Question about fats for df and sf diets

[zjandosmom]

We are dairy and soy free. I have been using coconut oil, veg shortening, etc. in my cooking and baking. I am wondering about how 'healthy' these fats are. Are they better/worse than butter? This may sound like a dumb question......but I am curious. My little guy really needs the fat and you can't really cook without it! Just wondering if 1 type of fat was better than the others. I know butter is not good for you but we used it sparingly and I don't know much about our 'new' sources of fat. thanks,
kathy

[kalamos23]

Well, I know olive oil has good fats in it - not sure about the rest. I am pretty sure olive oil has better fats than butter.

[LaurieG]

Well, according to Nina Planck, butter is actually pretty good for you (except for the whole dairy sensitivity issue). Especially if it is from pastured cows and raw milk.

Coconut oil is great - we use it often in our cooking. But I think the recommendation is 2 TBS daily, and make sure it is virgin or extra virgin oil.

Is the vegetable shortening you are using hydrogenated? If so then it should be avoided at all costs. You could replace that with beef lard, assuming no one is sensitive to the beef. And Olive Oil is very good.

Here is a link with a bunch of info on healthy fats. www.ninaplanck.com. Her book (Real Food) has opened my eyes to the way I look at foods too.

[tanyalynn]

We use coconut oil and palm oil (Spectrum sells palm oil it in tubs, it's not hydrogenated and has a very neutral flavor) mostly for baking.

Healthy and unhealthy in terms of fats are pretty hard to define--or rather, there are lots of conflicting definitions. For a different take on the whole issue, go over to westonaprice.org and read about fats.

[bluets]

if you can afford it, macadamia nut oil is another really good oil to use.

[SAmama]

We also eat more along the lines of Weston A Price Foundation's guidelines and since doing a lot of reading about it, I have now come to believe that a lot of vegetable oils are not a good idea and that we actually need a lot more animal fat. We used to eat very low fat, but now we eat loads of animal fats (goat and beef, cannot do pork). We also make ghee, which dd seems to be fine with even though she cannot have dairy. I literally eat about 6 tablespoons of some fat a day. Mostly animal fat, some olive oil. We cannot find good cold pressed nut oils here. Also no coconut or palm oil, or we would do that. I agree with the pp that warned about hydrogenated fats. Read labels, it sometimes even sneaks into lard.

[zjandosmom]

I am using spectrum's veg shortening..........we don't use use it very often. i generally use coconut oil for baking and olive oil for cooking. kids up

[nalo]

High quality virgin coconut oil is extremely healthy.

[Alyantavid]

We use alot of olive oil, coconut oil, and bacon fat.