Olive oil or vegetable oil?

[Annie]

Lately I've been cooking my veggies in olive oil. I have it in my head that it's more natural and better for you than vegetable oil (even though it's loaded with fat).

What do y'all use and which do you think is healthier?

[wmenke]

Olive oil...I'm not sure why, but I also think that it makes the veggies taste better!

[cvC]

Vegetable oil is soya oil, which I avoid.

[Seaside]

Olive oil is better than vegetable oil, but its best when used raw. Olive oil has a very low smoking point, which means it is easily degraded by cooking. Coconut oil, by contrast, has really good heat stability, but its more saturated. Still, its got lots of health benefits too, if you use virgin coconut oil.

[Risker]

I use olive oil as an ingredient and vegetable oil for frying.

[Tigerlily]

I use olive oil for salads and quickly sauteeing veggies.

I use vegetable oil (and it isn't always soy oil, around here it seems to be corn oil) for frying stuff or when I'm being cheap.

I want to start using coconut oil but all that saturated fat sort of scares me. :o

[cvC]

Apololgies if I was incorrect on that, but are you sure, Tigerlily? I seem to remember someone saying on the forum that it's soy oil.

[Tigerlily]

Let me look.....

One bottle was corn oil and one bottle was half corn and half soy. So no, not all vegetable oils are soy. I think it depends what you buy.

[Pob]

Olive oil is better than vegetable oil, but its best when used raw. Olive oil has a very low smoking point, which means it is easily degraded by cooking. Coconut oil, by contrast, has really good heat stability, but its more saturated. Still, its got lots of health benefits too, if you use virgin coconut oil.Olive oil is better than vegetable oil for cooking, though, as it has less polyunsaturated fat which gets damaged by cooking than soya, sunflower or canola oil.

[Mystic]

Olive oil is full of antioxidants and good fats or something. I only use olive oil in certain things because it has a distinct taste that doesn't go well with everything. I like it with middle eastern foods and mediterranean foods, and stuff like pumpkin soup, pasta, pizza sauces... I never use it for Asian or Indian. For that I like sunflower, sesame or canola oil.

[Kiran]

Olive Oil has a high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and high content of antioxidative substances. Apparently, olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL (i.e bad) cholesterol levels while raising good cholestrol levels. Also, Olive oil has a protective property against ulcers and gastritis.

I use extra virgin olive oil for basic cooking, but use rape seed oil for deep frying.

[lavender]

I use Rapeseed Oil, for frying, cooking and baking :)

[cvC]

I use Rapeseed Oil, for frying, cooking and baking :)
I don't know if it's all true, but this is from something about Canola, which is genetically modified rapeseed oil:

"It is genetically engineered rapeseed.
Canada paid the FDA the sum of $50 million to have rape seed registered and recognized as "safe". (Source: Young Again and others)
Rapeseed is a lubricating oil used by small industry. It has never been meant for human consumption.
It is derived from the mustard family and is considered a toxic and poisonous weed, which when processed, becomes rancid very quickly.
It has been shown to cause lung cancer (Wall Street Journal: 6/7/95)
It is very inexpensive to grow and harvest. Insects won't eat it.
Some typical and possible side effects include loss of vision, disruption of the central nervous system, respiratory illness, anemia, constipation, increased incidence of heart disease and cancer, low birth weights in infants and irritability.
Generally rapeseed has a cumulative effect, taking almost 10 years before symptoms begin to manifest. It has a tendency to inhibit proper metabolism of foods and prohibits normal enzyme function. Canola is a Trans Fatty Acid, which has shown to have a direct link to cancer. These Trans Fatty acids are labeled as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Avoid all of them!
According to John Thomas' book, Young Again, 12 years ago in England and Europe, rape seed was fed to cows, pigs and sheep who later went blind and began attacking people. There were no further attacks after the rape seed was eliminated from their diet.
Source: David Dancu, N.D"

http://www.karinya.com/canola.htm

[lavender]

Thanks for highlighting this, I had no idea, I also found this article..

http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk/article/3333/canola-oil-heart.html hmmm

I guess its back to Olive oil then.

[pavotrouge]

I mainly use olive oil or a mixture of sunflower oil and sesame oil (from toasted sesame seeds- divine!) for most Asian dishes, and plain sunflower for frying non-mediteranean-stuff (but most of the things I cook are mainly Asian or mediterranean).

But I think the healthiest way to cook veggies is to steam them, anyway...

[Tigerlily]

But that's boring! :p Fried eggplant and/or zuccini with lots of garlic and lemon juice...oh my! Tastebud heaven!

[Annie]

Olive oil...I'm not sure why, but I also think that it makes the veggies taste better!

I agree...I've cooked veggies in both and think olive oil gives it a better taste.; subtle, but better :p


Olive Oil has a high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and high content of antioxidative substances. Apparently, olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL (i.e bad) cholesterol levels while raising good cholestrol levels. Also, Olive oil has a protective property against ulcers and gastritis.

I use extra virgin olive oil for basic cooking, but use rape seed oil for deep frying.

Good to know! I've yet to actually deep fry anything myself but if I ever do I'll look into rape seed oil.

[adam]

As far as the dangers of Canola oil, you might find this opposing argument informative:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp