Diet Essentials: Unprocessed and Undamaged Oils

In recent years there has been much written about the need to supplement our diets with fish oils. We have been swept along on wave after wave of articles regarding the benefits of fish oil and supplement oils. Oil is part of our normal daily diet; however, while we have focused on oil supplements we have lost sight of the importance of getting our “foundation”  for oil intake right.

A typical fish oil supplement at recommended doses makes up only 1 to 5 grams of oil daily. Our total daily intake of oil, however, is between 75 and 125 grams, that is if we use 100 grams as our total oil intake per day as an example. Around 3 grams of oil per day will come from fish/algae oil.  This is considered the supplement. The other 97 grams of oil per day will come from our foods and cooking oils, which is the foundation.

Not all “foundation” oils from foods and cooking oils are healthy and as these form a larger proportion of oils in our daily diet than supplement oils, we need to pay more attention to these as a subject for optimum health.

“Foundation” oils can be made up of one or a combination of the following fats: Damaged Fats (some spreads, cooking oils, ready meals and fast food); Saturated fat (butter, lard, pork, coconut); Monounsaturated fat (olive, canola, macadamia, avocado, beans); Essential Omega 6 polyunsaturated fat (corn, safflower, grape seed, sunflower, sesame); Essential Omega 3 polyunsaturated fat (flax and chia, and small amounts in hemp, walnuts, canola and soybeans).

It is estimated that around 50 percent of our foundation oils are damaged through manufacturing, processing or frying. The damaged molecules from these oils enter our body which doesnt know what to do with them as nature did not intend for us to ingest them.  Disturbingly, some scientists believe that it only takes 2 damaged molecules to change gene expression. Yet around one percent of the molecules in a tablespoon of processed cooking oil can be damaged, and this amounts to 60 quintillion damaged molecules which is 1 million unnatural molecules for every one of the body's 60 trillion cells!

Udo Erasmus, who developed a way of making foundation oils with health in mind, rather than shelf life, has been on a mission for the last three decades to get people to pay attention to their "food oil foundation". He recommends that we remove as much of the damaged oils as possible and replace them with healthy, unprocessed, undamaged oils.  Supplements can be added on top of that if needed, but if the larger oil foundation consists of more healthy oil, we then have a better chance in striving for optimum health.

About Udo's Choice Ultimate Oil Blend

Udo's Choice Ultimate Oil Blend is a blend of organic seed oils that provides all the Essential Fatty Acids Omega 3 and 6 that your body needs daily, in a convenient, easy to use oil that simply mixes in with food for whole body health.  Every cell in your body needs Essential Fatty Acids to function at its best but we do not generally get enough Essential Fats in our diet.  With a deficiency of Omega 3 or 6 the body tends to be more prone to illness and fatigue, skin tends to look tired and dry and we have tendency to crave fattening carbohydrates. For more information, please visit the Udo's Choice Website.

Image Courtesy: Organic Beauty World Website