The Best (and Worst) Fats & Oils – Watch My Free Masterclass!
Confused about cooking oils? I’ve put together a short masterclass to help you choose the best oils and fats for cooking, drizzling, and the ones you might want to ditch!
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Scroll down for a full transcript.
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Further resources
Explore the links below to learn more about how the low-fat nutrition advice of the past sixty years has had disastrous consequences on our health:
Ray Peat's article on PUFAs
Fat Fiction (2020), documentary
Want to keep this infographic? Right-click and select ‘Save Image As…’ to download it!
Video Transcript
Hello. Welcome to this healthy fats and oils masterclass. My name is Mariam, and I'm a qualified nutrition coach, yoga teacher and the founder of Yoghee and I'm so excited you're here because this is a really important topic that most people tend to overlook.
The fats and oils you consume have a huge impact on your health, yet most people don't think twice about what they're using. I think this is a major health concern, because you simply can't be healthy if you're not prioritising good quality fats, or worse, if you're regularly consuming the wrong ones. But fear not…
In this video, you're going to learn about the quality of fats and oils that you use at home for cooking, as well as for garnishes and salads, and why it's even important. You're also going to learn about the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats. Heads up, we're going to need to get a little bit scientific, but I'll try and keep it light. We'll also talk about the smoke point of popular oils. At the end, you will be so much more informed. You will know what the healthiest oils to reach for are when you're preparing meals, and be able to make healthier choices…and ultimately elevate your cooking. So let's dive in and demystify the world of fats and oils.
Firstly, you might have noticed that I've been using the term fats and oils together. Going forward, I'll probably just be using the word fat or oil, depending on what I'm describing.
So what's the difference between a fat and an oil? For example, if I were to say coconut oil or coconut fat, what's the difference there? Absolutely nothing except what I chose to call it. Well, in that example, it probably would be more accurate to say coconut fat, because it's solid at room temperature. But most of us just tend to call things by what they're what they say on the label, right? In that way, you might be asking, why is if it's more accurate to say coconut fat, why is it always labelled coconut oil? That's probably more of a marketing decision. Most consumers fear the word fat for thinking it will make them fat…an unfortunate misunderstanding that stems decades back and that we don't have too much time to go into in this video. But if you're interested in that debate, I'll include some resources to books and things.
So in a nutshell, fats are solid at room temperature, whereas, whereas oils are liquids. You might actually just change the words depending on how close the equator you live, like I live in Scotland, the temperature of my house is never 23 degrees Celsius or above. So I've never even seen coconut oil melting in the jar. In my house it only melts when I add it to a hot pan. But if I lived in Honolulu, the opposite would probably be true, and I probably would never even see it solid. So like I said, the oils are the ones that are liquid at room temperature, at temperatures above or below 23 degrees. The reason for this is the nature of their carbon bonds. Okay, we're getting a wee bit too scientific too fast, so let's reel it in and discuss, firstly, why any of this is even important.
Why is the quality of oil important? Because it can have consequences inside our bodies. I used to think that oil is just what you cook your food in…That it doesn't do anything inside your body, besides maybe increase your calories. But of course, it's not true, and it's actually not even logical when I think about it now. And it was when I learned more about oils and what they do in your body that I switched my thinking from firstly thinking that I couldn't afford to buy good quality fats and oils and use them in cooking to then thinking that I couldn't afford not to.
The science now…we're made up of cells, and these cells of ours are surrounded by cell membranes. They are double layered sheaths that shield our cells. And what are they made of? What are cell membranes made of? Fats. They're full of fats. They're also known as lipids when we're talking about them biologically. You might heard your doctor talk about a lipid profile test. Those lipids reflect the fats that we eat. So if we're eating too much bad quality fats, which, by the way, most of us on the standard Western diet are, then this is causing damage to our cell membranes. And if you're sitting there thinking, ‘surely fat is bad, you know, I don't want to have fat in my cell membranes!’. Yes, you bloody well do – pardon my French. Our membranes are supposed to be composed of fats. If they're not composed of what they should be, then things like communication in and out of the cell goes wrong, smooth passage in and out of this cell, hormone messaging won't work as well. All sorts of nasty things can happen in the body if we don't have healthy cell membranes, including accelerated ageing, stroke, cancer. I don't mean to scaremonger here. I'm going more for the knowledge is power vibe, but all that just to say that you need to have good quality oils and fats in your diet as far as possible. But the good news is you're in control of your diet. I mean, as long as you're not a baby, which I don't think you are. Or are you…?
When we're looking at oil quality, we look first of all at how oil behaves when it cooks. Cooking, i.e. heating, will irreversibly alter food. The process of heating is a process of transformation, and cooking will damage everything to a certain extent. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, because warm and cooked foods are easier and gentler on digestion and that can be better in terms of nutrient absorption. There's also some foods that have nutrients that are only unlocked when they're heated. But when we heat oils, some of those oils are much more prone to damage by heat. They're not stable enough to withstand the heat than the other more stable fats. Fortunately, thanks to science, we know exactly what those oils are. We know which oils are more prone to heat damage and which oils aren't. We don't need to play the guessing game. ‘Oh, pray tell. Please reveal what are those oils?’. We first need to talk about the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats, because therein lies the answer. The oils that are less damaged by heat are so called saturated fats. They have more saturated fat in them.
So remember what I said earlier about fats? Fats are solid at room temperature. That means saturated fats - being fats - are solid at room temperature. The chemical structure of saturated fat has each carbon molecule linked or saturated, you could say, with hydrogen. So there are no double bonds between carbon to carbon molecules. I know it sounds a bit nerdy, but it's really useful to know, because when these fats are heated, it's the saturation, or you could say the absence of double bonds, that makes them more stable and prevents them from oxidisation.
On the other hand, the more double bonds there are in the molecule, the more liquid it will be, the more fragile it is to heat, and that makes it more easily damaged. For example, taking two extremes. Ghee is pretty stable because it's mostly saturated fat. It's made from butter; it's made from clarifying butter. It doesn't have many double bonds in it. It can stay on the shelf for a year, some say more and can still be used. On the other extreme end, you have fish oils. These have multiple double bonds and are going to be extremely fragile. They'll go rancid very fast, even when exposed to air and light, let alone to heat. Now this might be obvious to some, but I'm going to say anyway, we don't want to be consuming damaged or oxidised fats, because these produce high levels of free radicals which roam about the body and are catalysts for disease. So what you need to think about when cooking is to avoid using oils which are prone to this kind of damage. You want to avoid using oils with what we call a low smoke point, because once you heat some oil beyond its smoke point, that's when the major damage happens, and they're the unsaturated fats.
Hopefully you now understand that the oils that are safest for cooking purposes are actually not the oils at all. They're the fats, the saturated fats. So let's talk about these now in terms of foods and things that you actually know, because there are a few different options…
The very popular coconut oil. You get coconut oil from almost every shop these days, and it's fairly inexpensive because of the volume that we're consuming around the world. The downside is everything you're cooking ends up with a coconutty taste. So I love using them for my almond the coconut pancakes, but not so much for my fried or scrambled eggs. If you don't like this coconutty taste at all, in anything, then you can find odourless coconut oil, but this is more processed, and to be honest, I'm not sure what the health implications of that are.
Then you have animal-based cooking fats, like beef tallow, lard, and things like goose and duck fat that you see around the festive season. They are extremely stable when it comes to high heat cooking and also fairly inexpensive, especially lard. The downside is they're not suitable for vegetarians, of course, and they have an animal taste…like beef tallow has quite a beefy smell and taste and quite a waxy mouth feel. But just like with coconut oil, the taste that these fats can impart can actually be a nice addition to the dish, depending on what you're making. It also is worthwhile to note that it changes smell, the texture, the odour changes will depend on what brand you're going for and whether they're grass-fed or not.
Last, but definitely not least in the lineup of safe cooking oils are butter and ghee – my personal favourites. Ghee in particular can withstand high temperatures and adds a rich, buttery, slightly nutty flavour to any dish. Honestly, I haven't found a single meal that it doesn't compliment. Butter is also great, but the downside is it has a lower smoke point and does burn more easily. That's why I prefer ghee for high heat cooking. But if I'm out of it, I'll use butter maybe just turn the heat down a little bit lower and go for a slower sauté style approach. If you're using good quality grass fed ghee and butter, you're also getting the added benefits of essential fatty acids and minerals, and same goes for beef tallow that I mentioned earlier.
So to recap…best fats for cooking are ghee, butter, coconut oil and animal based fats like tallow and lard. Use these oils for cooking as far as possible. Obviously, you don't want to cook the hell out of these oils, because eventually the heat will destroy everything, and as well as that, being mindful and consuming them in moderation is the way to go. I've put together a handy infographic of the smoke points of these fats for you, plus the smoke point of olive oil. So feel free to save that.
And that brings us nicely to the next topic. The question I always get asked is, ‘but what about olive oil? Are you telling me the cooking with olive oil isn't a good idea? But the Italians!’ Alas, no, olive oil can't withstand the heat, and I remember being pretty devastated the day I found that out. In fact, that's what's led me to discover ghee and then make it. I know it's frustrating. If you really want to use a liquid oil and you don't like the fats that I just mentioned, then go for olive oil or avocado oil. They probably have less double bonds in them than the other oils, and they are made from a fruit rather than a seed, so they're healthier. Nutritionally speaking, they're pressed in order to get their oils. They're less processed. But if you are using them for cooking, make sure the heat's not turned up too high. Make sure you're not frying with them. Go for cooking approaches like braising or sauteing, slow roasting, and remember not you don't want to be heating them beyond their smoke point. Plus, use them once, and that's it. Don't reheat them. And the same actually goes for any oil. Just use it once and don't use it again, because the more you heat something, the more damaged it will become.
Additionally, and what I'm about to say might surprise you, but make sure you're not buying the expensive extra virgin, cold-pressed stuff for cooking. Save your money. The smoke points of these extra virgin, unrefined versions are even lower. Save the fancy stuff for your salads, for your garnishes, but cook with the plain old olive oil, the plain old avocado oil, and keep the bottles of them stored away in a dark place, because it's not just when they start to smoke that they start to damage but it's also, as I said, when they're exposed to light and heat.
Okay, so now hopefully you've got enough options to choose from when it comes to cooking. You know what oils to cook with and why, but you might be thinking about other oils that I've not mentioned are in your kitchen cupboards that you've seen on supermarket shelves. And you want to know, are these, okay? Are they healthy? or should they all just be banished to room 101? Well, the thing is, another key factor in oil quality, beyond its saturation level and smoke point, is what it's actually made of.
So cold pressed and unrefined oils have a superior nutritional profile because they retain more of their natural antioxidants and beneficial compounds. The closer a food is to its natural state, the less processed and refined it is, the better it is for you. Kind of stating the obvious, but it's worth mentioning.
Now, just because some oils are more prone to heat damage than other oils doesn't mean they shouldn't be part of your diet. Oils like one I've already mentioned, extra virgin olive oil, flax seed oil, omega three fish oil, if you choose to supplement with that, or unrefined sesame oil, are all fantastic sources of healthy fats. The key is to knowing how to use them. Drizzle them on salads, blend them into smoothies. I personally love the nutty flavour of sesame oil, and finish all my stir-fries with a drizzle of that at the end. Just don't cook with them.
We're almost at the end of this healthy fats and oils masterclass. How are you holding up? We've covered a lot, but there is still an elephant in the room, something I've not mentioned…which are the majority of oils that line supermarket shelves. Not really spoken about them yet, have we? I'm talking about sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil and rapeseed oil, all also known as seed oils, or misleadingly, vegetable oils. Don't be fooled; they're not made of vegetables, and just because one of them might be labelled organic, don't assume it's any better. By now, based on how I'm speaking and what you've already learned in this video, you can probably guess where these oils fall on the health spectrum. Maybe you can guess why as well…
These oils aren't just refined, they're highly refined. Nutritionally, they're a wasteland…the oil equivalent of white sugar. They provide nothing but empty calories, and their smoke points are generally lower than other fats. Beyond that, they are mass produced industrial byproducts, originally developed for use as diesel fuel. Thanks to ultra processing, they're very cheap and have an extremely long shelf life. As we've seen with ghee and coconut oil, long shelf life isn't inherently bad. The difference is that ghee and coconut oil are unrefined and naturally stable.
Another major concern when it comes to seed oils is that they're high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. PUFAs were practically absent from the human diet in the 1900s but they gained popularity in the 1960s marketed as low fat and heart healthy, but modern research increasingly links them to chronic inflammatory diseases. Personally, I've banished these oils from my kitchen, and I encourage anyone looking to improve their health and do the same, or at the very least minimise their use. The tricky part is that restaurants and cafes rely on these oils because they're cheap. So no matter how carefully you choose your food and when eating out, you're probably consuming these oils. And since they sneak their way into most processed and packaged foods, it's really hard to avoid them entirely. That's why my approach is simple. I completely eliminate them at home. This way I have some control over how much I consume, and I don't stress about it when I eat out occasionally. It's all about balance, but the more we cut down on these oils, the better for our long-term health.
So to recap, best fats and oils to use when cooking are those that are more saturated, like ghee, coconut oil, butter and animal based fats, like tallow. These have high smoke points, are unrefined and often have nutritional benefits. Other ones to include in your diet, but not to cook with, are unrefined, virgin oils like olive sesame and the flax and the ones that avoid cooking with or consuming in general, if you want to thrive, are those vegetable and seed oils.
That's it. We made it to the end. If you enjoyed this content, or have any questions about anything I've just said…[erhaps there's a fat or oil that you use and you love that I haven't mentioned, and you'd like to hear my take on it, or maybe you have something to teach me, then please do shoot me an email. Just use the contact form on my website. I'd love to hear from you. And if you want to try Yoghee; grass-fed ghee made by yours truly, then head over to our online shop and grab yourself a jar. In any case, please do stay connected and stay tuned for more. Wishing you health, happiness and good fats! Until next time.