The Big Book of Healthy Cooking Oil
What is the best healthy cooking oil? This is one of the most frequently asked questions in any of the low carb and keto groups that I belong to.
Walk through the supermarket aisle and you will be faced with a number of different oils, all of them screaming Heart Healthy, non-GMO and even Gluten Free.
There is just so much misinformation out there when it comes to choosing a healthy cooking oil that I can understand how people are getting so confused!
Recently, I became aware of a new book written by Lisa Howard called The Big Book of Healthy Cooking Oils. I agreed to read it and write my thoughts on the book. I have written on this blog before about choosing a healthy cooking oil, but even I had a few things wrong!
What are the Best Healthy Cooking Oils for Health and Weightloss?
The first section of the book is just all about the oils. Lisa Howard goes through all the oils and you find out which ones are good, bad and ugly. There are healthy oil comparisons and charts and detailed information on each and every cooking oil.
Using this book you will find out which cooking oils are best for frying, what oils to use for baking and high heat and which oils should never, ever be heated.
You will also know what to do with the many new oils that are showing up on shelves these days. Oils like Macadamia, Avocado and Walnut Oil. I have been using Avocado oil a lot lately and found out that it falls in the category of fruit oils and that it is safe for medium heat cooking such as saute and simmer.
This section of the book is really valuable. I especially liked the healthy cooking oils chart where you can see at a glance what the oil is, what heat can be tolerated, the type (saturated, nut, fruit, seed, tropical, animal fat), the origin of the oil and notes and suggestions about usage.
There is also a lot of good information about what to watch for in the supermarket when buying and proper storage at home.
Bottom line, if you want to know what are the most healthy cooking oils for each situation, this book is an invaluable reference.
Cooking with Unrefined Oils
But we haven’t even mentioned the Cookbook! Yes, this book is also a Healthy oils Cookbook!
The 85 recipes are broken down as follows:
- Recipes with Saturated Fats (Coconut Oil, Butter, and ghee, Palm oil). These recipes are high heat recipes.
- Recipes with Monounsaturated Fats (Olive, Avocado, Macadamia oils). These recipes are medium heat recipes.
- Recipes with Polyunsaturated Fats (Flaxseed, Walnut, Sesame, Pumpkin). These are the Do Not Heat oils.
The Big Book of Healthy Cooking Oils
Every single recipe is gluten-free and paleo friendly. For those of us doing keto, we would probably tweak some of them and even avoid the more starchy ones.
But I still got lots of great ideas from the book and plan to ketosize a few of these recipes, so watch for them in a future blog post!
I highly recommend this book both as a reference book for the most healthy cooking oils and as a cookbook to learn how to use these healthy oils for cooking.
To learn about Lisa Howard, and get more great recipes, be sure to check out her website at The Cultured Cook.
Which Oil is the Healthiest for You?
I can’t decide that for you. You will have to read through and figure out which is right for you.
What I can do is tell you what I use. I’ve used avocado oil to make my own mayonnaise. It’s delicious, healthy and totally Keto.
You can find out more about how to get into ketosis fast with coconut oil here.
I love using coconut oil in fat bombs. Try this recipe for low carb chocolate coconut bars made with coconut oil. Or this Keto matcha tea fat bomb recipe made with coconut oil.
Obviously, I like to use coconut oil. It’s great for high heat cooking and has a really subtle coconut flavor, so it’s perfect for fat bombs.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you use as your favorite healthy cooking oil for Keto and how you use it. I love hearing from you!
Pin this article on the best Healthy Cooking Oil for Weight Loss today so you can refer back later.
I am wondering why no one talks about Grapeseed oil..it has a high smoke point, more affordable than avocado, neutral flavor, but I am not sure how it fits in keto diet
You are correct on all those points! In fact I use it to oil my BBQ racks because of the high smoke point. However, grapeseed oil is high in Omega 6 fatty acids which can contribute to inflammation and so that is the main issue. I hope that helps!
This book sounds great! I really would love to educate myself more on the healthy oils, I mostly use coconut oil.
And coconut oil is one of the good ones!
I use organic coconut oil on the dog’s food and love this amazing oil – great book here and I’d love it for a Christmas present.
Thanks for sharing this! I never know what oil to cook with!
There are oils in this book I never even heard of!
What great information. I just started using olive oil recently and love it!
That’s a great choice and very versatile!
I would love to start making healthier meals by using some cleaner oils. It’s awesome that they are all paleo and gluten free!
Yes, I was very excited about that!
This would make a great gift for a person who likes to cook and is looking to switch to a healthier lifestyle
Exactly and Christmas is right around the corner!
Wow, who knew there would be a whole book dedicated to cooking oil? This would be a great resource for someone who likes to cook.
Yes, I’m so happy to have this!
This is really good information to have and I know I’d love to get one of these cookbooks. Using unrefined oils to the best of their purpose is smart and healthier!
I could use this book! I love cooking!
What a great cooking book. I think small changes to things like healthier fats is a big thing in getting healthy
Yes, and this book is awesome at explaining everything!
I recently read (somewhere) that cooking with certain types of oils in Teflon pans can be detrimental. So scary, because I’m sure most of us have been doing this for years thinking we’re being healthy! I’ll have to check out this book – very interesting :)
Lots of bad things are coming out about Teflon pans. I’ve gotten rid of all of mine now.
That sounds like a great book filled with all kinds of great information!