Canola is not the name of a natural plant but a made-up word, from the words “Canada” and “oil”. Canola is a genetically engineered plant (GMO) developed in Canada from the Rapeseed Plant, which was developed in the 1970′s. The rapeseed belongs to the mustard family. Over the years rapeseed actually has had to be bred to reduce the percentage of erucic acid, a component of rapeseed.
Monounsaturated fat oils are good for us as in the case of virgin olive oil or unprocessed nuts or seeds, however, the fact remains that canola oil has more detriments than it does benefits. Canola oil is cheap to produce so it is made to appear that it is a “health oil” so that people and restaurants alike will buy it.
One of the biggest problems with highly processed and refined vegetable oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and even canola oil, is that the polyunsaturated component of the oil is highly unstable under heat, light, and pressure, and this creates oils that are highly inflammatory in your body when you ingest them. This can ultimately contribute to heart disease, weight gain and other degenerative diseases.
The best choices of oils are listed below:
* Extra Virgin Olive Oil – used in lower temperature cooking or as a salad dressing oil. We use this all the time.
* Extra Virgin Coconut Oil – great for all temperatures of cooking. We also use this and it’s great. It is much healthier for you than people think because it has healthy fat.
* Organic grass-fed butter – great source of CLA which is good for the brain.
There is not enough olive oil in the world to meet the demand, so when Canola Oil came out years ago, it was inexpensive to mass-produce. The process of producing canola oil is alarming. Canola oil goes through a process of bleaching, degumming, deodorizing, and caustic refining, at very high temperatures. This process is known to alter the omega-3 content in the oil, and can also bring the trans fat level as high as 40 percent.
So, bottom line, don’t be fooled by labels that claim “canola oil is healthy”. Nothing could be further from the truth!!
