Every time we go shopping for the monthly stock, vegetable oil will always be on the list. Earlier, I used to be least bothered about the kind of oil that goes into my food. But lately, thanks to my elder sister, she explained to me about choosing the right vegetable oil. I thought that this is a very useful piece of info and I have to mention about this here.
Whenever you buy cooking oil (vegetable oil) you need to look into the nutrition facts label. So how to go about the selection? You just need to check the following criteria.
1. Trans Fatty Acid should be Nil (0)
2. Cholesterol should be Nil (0)
3. “PUFA quantity” should be less than “MUFA quantity” (PUFA < MUFA)
MUFA - Monounsaturated Fatty Acids
PUFA - Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Label of the oil used in my cooking
If you could get a hold on any brand of Sunflower or Safflower oil that fits into the above mentioned criteria that would be great. I would not want to endorse any brands here, but you could shoot me an email if in case you need help. If you could get your hands on organic, unrefined coconut oil, that would be good too. But coconut oil has a high amount of saturated fatty acids. If you could burn that down through daily workouts or a physical activity, that would be great. The same goes with ghee, but ghee is highly expensive, so I would not want to suggest it for daily use.
If you live in a country where olive oil is less expensive, you can always go for it. I would suggest Pomace olive oil for Indian cooking.
my father hav cholesterol problem (bit more than a normal value and varying every month) .. please suggest me a sunflower oil for him
I would recommend cardia life. We use the same at home. http://kaleesuwari.com/cardia-life.html Its a mix of olive oil and corn oil.
Its generally available everywhere. If you do not get access to this then go for Saffola. Always rememeber PUFA should be less than MUFA in a good vegetable oil.
I will also recommend Coconut oil and Sesame Oil as well. Sesame oil from KLF Tilnad is excellent.
But remember, any oil must be used sparingly. Deep fried foods have to be cut down. Give him lots of garlic. Make garlic chutneys and Garlic rasam often. It helps in lowering cholesterol.
Thanks :)
Why not Desi ghee (Clarified butter)?
Ghee is really good if people these days would pull out time to burn down the saturated fat that it contains. Another factor is the cost. Ghee is very expensive and I wouldn’t suggest that to readers.:) Of-course, during festive occasions we can relax our rules.