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26 August 2007

Canola-No.1 cooking oil

Apart from diet counselling, I been giving a lot of presentations to companies and other gatherings. Today, I would like to share with you a common question asked by most of the people.

People of South India especially Mangaloreans and Keralaties use lots of coconut and its products. There are two reasons for using this in their diet, firstly because it grown at home and secondly may be because they have been using it as a cooking medium from past so many years and they cannot change it now. Slowly people are getting a little bit of awareness and are more concerned with their health than the tastes and flavours. A commonly asked question in all my sessions are " Which oil is good for health?"

First of all before answering to their question, I had to highlight a few things:
  • No matter which oil you choose, limit the amount of cooking oil.
  • Use only 4-5 teaspoons of cooking oil per day.
  • Not more than 25% of your calories should come from fats in your diet.

Then I tell them the classifications of fat namely:

  • Saturated fat
  • Unsaturated Fat- Poly unsaturated and Monounsaturated fat

I give them the choice under Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats. The former lowers the blood cholestrol while the latter is considered neutral where blood cholestrol is concerned. It is said to be protective of HDL-C level, the good cholestrol fraction.

The commonly used monounsaturated oils are olive oil, canola oil and peanut(groundnut) oil. Pricewise olive oil is costlier and peanut oil is cheaper. Nutritionally canola oil is very good and affordable by all groups.

Here are some more details about Canola Oil - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola

3 comments:

Unknown said...

canola oil means??

Anonymous said...

Pratibha,
I have updated the article with a link to wikipedia about Canola. That should give you some explanation you were seeking.

Aruna

Anonymous said...

Canola Oil has recently been launched in India under the brand name Hudson. It is available in most chain stores, as far as I can see, and is owned by Dalmia Continental - the same company that owns Leonardo Olive Oil.