From Coconut to Canola: Healthy vs. Processed Cooking Oils

Navigating the different types of cooking oils can be one of the most confusing aspects of trying to eat healthy. Is vegetable oil as healthy as it sounds? Is coconut oil bad for me? Does organic matter? Here we’ll break down a few basics about oils, and help you understand which are best and which to avoid.

The biggest difference between “good oils” and “bad oils” is in the way they are processed, not necessarily their source. (There are exceptions such as Canola oil, but more on that later.) Fats and oils are sensitive to light, heat, and oxygen, and become rancid easily. Therefore, during the processing of these oils — which often involves heating them at extremely high temperatures — they can become unstable.

Similar to the issues with high-heat processing, an oil’s smoke point (the point when it starts burning and smoking) is important to consider when choosing an oil for cooking. If you heat oil past its smoke point, it not only harms the flavor, but many of the nutrients in the oil degrade, and the oil will release harmful compounds called free radicals.

Finally, it’s important to consider the different types of categories these oils fall into: either saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated fats. Our bodies need a good balance of all three types (with an emphasis on monounsaturated and saturated), but a big problem with the food industry today is that most processed foods contain polyunsaturated oils, and we’re therefore consuming way more of these than we should — leading to inflammation and ultimately, disease.

So — what oils are healthy, and which ones should you avoid?

Best Cooking Oil Options:

Good for high-temp cooking because of their higher smoke point:

Good for medium/low temp cooking. These should always be expeller-pressed or cold pressed, which means a press is used to squeeze the oil out of the seed rather than chemical solvents:

Cooking Oils to Avoid:

These oils are highly processed, and unless they’re organic, they’re often made from GMO crops. Organic, expeller-pressed versions of the below oils are better, but the options listed previously are generally healthier.

These oils are found in many processed foods because they’re cheap to produce, and because of their prevalence many people are largely over-consuming them without even knowing. Keep an eye out for them on your food labels, and enlist Trash Panda to help you identify them easily!

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