Vegetable Oils

Link: What Vegetables Go Into Vegetable Oil? - Nagging Question - Top Stories - CHOW:

"When making generic vegetable oil, the goal is to create a flavorless, odorless, mostly colorless product as efficiently as possible. That’s done using a process called solvent extraction, in which the base plant (e.g., soybeans) is ground up and mixed with a chemical solvent. The most commonly used solvent is hexane, which boils at a low temperature. The hexane dissolves the oil, then the solid plant matter is removed and the remaining mixture is heated so that the solvent evaporates, leaving behind only the oil. The oil is flavorless and odorless because the volatile compounds responsible for the taste and smell also evaporate when heated. Taylor says only trace amounts of solvent are left behind, if any."

Hmmm, I don't think this makes me want to eat vegetable oil anymore, lol!   Solvent in oil, ew!!  It has been a long time since I have purposefully used it, although I bought some to use in soap making to see how it works.  

The problem is, it is so prevalent in foods. How to avoid it?

Don't eat packaged foods!

Simple but efficient.

Canola especially is becoming a real problem. It is everywhere and being touted as the healthiest fat there is. Sally Fallon wrote an article about this that should be read if you haven't already:  The Great Con-ola by Sally Fallon

I grew up thinking that fat was bad. Butter was bad. Real mayo was bad. We ate fakey margarine and fakey mayo, low or no fat. Skim milk. Fat and skin cut off meat (although we secretly ate it and loved it!).

What I am now learning is that fat is good. Our cells need it, our brains need it, it is healing and nourishing *IF* you eat the right kinds. Kids need fat to develop. We need it to be satiated. Fat does not make you fat.  I don't claim to be an expert on it but I do know that we've been duped. I still have a lot to learn because even though I read and read, the science is hard for me to understand. However, I do not need to fully understand the mechanisms of how our bodies need fat in order to know how much better I feel and how much better things taste with good healthy fats.

A quick list of the best fats are as follows (I do not have all the healthy fats listed as many are unavailable where I live):

-butter

-olive oil (best if not heated)

-coconut oil

-lard

-tallow

Animal fats are best from grass fed, organic sources but I know for me, it is literally impossible to find (other than what fat comes on the meat, and it isn't much). Coconut oil is great for the metabolism and it is food for high temperature cooking, such as frying (I can't afford enough of it for that purpose since it is very expensive here). No fats should be hydrogenated. That is a whole other kettle of bad news for health.

So basically, don't be scared of fats as long as they are the right kind! They are good for you and your body will thank you for nourishing it :)

Photo from: http://www.roflcat.com

Yum Foods!

As I mentioned, we were away this weekend. We spent two nights at the Super 8 Motel in Windsor. Our church was having a stake conference in Halifax but we wanted to stay outside of the city. Bonus was Mark's brother and his family stayed there too so the kids had cousins to play with.

Of course when we travel, I often check out food that is locally made or try to find out where farmers markets are or just interesting things to check out. I was quite pleased to see that Yum Foods! was celebrating their grand opening of their retail outlet in Windsor! Yay! I had seen their products on the shelf but they were a little pricey. I especially wanted to get a bottle of tahini but at $10, it was a luxury I had to pass up.

We decided to go on Saturday and promptly got lost. They had a sign in the downtown area of Windsor so I got Mark to call and the lady there happily gave us directions (hint, if you're driving downtown towards Falmouth, there is a fork in the road and the left side goes up a big hill. Look to your left and you will see the sign down a side street as you are driving up. Yes, the sign below. Oh look, they are the same age that I am!).

As soon as we walked in, she told us they were planning to have a production meeting because they could not keep their products on the shelf! We had fun looking around. It wasn't a big store but there were lots of yummy things! Bakery goods, lots of different nut butters, maple syrup and related products, preserves and other locally made goods.

We ended up buying a bottle of peanut butter ($4, comparable to conventional), tahini ($6), cashew butter ($5), bread (on reduced rack for $1.50) and a tray of super yummy pumpkin muffins ($2.50; even the kids liked these!). All the nut butters had literally just been ground. The tahini bottle was kind of greasy on the outside. They must be whisking them to the shelf as fast as they make them! I was tempted to get two bottles but I restrained myself since it doesn't have the long shelf life the preservative filled kind has. The organic nut butters were tempting too but at $9 for organic and $18 for almond, we had to pass. Next time we'll definitely be getting some regular almond.

So I will definitely be going back some day! It is kind of surprising what you can find produced locally if you take the time to look. I know they do not grow the nuts here (they explain this on their website, yumfoods.ca ), but knowing I can support a local-ish buisness to process and buy from that does not use additives and preservatives, that makes me happy :)