Oil...Broken Down!

Besides being 100% fat calories and containing ZERO nutrients, oil can be detrimental to your body.  Many health experts condone the use of oils and even say they are healthy for you to eat.  If that is the case, then why do I get chest pains whenever I consumed foods with oil in it over a two day period?  The Foodmatters film, Hungry For Change, said it best, "The simpler I get, the healthier I get."  Isn't that the truth!  The closer we get to the whole, plant-based, food, the healthier it is for our bodies.  Many people consider oil to be a natural food, and it is in a sense, however where does oil come from and how do they get it out of the plant?  They have to process it!  Therefor, if you want the benefits of olive oil, eat some olives.

So, how do we get around not using oil in our foods?  Simple, we substitute!  Sure, your cakes may turn out a little more dense, or your foods may stick a little to the pan, but we need to cut back on our oil consumption!  Here are some simple tips to substituting for oil in your recipes.  If your baking recipe calls for 1 cup oil, you are adding 1,910 calories to that dish/desert as a whole. Say that recipe serves 12 people, you are adding roughly 160 calories just in straight fat to each serving...and that is without adding any other ingredients! That is 30g of saturated fat and a whopping 216g of total fat as a whole, now let's break that down per serving. We come up with 2.5g saturated fat and 18g of total fat!  Let's substitute that 1 cup of oil with 1 cup of organic unsweetened applesauce.  As a whole, 1 cup of applesauce is 102 calories and has ZERO fat!  Per serving, we have 0g of fat and only 8.5 calories!  If you substituted your oil for applesauce, you would save those 12 people you were serving 151.5 calories and 18g of total fat! You can also substitute soy, almond, or coconut yogurt for oil when baking.  You will yield higher calories and fat than if you were using applesauce, but it won't be nearly as high as if you were using any type of oil.

Furit purees are also a good baking substitute!  Just like applesauce, you can use blueberries, bananas, strawberries, peaches, mangos, or just about any other pulpy fruit.  The benefit of using fruit purees over oil is less calories, no fat, and added nutrition!

Try adding water to your pan to saute veggies instead of oil. Heating oil releases free radicals and free radicals in the body are known to cause cancer!  Eeek!  Let's break it down. Heated oil to saute food= more fat, more calories, and the release of free radicals in the body.  Heated water to saute food= no fat, calories, or free radicals in the body.  I opt for the water!

Am I perfect?  Hardly!  I am still working on reducing the amount of oil my family consumes.  We never bake with it for ourselves.  We always substitute with applesauce or yogurt when baking.  We do use Pam when we cook Boca Burgers on the stove (I have yet to experiement with using water in the pan instead) and I used to use Pam when I would grease cookie sheets or bread/cake pans.  Now, I use parchment paper which saves oil and clean up!