Cooking With Oil: What are some of the healthier yet affordable oils you can buy?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - When it comes to your health, the idea is constantly drilled home that "fats" are bad when in reality, they're essential if you're using the right kinds.
Obviously, we're not talking about eating the fat in your steak, it's about focusing on healthy fat.
When it comes to cooking, the consumption of some fat is important.
"They can actually help our body better absorb various vitamins and are also very important for health itself," said Leslie J. Bonci, a registered dietitian and founder of Active Eating.
She said specifically monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats help with cholesterol levels and blood glucose to certain extents and may have an impact on inflammation depending upon the type of fats that we choose.
Bonci's slogan is "Be fit, fed, and fearless." She added that there is still the issue of taste.
"Fat adds flavor, the mouthfeel, the aroma - all to the food that we eat," she said.
Again, the benefit depends on the choice of fat, or more specifically oil that you choose.
Bonci said there is a difference between olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and so on.
Thanks to the world of cooking shows and social media, one common cooking ingredient is now cool.
"EVOO" or extra virgin olive oil, is the ingredient many now have on hand.
Where does it rank on the list of top oils for cooking? All of those oils listed above are not created equal when it comes to health.
When it comes to battling cholesterol, heart disease, and others "EVOO" ranks number one.
"It's actually very high on a subject which has anti-inflammatory benefits and it also is quite versatile," Bonci explained. "For instance, you can bake with olive oil a lot of people certainly use salad dressings using a stir fry. It pretty much has unlimited uses."
So, what's next?
"Canola oil, where perhaps because it doesn't have a taste and sometimes we want something without necessarily of flavor added and maybe a baked good application or in stir fry," she said.
Alright, what about number three?
"Soybean oil because a lot of the soybean oils right now are becoming higher in terms of the omega three fatty acids so they're providing that other benefit," Bonci said.
She added there are also sunflower, safflower, and corn oils which are very versatile.
"Pretty much more polyunsaturated fats," Bonci said. "The other ones that we're talking about have a little bit more than monounsaturated fat. So you actually can do a mix of things like sunflower olive oil together."
So that leaves us with good, old-fashioned vegetable oil.
"[It still has] saturated fat, but without as many of the benefits that you're getting in some of these other oils," Bonci explained.
Vegetable oil does tend to be the cheapest, so if you're counting pennies, it's a factor.
Bonci also mentioned avocado oil saying it has a lot of benefits, but it's top on the price list.
