If you're shunning all kinds of oils for fear of getting fat, here's something you should know: the amount of oil and fat you eat isn't linked with disease. What matters is the type you eat.
No doubt, consuming too much bad fat - saturated and man-made trans fats - can lead to obesity, high cholesterol and other diseases. But fat is a vital part of the diet. It's a source of energy, protects the bones and vital organs, aids blood vessel function and keeps us warm. Without it, we simply can't function.
According to Christine Jonkers, a nutritionist at Super Natural, about 30 per cent of the regular diet should be derived from fat; this translates to about 60 grams to 70 grams a day for women (about four tablespoons of olive oil) and 70 grams to 80 grams for men.
When it comes to cooking, plant-derived oils rich in good fat can have a positive impact on the body. Jonkers says two to three tablespoons, or 30 grams of the daily fat intake, should come from good oil. But what exactly is 'good' and 'bad' fat and oil?
For a start, cooking with butter, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil is bad. They're high in saturated fat, which raises one's levels of bad cholesterol - low-density lipoprotein (LDL) - in the body that can cause plaque build-up in arteries, potentially leading to a heart attack or stroke. Solid at room temperature, saturated fat is found mainly in animal products - meat, seafood, poultry with skin - and whole-milk dairy products such as cheese and ice cream.
Though saturated fat, like all dietary fat, also raises the body's levels of good cholesterol - high-density lipoprotein (HDL) - it's still better to eat as little of it as possible. Our bodies make all the saturated fat we need. Trans fat is even worse for you because it raises the body's levels of bad LDL and lowers the level of good HDL. It's made by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen gas, a process called hydrogenation that turns the oils into a solid. Commercially prepared baked goods, processed food and fried fast food are the main sources of trans fat.
Good fats are unsaturated, such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Liquid at room temperature, they raise levels of good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol, ease inflammation and stabilise heart rhythms. Polyunsaturated fat is found in sunflower, corn, soya bean and flaxseed oils, as well as walnuts, flax seeds and omega-3-rich oily fish such as salmon and mackerel. Monounsaturated fat is found in nuts, seeds and canola, peanut and olive oils.