Cooking with Olive Oil

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi,

I was having a discussion very recently with somebody (who holds herself out as a professional nutrition expert) regarding the use of olive oil when cooking. Her opinion was that, when cooked at high temperatures, olive oil behaves like a saturated fat and is, therefore, not very good for you. I’ve heard this criticism being levelled at rapeseed oil (Canola Oil) before, but not at olive oil.

Does anyone have any thoughts or information on this point?

I should note that this person also said that, in her opinion, eating every 2/3 hours may in fact prevent fat burning due to the interplay between insulin and glucagon. This comment made me suspect that, despite her profession, she may not know what she’s talking about. It would be good to have an article to send her to smack her back down on that point.

I made my argument at the time regarding the avoidance of insulin spikes that such a dietary protocol has, but it would be helpful if someone had an article setting this out in full.

Cheers,

O.

2

Well, she is an idiot. Lots of nutritionists are. No offense to Bowden, Berardi, etc.

All cooking oils have a smoke point, and therefore will have nutrional degredation if heated too high.

By the way, don’t be afraid of some saturated fat, such as from steak, in your daily diet.

3

Hi JN7844,

Thanks for the link - that’s helpful. Yep, not afraid of some saturated fat - I tend to be able to get enough of that from meat, as you say.

I found this article as well following a further trawl of the archives, which has some more info on cooking with oils:

Anyone have anything on the eating every 2-3 hours point? I’ve got a vague recollection of an article by CT outlining the science behind it, but can’t find it through the search function.

O.