brain and prevent arthritis.  Some of them are essential in our diets (i.e. our bodies can not make them).

Cell walls and natural fats
If we eat saturated fats and untreated unsaturated oils, the body recognises their shapes and sizes, and uses them as building blocks for cells in our bodies.

If we cook to higher heats with these oils, they can break down, forming free radicals – toxic, aging molecules.  These toxic chemicals break down essential structures in the body (it is to combat these that we take anti-oxidants such as vitamin C).

Free radicals

 

These oils should not be heated to high heat.  Sunflower, sesame and soy oils can be used for low heat cooking such as gentle sauteing but flax oil should not be cooked with at all.  All of them can be poured on meals and used in dressings, which is a great way to get the health benefits from them.

A note on which oils to buy:

To make these unsaturated vegetable oils easier to extract and able to sit on supermarket shelves in clear plastic bottles, manufacturers use intense treatment processes, including heat, to treat these oils.  Whilst some people (such as Zoe) believe these processes don’t cause negative health outcomes, we see that level of processing as too much and would advise avoiding.  We’re happy to revise this opinion if very long term studies indicate they are adverse outcome free but until then, we’ll be buying our oils unprocessed.  Therefore we recommend only buying virgin, cold pressed oils which are in dark bottles (protection from light).  Don’t buy standard vegetable oils you find in plastic bottles on supermarket shelves.

Hydrogenated and trans fats are best for … avoiding completely

Trans fat

Saturated fats such as butter are versatile and stable but expensive.  To create cheaper fats, companies started making artificial saturated fats by processing unsaturated fats (vegetable and nut oils).  These processes form hydrogenated fats and trans fats.  These fats look and feel quite similar to natural fats but with some important differences in shape.  The body thinks they are same as the natural fats and uses them for the same jobs.  Given that they are actually different, they don’t work and our systems, such as cell messaging, fail to work properly.  This has large knock-on effects on the body.

Cell walls and trans fats
You can imagine trans fats have strange jagged edges.  The body thinks it recognises them and uses them in places where similar shaped fats go.  They have jagged edges however and so although they have been placed in the body, they don’t work properly.  They effectively stop that function of the body.

Do not eat anything with hydrogenated or trans fats in them – this will include many processed foods and commercially baked goods such as biscuits and cakes.  Margarine can also contain these.  In the UK, these are now rarely found in foods but do keep your eyes out for them.

In summary

COOKING AT HIGH HEAT

  • Saturated fats for high heat cooking e.g. frying, tempering spices. These are very heat-stable and do not become toxic on heating.  These include ghee (clarified butter), butter, coconut oil and animal fats such as duck and goose fat.  The best among these is ghee as it contains beneficial nutrients (vitamin A, D, E & K, linoleic acid) and is the only fat which stimulates the digestive fire (capability).  Use saturated fats in moderation and never deep-fry.

COOKING UP TO MEDIUM HEAT (PREFERRED OIL FOR MOST USE)

  • Mono-unsaturated fats for low to medium-high heat cooking, e.g. sauteing, baking and roasting up to 175°C. Cooking a pasta sauce, for example, where there a little gentle frying followed by addition of watery ingredients which cools down the temperature is a great use for these.  These are extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin avocado oil.  Make sure these oils are kept in dark bottles, away from sunlight. Be careful; don’t expose the oil to too high or prolonged heat.

COOKING AT LOW HEAT

  • Poly-unsaturated oils such as sunflower, sesame and soy all have fabulous health benefits and can be heated to low heats such as with gentle sauteing.

POURING COLD ONTO FOOD

  • Poly-unsaturated oils such as flax, hemp, almond and walnut are very beneficial in the diet but don’t heat them.  Add them to food or take them neat (especially flax oil).

AVOID

  • Heat processed oils, hydrogenated and trans fats.

 

Author: Kate Siraj, Ayurvedic Practitioner, BSc Ayurveda, MChem (Oxon), MAPA.

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