Everything cooked in oil unhealthy?

Post Reply New Topic

Is it true that everything that has been cooked in oil is unhealthy? What some say is that oil gets very hot when heated, and ruins anything cooked in it. Even the structure of the healthy oils itself also is destroyed and changed into something unhealthy when heated. Others say some oils (such as coconut oil, olive oil, butter etc) are very resistant to heat and can be used for cooking.

Obviously canola oil is not suitable for human consumption even if it's not heated, according to some. Olive oil, rice bran oil and grape seed oil are often called the "healthy oils".

I personally never cook anything in/with oil not because of health concerns, but simply because oil splashes, evaporates and makes a mess in the kitchen as a result. I only pour room-temperature oil (mostly olive oil) on my salads.

I avoid cooking in oil on the whole, though I do enjoy the occasional fried egg (tried once to cook them in a ceramic pan without oil, and the result wasn't good).

I went through a brief period of using olive oil, but then read that it was injurious to health when heated.

I find that most elements of the good old British "fry-up" breakfast (bacon, liver, sausages etc) can be done perfectly satisfactorily under the grill.

Coconut oil certainly seems to get the vote in the article below......

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... g-oil.aspx

^
^ Yum, fatty food!

Thanks for the article. Different health experts/scientists say different things. I'm really confused. I thought saturated fat is something that you should avoid but according to that article (and some other articles) saturated fat is healthier than unsaturated fat when heated. I thought olive oil was the absolutely healthy oil but now even it can be unhealthy. I don't know what to believe.

Lucky that I only use oil in room temperature. As I said in my last post, I'm doing so not for health but for the sake of not making a mess. I'll just stick to that.

I also wonder when you cook (including grilling) meat (or eggs or whatever), the fat in it could turn unhealthy as well. If so, then you pretty much can't eat any cooked food.

dry-roasting/grilling is better yeah, but oil is still leages ahead of butter (assuming the 'light' and 'healthy' oils).

oil ruining the structure and 'healthyness' of food sounds like a fable to me; i don't think the oil is worse than any other form of cooking in that regard (although cooking the food does change its nutritional value and 'healthyness', it's just the relative amounts i doubt).

Zucchini pancakes cooked in olive oil are delicious, and I usually hate zucchini. Roasted eggplant sliced thin and drizzled in olive oil and with a touch of salt is yummy, and I usually hate eggplant. Hummus is lovely as a spread or dip, and I don't like other preparations of chickpeas. A nice light tomato mozzarella salad drizzled with olive oil and a dash of salt and a bit of fresh basil is a perfect side for any number of dishes.

In cases like those, where the olive oil gets me to eat good stuff I might not otherwise want to, olive oil is certainly healthy.

In cases where you're just substituting olive oil in order to deep fry a twinky, it isn't healthy at all.

As for butter, I'm sure it has a place in the diet of someone who's highly dairy tolerant and is using real butter and not spreading it on their food like frosting on a cake.

A lot of food in the Southern U.S. is deep-fried.
A lot of people in the Southern U.S. are obese.
Don't think it's a coincidence.

Like any other "junk food", fried foods should only be eaten in moderation.