What do you believe!
I understood that Coconut Oil was better for you than say Rapeseed and Sunflower Oils, apparently not according to this article.
sheerluxe.com/2019/08/22/7-...
When reading this some of you may have different views and still think Coconut Oil is better.
Hi Alicia, it is very confusing and its not as simple as high in saturated fats or low in saturated fats.
Coconut oil is indeed high in saturated fat 90% and will increase our LDL cholesterol levels but it also boosts our HDL cholesterol levels. (HDL being healthy cholesterol)
My opinion is natural saturated fats are in fact healthier than some of these heavily refined/processed oils like rapeseed/canola oil.
So I think we have to be careful comparing some statistics as its like saying an electric hybrid vehicle can use less petrol than a moped therefor the hybrid vehicle is more environmentally friendly when it is not. We're choosing the stats we compare rather than looking at the whole picture.
When it comes to cholesterol what is critical is our LDL and HDL cholesterol levels and I use olive oil butter and coconut oil and my LDL was 1.4 and my HDL2.9 so my cholesterol levels are way within recommended limits. And this is what's important in my opinion. Obviously if you have way too high an LDL level then drastic measures are needed.
Here's a more in depth article about coconut oil and it makes a lot of sense.
health.harvard.edu/staying-...
By the way I love the pepper hummus in the article you posted it looks amazing...😁
At the end of the day we are what we eat and it shows...
Jerry 😊
Thank you Jerry for your reply and the analogy between a hybrid car and moped, it's a very good way of looking at the whole picture.
I have to say I use very little oil and eat what are consider good fats i.e. not cake and pastries but nuts and seeds which I enjoy far more. I actually don't know what my cholesterol levels are, maybe I should get them check.
Also, thank you very much for the article, I'm going to have a look at that now.
Totally agree we are what we eat.
Thank you, I love hummus and have been having it with tomatoes, beetroot and corn or rice cakes but I won't buy them again as they are flavourless. I am instead going to add natural flavours to the Buckwheat seed bread that I have started making.
Alicia 
This sounds great to me Alicia as your buckwheat bread sounds much nicer than corn crackers, so I am sure you will make it very even more flavoursome, so good for you.
Jerry 😊
Thank you Jerry, I'm thinking of sundried tomatoes and herbs
This sounds fantastic 😊
Yes, I'm thinking the combination would be good.😀
I agree with the saying “You are what you eat”. If you eat unhealthy foods, your body shows it. If you eat healthy, your body shows it.
I am also a bit of a simpleton, I prefer the simple way better.
I think sometimes people read into too much sometimes.
I have heard dodgy things about coconut oil as well. One article that said coconut oil is basically poison and this apparently came from Harvard scientists too!.
See, just because “professionals” might tell you something doesn’t mean you have to listen. Be a rebel... go on :).
When I read articles titled like that or similar I think straight away that this is fake information spread around to confuse people again.
If coconut oil was basically poison the. i would be dead by now.
The article you suggests you use olive oil, rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
Olive oil is the better choice out of those oils but it be best to have extra virgin olive oil to escape any nasties.
Cheaper olive oils can be blended with other oils such as rapeseed.
Rapeseed, sunflower and any other type of vegetable oil is used using man-made chemicals which is not good for your health.
The way I see it, most things in this world that are man-made often lead to some sort of problem.
Thank you Matt2584 . I agree we are what we eat. The only other oil I do buy now is extra virgin olive oil. I do get fed up with these stories, I'm no expert and I have to say they can confuse me as they probably do many other people.
I don't overuse oil but I would say I use Organic Coconut Oil 90% of the time.
I do read your responses with great interest, they do make alot of sense.
Most of the time I eat what I've made myself. I don't eat any shop bread as I'm intolerant to gluten so am making bread using Buckwheat Seeds which are soaked. I'm going to add some herbs and sun dried tomatoes to my next loaf as the first one was a bit bland.
Yes, I get fed up with all these stories. One minute it’s good, the next it’s bad. And these stories might not just be referring to coconut oil but with many things as well. Other vegetable oils, meats, dairy and so on.
I don’t use a lot of oil, my mum is the one who cooks and I think she use olive oil, whether it be extra virgin or not I don’t know and throughout the summer she doesn’t bother so much with the cooking. A) She spends a lot more time in the garden and B) She finds it too hot to cook so we eat a lot of salads.
But other than that my coconut oil use is mainly for oil pulling and moisturising.
I wish sometimes I could eat more things I made myself.
I do make my own smoothies using raw vegetables and seeds but I would like to be able to make my own soups and other dinners.
I would like to at least have a go at these things but the kitchen is my mum’s domain and also as I have a brain injury too, this can get in the way too :(.
But anyhow, home made bread with sun dried tomatoes sounds nice :).
Totally agree and as you say one minute this is the best thing to eat and the next it's a baddie! I will continue to use my coconut oil as at the end of the day I don't use a lot of oil.
I'm also the one that cooks, my husband doesn't do it, I've always been the one in the kitchen and am a lot more mindful what goes into our mouths now than I ever used to be. Nearly all of the time I make my own food from scratch but there may be the odd time where I'll buy the supermarkets own version. I can understand eating salads whilst the weather is hot, I've been eating organic baby tomatoes and baby beetroot quite a bit lately, I'm not one for lettuce and for some unknown reason have gone off cucumber, I used to love it.
Your smoothies sound delicious and I love seeds. I can understand you can't get in your mum's way.
I feel for you with a brain injury and can understand the difficulties you may have.
Thank you, I've just bought the sun dried tomatoes today so am ready to make it.
I wouldnt bother getting a cholesterol check -it is a complete myth .check out people like Dr Kendrick on you tube or justinhealth.com/cholestero... who explain why it is a load of rubbish to be obsessed with cholesterol. As a matter of interest lower cholesterol levels increase your risk of dementia and cancer amongst other things
I haven't had it checked, I don't eat much fat but I know that doesn't determine what your cholesterol levels are. I've not heard of or read anything about dementia and cancer with lower cholesterol levels.
Hi Alicia,
I will look forward to reading this on the weekend. Thanks for sharing the information, and I hope you have an enjoyable day.
Zest
Although it's higher in saturated fats, I would still choose coconut oil over the suggested alternatives (olive, sunflower, rapeseed) for cooking.
Sunflower oil and rapeseed oil tend to be high in polyunsaturated fats, which means they are unstable when exposed to high heat. If you cook with them, the fats break down and turn into free-radicals, which some link to chronic inflammation and cancer.
Olive oil is mostly a monounsaturated fat, which means it is more tolerant to heat than sunflower/rapeseed, but it still breaks down when exposed to heat.
I should add that every oil out there contains a proportion of poly- and mono-unsaturated fat, as well as saturated fat, it's just that the proportions vary from oil to oil.
Thank you Cooper for your response, very interesting what you have said.
Hidden
The article does not give any specific reason why saturated fat is bad for our health. Follow the link below to read some interesting results on using coconut oil:
bbc.co.uk/news/health-42608071
This is really interesting, thanks for sharing it!
The one thing that jumped out with this study, is that they said there were no rules on how the groups consumed the oils, and I think I'd want to know that to support the outcome...
I'm just basing it on my own habits: if I were in the coconut oil group, I'd be making a tasty stir fry, smoothies or energy balls. In the olive oil group, I'd be using it in cooking or for salads. In the butter group though, the first thing that comes to mind is to smother the stuff on toast and crumpets! And I wonder if that would be the default for most people? It would skew my opinion if 2 groups felt encouraged to eat more veg, while 1 felt they had free reign to eat all the processed foods...
Thank you Praveen, I'm going to have a look at that one. Thank you for sharing.
Hi again Alicia,
I've not read your article yet, but just wanted to put a link to this one from back in 2015, when Michael Mosely did a programme about heating oils, and the results were interesting:
dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/20...
Zest
Just read about this. I do have coconut oil. Think I am going to use it again and Olive oil. You get confused what oil is good for you.....! And what food is good for you!!!! Thanks for the link Zest 👍
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Hi Zest
Thank you for the link, I will have a look at that.
Alicia
And you Zest, here's to plenty of sun and walking🚶♀️
On the subject of oils, I make a bean salad with vinegar and oil. I would love to use olive oil but it solidifies in the fridge. What is a good alternative? I use canola oil since all my cookbooks call for canola oil. Oils are driving me crazy!
Hi whatgoingon
I hope Alicia won't mind my popping in with a reply to you here, as I noticed you asked about your olive oil - which you enjoy having on your salads, but you don't like the fact it solidifies in the fridge. Here's a hopefully helpful article about how to store Olive oil - that might be of help to you:
Then you can still enjoy your olive oil dressing on your salad, and don't necessarily need to look for an alternative, unless you want to of course.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Zest
Thank you for this information. My salad is a marinated salad with green beans/kidney beans/yellow beans/vinegar/sugar/ and oil. It has one can of each and you keep it in the fridge. Sorry I wasn't clear on that.
Your salad sounds lovely whatgoingon
Hope you're enjoying the weekend.
Zest
take the salad out of the fridge a little while before you want to eat it to bring it to room temperature
Hi Zest
Thank you for replying to whatgoingon , I really appreciate it and thank you.
Alicia
All oils turn to solid at different temperatures. Olive oil turns at about 5-10 degrees I believe, so to avoid it turning solid, it should be stored above 10 degrees. I don't have any problems from storing ours at room temperature
Hi whatgoingon
I'm pleased to see that Zest replied to you which is great. I'm the same as you, oils drive me crazy as well as one minute they are bad then they are good, you never know what to believe.
Alicia
you dont need to keep the oil in the fridge as long as it's out of the light ,sun and other heat sources.Make sure it is bottled in a dark coloured glass bottle as well.
well she just churns out the usual outdated info that saturated fats are bad for you. She makes a claim but doesnt substantiate it with evidence of any kind.
It all confuses me so I just try and stay away from all oils - if you ask different people you'll get a bucket load of different responses for example the radio host Jon Gaunt swears by a high fat low carb diet and this to me just blows my mind - Yes he has successfully lost weight but having all that fat swirling around your veins just can't be good for you.....Can it???!!
Yes it confuses me as well and as my title said 'what do you believe'! I'm like you as I try and stay away from many oils, I just use a little coconut oil every now and again. I also can't see how a low carb high fat diet works as it can't be nutritionally sound as you aren't getting a variety of vitamins and minerals.
I personally believe a low carb high fat diet is recipe for a massive heart attack or stroke but the guy swears by it and has reversed his type 2 diabetes...How the heck that's even possible blows me away!
Personally I try to stick to low fat diet combined with long distance jogging and drinking a barrel load of water.
Well by reading your reply, you sound sensible and healthy, well done😀
Hello UL
I used to believe in/follow a high carb diet for many years because I'd been told it was "good for me". I didn't question it until about the end of last year when I was really struggling to lose weight. One day I somehow ended up on the Public Health Collaboration website, and I read this article phcuk.org/wp-content/upload...
It's fair to say it blew my mind. Everything I thought was right was turned upside down. That was the start of the "new me". Eight months later I've ditched nearly all processed foods and drinks, eat much more healthy, feel better, look better, can even run 8km if you ask me
Our bodies are begging for fats to use as energy not the sugar we keep pumping in every day. I'm still unlearning all the misinformation I was fed. It takes time, but I'm getting there. Ample fat and protein and a little carbohydrate every day keeps the doctor away.
White kidney bean extract supposedly blocks carbohydrate absorption so I take a couple before a high carb meal.
Most of the time I'm using my in-built high-carb meal blocker 
World Porridge making Championship and do you know what a spurtle is?
What foods do you love so much, you'd make from scratch if you couldn't buy it? 
Do you filter your water?
When they are all heated to high temperatures the saturated coconut fat will fare better, but none of them are exceptionally healthy. Oils should be cold-pressed to avoid heat damage and the need for chemical extraction.
The fats we should be avoiding are man-made and those that result from too much de novo lipogenesis.
The healthiest fat ratio is that of our body-fat, whether you believe it was God given or evolved; that's 57% monounsaturated, 40% saturated and just 3% EFAs.
Thank you StillConcerned , I do feel sometimes though they are trying to blind us with science.
I have been using the Cold Pressed Organic Coconut Oil but I have to say I don't use much.