I'm sure if any of you know me well you will know how much I despise Canola oil. (as well as any vegetable oil or shortening etc)
My friend Kirstin did a post on it tonight and since she is much more articulate than I am here is the link.
It is so frustrating to me that you can't walk into a Whole Foods and buy hmmm I don't know some dried fruit or nuts without finding Canola oil on the label. Why can't they just take some fruit, dry it and stick it in a bag? They've gotta toss it in some insect repellent repellent (yes I know I said it twice), chemically extracted Rapeseed oil...yum yum eat up.
Pick any item in their entire food bar and it all has canola oil in it....even the rice! No matter if its organic or not, popcorn, crackers, chips, dips it all has canola or some type of vegetable oil in it!
The best kind of oil to use are ones that have been around for hundreds and thousands or years. Olive and Coconut are my oils of choice and of course butter. GASP!
Here is a great article about Canola oil
I LOVE Weston A Price!! Its a bit deep so if you don't want to read the whole thing at least scroll down and look at the Processing section.
Here it is in a nutshell:
"The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Like all modern vegetable oils, canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming--all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety. And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids."
Canola oil is totally unstable and goes rancid super fast which is why they have to process it so much. Coconut oil on the other hand has a long shelf life and can withstand high temperatures.
Oh and coconut oil can be used in place of yucky paraben, lauryl sulfate ridden lotions :)
4 comments:
Thanks for postin this, I usually use Olive Oil for everything. It was recommended by WW. I didn't know that other stuff about Canola Oil. Eeew. I have been using it for baking instead of olive oil cause it's cheaper. Won't do that anymore. Mostly because of the transfat issue!
I had no idea... and I am a bit of a food snob... next time I shop, I am looking for some coconut oil!
I love reading your blog because I you write about so many things I have never heard before, but should know.
Thanks for info on how terrible the refinement process is. I have a separate post on that that I need to post. Also, I love Whole Foods because they sell a ton of products we need, but I try to only by the WHOLE FOODS there, because the processed foods often have MSG, canola oil or "natural flavors" which are usually chemicals secretly manufactured in a plant somewhere.
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