A:  Choose Organic, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil when going for an oil to cook with. Coconut Oil is stable enough to resist heat-induced damage, while it also helps promote a healthy heart and maintain cholesterol levels. What are our other choices for frying food? Vegetable Oils (including corn, soy, safflower, sunflower and canola) are highly susceptible to heat damage. While some think that cooking these Polyunsaturated oils creates trans-fat the truth is they create things far worse. The oils are oxidized in heat which causes cross-linking, double-bond shifts, fragmentation and polymerization that cause more damage than trans-fats. A lot of people also are mistaken that Olive Oil is suitable for cooking. Extra Virgin Olive Oil should be used cold, like as a salad dressing. It is a monounsaturated fat and due to it’s chemical structure it is susceptible to heat damage.

Coconut Oil is 92 percent saturated with two thirds being medium-chain fatty acids. Of particular interest is lauric acid, found in large quantities in both coconut oil and mother’s milk. This fatty acid has strong anti-fungal and antimicrobial properties. Coconut Oil is very stable and can be kept at room temperature for many months without becoming rancid. It received a bad rap in the past as a result of intense lobbying by the domestic vegetable oil industry. Go ahead and throw away all your vegetable oils! It is important to have a good amount of healthy fat in our diets. Most people, especially infants and growing children, benefit from more fat in the diet rather than less. Avoid all processed foods containing newfangled hydrogenated fats and polyunsaturated oils. Instead, use traditional vegetable oils like Extra Virgin Olive Oil and small amounts of unrefined Flax Seed Oil. Use Coconut Oil for baking and frying. Eat egg yolks and other animal fats with the proteins to which they are attached. And, finally, use as much good quality butter as you like, with the happy assurance it is a wholesome and essential food for you and your whole family.

My favorite Coconut Oil is ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs, the tastiest and the best deal I know of!

Sources:

Sally Fallon “Nourishing Traditions”

Dr. Mercola.com