(Imagine Julie Andrews spinning through the alps, praising my favorite fats…)
My four favorite fats are:
- Canola Oil
- Crisco
- Soybean Oil
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
Just Kidding! Those are my most disliked fats.
My favorite fats are:
- 100% grass-fed raw butter
- 100% grass-fed Ghee
- Organic, cold-pressed, extra virgin coconut oil
- Italian, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil
Best sources of fat:
- 100% grass-fed animals and game
- Wild caught fish that are low in mercury, high in selenium
- Coconuts and olives
In general, those first four fats are hydrogenated, rendering them a trans fat and/or they contain GMO ingredients. Whereas my favorite fats are raw except for the Ghee, which is a clarified butter, and the fats found in grazed animals and wild-caught fish.
Raw Butter
It is hard to find raw butter in some parts of the country, like Ohio. Here you have to join a herd share. But it’s well worth it. For one thing it tastes amazing. In addition, raw butter from 100% grass fed cows is the best fat you can get. It is the only fat with a perfect ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats, which is 1:1. This is important because we get way too much Omega 6 fat in the standard American diet, like 30:1. Experts say that the ratio is as high as 60:1 for individuals that are really unhealthy.
Ghee
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in ancient India and is commonly used in South Asian cuisines, traditional medicine, and religious rituals. Ghee is prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from cream, and removing the liquid residue. The texture, color, and taste of ghee depend on the quality of the butter, source of the milk used in the process, and the duration of the boiling. This is one of the dairy products that can be heated without destroying the goodness because it has no lactose and very little protein.
Coconut Oil
I am going to do an entire blog on coconut oil. Go here to listen to Bruce Fife and I talk about it. He is the coconut king.
In a nutshell, no pun intended, coconut oil is as good as it gets. I fries well, has a high smoke point, tastes great (no it doesn’t make your food taste like coconut) and doesn’t store as body fat. It basically is pure energy as it goes straight to the liver. It emulsifies fat and actually does reduce cellulite. It is also amazing for your brain and you can use it on your skin and in your hair.
Olive Oil
I loved Olive Oil, even as a kid, she was my nerdy, flakey hero! But it just barely makes my list, and I use it sparingly as it is an Omega 6 oil. Usually I only use it in salad dressings (unless I make them from yogurt or heavy cream). I also marinade fish in olive oil and lemon juice, although I fry the fish in butter or ghee. Make sure that your olive oil is actually really olive oil. Word on the street is that they are lacing it with canola oil and other lesser oils. So buy organic and from a known source. I prefer the old Italian family olive oil makers as they seem to make the best oils.
Fat From 100% Grass-fed Beef
The one thing you need to know about this fat is that it stores as muscle, not fat! That’s right conjugated linolenic acid, (CLA) the main fat in grass-fed beef ends up as muscle, not fat. That is why people didn’t like grass-fed beef initially as it did not have the “marbling” or fat that grain-fed beef had. But guess what? The thing that makes the cow full of fat, makes us full of fat too. So you decide. Pastured animal fat is also GMO free, another big plus.
Fat From Wild-caught Fish
Definitely one of the healthiest fats you can eat. Omega-3 fatty acids are helpful for the heart, immune system and against a range of diseases.
They have been shown to lower elevated triglyceride levels, curb stiffness caused by rheumatoid arthritis, lower depression levels, reduce symptoms of attention deficit disorder and protecting against Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, according to WebMD. That’s a lot!
“I simply remember my favorite fats, and then I don’t feeeeeeeeeel, soooooooooo baaaaaaaad!”
-Dr. Norton
#GetSunEatCleanBeWell
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