Outfit Your Healthy Kitchen

Do you have a “Healthy Kitchen”? If you don’t know what that really means, read on.

The first thing I want to talk about is in your pantry. Let’s talk about the cooking oils you keep there.

If you didn’t know, there are definitely some cooking oils that are better than others.  And there are a few “rules” as to which ones are most appropriate for specific cooking temperatures. 

Let’s start with the “bad” oils and why they aren’t so great for you or your health.

The “bad” oils are primarily bad for you because they have been processed or refined (and heated and sometimes bleached).  The refining process helps them become shelf stable so you can use them a year from now. 

And just like other processed foods, the subtraction of important nutrients and the addition of chemicals help them become “bad”. 

There are some ‘naturally refined’ oils without the use of excess heat and chemicals, but please look closely at the labels. 

So what oils am I talking about?  Here’s a short list:

• Any vegetable oils

• Canola oil

• Sunflower oil

• Cornflower oil

• Safflower oil

I personally don’t use any of these oils in my kitchen and I suggest that you don’t either.  I know they are less expensive than the other oils I’ll mention, but this is one way that you can care for your health without spending a fortune.  And unless you sauté and fry a lot, you probably don’t use that much oil in your daily life.  So, if you haven’t already, please upgrade your oils. 

To what, you ask?

You’d be surprised that some of the cooking oils I’ll recommend are ones that you may have been coached that are not “good” for you.  Like butter.  Ghee is even better.

Healthy cooking oils? You may have heard of olive oil, or maybe avocado oil but today we are going to talk about eleven oils that you can incorporate into your cooking. Yes, eleven!

Please clean your pantry and remove the processed oils (especially those in plastic, please)! Now you are now ready to shop for the healthy oils. 

Here’s a list for your grocery trip:

• Coconut Oil

• Avocado Oil

• Butter/Ghee

• Lard/Tallow

• Olive Oil

• Sesame Oil

• Hemp/Flax/Chia Oil

• Walnut Oil

While these oils are healthy, there’s a catch. You can’t cook with all of these at high heat.  In fact, you can’t use many of them.

Let’s discuss…

Oils You Can Use at High Heat: Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Butter/Ghee. Lard/Tallow

Feel free to use any of the above at high heat.  If you are dairy intolerant, skip the butter and load up on the ghee.  (It has a strong butter flavor though; a little goes a long way).  And as for lard and tallow, make sure it’s from a grass-fed animal.

Personally, I don’t have much experience with lard and tallow, so if you’ve used them in your cooking, I want to hear from you!

Please store all of these oils in a cold, dark place where they will last for a while.  A word of caution:  if you are in a hot climate (for example, Florida or Arizona my snowbird friends) and will be away for longer than two weeks keeping your thermostat above 80 degrees, it wouldn’t hurt to put your oils in the refrigerator. 

Notice, I didn’t include olive oil on this high heat list.  Olive oil is a medium heat oil and should not be used when cooking at high temperature.  That was a big lesson for me as I cook with it quite frequently.  It’s meant to be used for light sauteing and of course, for salad dressings and emulsions of any kind.  But keep that heat down please! 

Same for sesame oil.  It’s better to cook that high heat stir fry with a bit of avocado oil.  Otherwise, use sesame oil liberally on your Asian dishes.

Lastly, the no heat oils:  Seed oils (hemp/flax/chia) and the nut oils (specifically walnut).  These should never be used for cooking (with heat) and should always be kept refrigerated.  They don’t have the shelf life of the other oils and will go rancid quickly.  The reason is that they are polyunsaturated oils and are very sensitive to light, heat, and air.

But just like their seed and nut counterparts, they are some of the healthiest oils we have.  Feel free to use them in smoothies, dips, and dressings for a great burst of healthy fats.

Now, let’s talk about the rest of your kitchen… 

Before I go any further, please know that I’m not suggesting that you spend tons of money right now reoutfitting your kitchen if you don’t have all these products.  I’m suggesting that you keep this list in mind as you upgrade or change what you own.  In fact, when I started nutritional cooking school, I was also outfitting a second home and went out and bought nonstick cookware.  I still have some of it that I deemed higher quality, but it goes in the trash the minute it gets a scratch.  So, let’s start there….

Non-toxic non-stick options (cookware/bakeware) free from PFOAs: 

I could talk forever about PFOAs.  It’s pronounced “poof-a’s” and stands for perfluorooctanoic acid which is the chemical that’s released when the substance (think: Teflon) is exposed to heat.  So, the first step is to analyze everything you have in your kitchen that it non-stick.  If it’s old, has a scratch (or multiple scratches), or you just can’t identify whether it’s safe or not (meaning free of PFOAs), please strongly consider tossing.  PFOAs are big threats to our health, from hormonal imbalances to (gulp) cancer.

So, now the question is: what do I cook with now?  Here are some suggestions:

• Cast Iron

• Stainless Steel

• Ceramic

Please buy from reputable sources when considering stainless steel and ceramic cookware and bakeware. 

A cast iron pan is a terrific alternative and will last YEARS (you need to take care of it and season it after every use though; thanks for the tip, J.S!). 

Personally, I’ve been experimenting with ceramic pans as an alternative to non-stick and have been happy with the results.  But again, quality counts here.  My first ceramic pan was cheap and did get scratches. 

And now, utensils to use in those pans.  Those should be made of silicon and metal.  And as I’m writing this, I’m taking a mental note to look in that second kitchen and toss the plastic stuff, ugh.  Sometimes you don’t think about something until you are explaining it to someone else, right?

I’m sure you are hearing all about the damaging aspects of plastic.  One of the most poignant stats I read during nutrition school was that babies are born today with substantial amounts of plastic in their bodies—unfortunately transferred from mom via the placenta.  Plastics are EVERYWHERE and it behooves us to try to rid ourselves of them and their effects on our health.   

I could write a whole email on the damaging aspects of plastic—and I may do so soon, so watch out!

Which leads me to glass containers for storage.  If you haven’t made the switch, think about it please.  Start slow and grow your collection.  Toss or recycle all those plastic carryout containers you are keeping.  (ok, keep a few to send leftovers home with friends). And please, please DO NOT microwave in them. 

Thinking of you stocking your healthy kitchen would make me very happy   And if you do find some deals out there, let me know.  I’ll pass them along.