Staying Healthy.
(Chapter 8)
We are what we eat. What happens if we stop eating? Chances of survival beyond a week or fortnight is not possible. There are so many opinions suggesting to eat this or that. Therefore, I have devised a formula, eat every seasonal thing. In New Delhi almost every vegetable and fruit is available around the year. Therefore, the key to determine what is seasonal is price. The seasonal vegetables and fruits are cheapest. Just one has to rise above the prejudice that expensive is better.
A fortnight ago when the first chapter of this Fats in Food series was written as review of a restaurant in New Delhi, the restaurant had nothing seasonal or special. But problem was compounded by its cooking medium. Hence, this entire series. For a long time, the ghee and mustard oil was my decided cooking medium. People around me were falling ill or developing heart problems. Some had rather sedentary life-style but others did not.
The covid hit me very hard. Actually it was not covid but its after effect which is called long covid but doctors do not acknowledge it. Most of the body organ, discussed in Chapter 7 came under attack in a period of three years. It forced me into professional retirement for those three years. This provided first hand experience of the problems of human body. The conclusion is that the food is important but the fats we use in food can be poisonous.
But remember the poison is the end of our tolerance level. Different people have different tolerance levels. What is poison for me may not be poison for my neighbour. This is no advice much less any medical advice. Do not change anything including diet or its cooking method unless it is causing trouble. So:
What Is the Right Cooking Medium?
There is no single answer to this question. Anyone who gives one is selling something. Different oils are used in different regions. Coastal areas have coconut in abundance hence its oil is popular. In Gujarat, peanuts are in abundance hence its oil is popular. The usage spread out but everyone does not get used to it. The academic or technical reasons for this were given Chapter 2. Now let me discuss my personal choices. But first about Omega-3 fats which have not been discussed so far.
Omega-3
Omega-3 fats are essential fats most known for supporting heart health, brain function, and reducing inflammation. Human body produce Omega-3 fats in insufficient quantities. Therefore, we have to outsource it. Flaxseed is best provider. About 55% ALA omega-3. Nothing else comes close among common oils. Ghee has some omega-3 and omega-6, but only in small amounts. Personally I am not confident of all the claims about wonders of Omega 3 but medical community is convinced about it.
Methi leaves and seeds. Walnuts and Flaxseed which was called alsi and eaten roasted as a snack in winters. Green leafy vegetables especially purslane which is called kulfa and was once a common roadside green and cooked as saag. All of these carry ALA omega-3.
Omega-3 helps in lowering triglycerides in the blood. It supports heart rhythm and may lower the risk of irregular heartbeat. It may also lower blood pressure and help protect blood vessels. Omega-3s are building blocks for brain cells. It may support brain and nerve function. It may help reduce inflammation, which can be useful in arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. It is also claimed to be supporting eye health, including the retina and dry-eye protection.
Ghee
In Hindu rituals panchamrat is prepared. It means five amrit or potions for immortality. Ghee and honey are part of this. It has been found that pure ghee and pure honey can survive hundreds of years if stored in sealed containers.
Ghee is my faourite but it is also the oldest cooking medium in India. It did not survive thousands of years of Indian cooking by accident. It survived because it works.
Short chain fatty acids in ghee are absorbed directly without burdening bile or intestine. Butyric acid feeds the colon wall. The smoke point is high enough for most Indian cooking including tempering (tadka). It carries spice flavors better than any refined oil may manage.
A Nawab liver may also struggle with excess ghee. A sprinter liver thrives on it. The liver knows which one it is even if the person does not. On top of it, it works wonder in colon.
Mustard Oil
Pungent taste and smell is the reason it is banned in USA. But in India the pungent taste is the reason of its popularity. There are dishes that simply do not exist without mustard oil. Certain bitter vegetables, certain pickles, certain fish preparations belong to mustard oil the way a raga belongs to a specific time of day. Substituting another oil changes not just the flavor but the entire character of the dish.
But it has something which no other cooking oil has. Mustard oil has about 6% ALA (part of Omega-3 family). This is actually significant for a cooking oil. Most cooking oils have almost none.
Its erucic acid raised alarm in western laboratories. Those laboratories were not cooking dal or frying karela. Indians have used mustard oil for centuries without the epidemics those studies predicted. Malhotra’s 1967 data pointed exactly in this direction. The subcontinent’s kitchen knew before the laboratory did.
Groundnut Oil
Groundnut oil is the quietly reliable member of the family. No aggressive marketing. No superfood claims. No controversy. It does its job at high heat with a decent fat profile and gets out of the way.
For a digestive system that resists mustard oil, groundnut oil is the natural alternative. Traditional. Stable. Honest.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a regional oil that became a global marketing phenomenon. It is not bad oil. It is misplaced oil.
For someone raised in Kerala or coastal Karnataka whose metabolism has adapted to it across generations it is perfectly appropriate. For someone raised in Delhi or Punjab whose digestive system has never encountered it regularly it is a different story. The bile demand is significant. The digestive distress is real and under-reported precisely because the marketing is so loud.
When coconut oil causes discomfort no superfood label should outrank that signal. The intestine’s opinion is more reliable than any nutritionist’s recommendation.
Flax-Seed and Sesame Oil
These are finishing oils. Not cooking oils. Flax-seed is a good substitute for Virgin Olive Oil, which is difficult to find in pure form. It supports heart health because of its omega-3 fatty acids. It may also help in lowering LDL or bad cholesterol. Flax-seed itself is part of ‘superfood’. Eating roasted flaxseed itself has health benefits
Adding flax-seed oil after the flame is turned off to dal or sabzi is an intelligent way to introduce omega-3 into a diet that may be omega-6 heavy. Heating flax-seed heavily wastes their properties and is potentially counterproductive.
Sesame oil is a nutritious cooking oil with a nutty flavor, and it is known for being relatively stable against oxidation because it contains natural antioxidants like sesamin, sesamolin, and sesamol. Sesame oil brings antioxidants and a distinctive flavor to cold preparations and light finishing. But it also has lower boiling point so one has to be careful.
Troublemaker
Refined soybean, sunflower, corn, rice bran, and similar vegetable oils are the product of industrial chemistry not traditional agriculture. Their omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is deeply skewed. Their processing strips whatever natural properties the original seed carried. They are cheap to produce and aggressively marketed as healthy. The two facts are connected.
Palm oil and vanaspati (hydrogenated oil or popularly called dalda) are in a different category entirely. These are popular in industrial cooking. But these are documented harm sold in packets. No warning on the wrapper. No accountability for consequences.
There is however a quiet market signal worth noting. Many popular namkeen vendors (like Haldiram in India) have started printing on their wrappers that the product is cooked without palm oil. No regulator demanded this. No law required it. It is there on customer demand. Less said about it is better.
The Two Fat System
The most intelligent cooking solution arrived without any nutritionist’s guidance.
Mustard oil for structural high heat cooking. Ghee added later for flavor, finishing, and tempering. Two fats. Two jobs. Neither asked to do what the other does better.
This is not tradition for tradition’s sake. It is evolved culinary technology that optimizes heat stability, flavor extraction, and fat profile simultaneously. No laboratory designed it. Generations of observation did.
The Last Word
Ghee and mustard oil are my primary cooking mediums. Groundnut oil when a neutral high heat oil is needed. Flax-seed oil added cold for omega-3 balance.
Rotating between two or three oils rather than depending on one alone brings a different fatty acid profile to each meal. That is metabolic intelligence without a prescription.
Refined vegetable oils deserve skepticism proportional to the enthusiasm of their advertising. Palm oil and vanaspati deserve avoidance. The chemical properties as given in Chapter 2 prove it.
Eat right and be healthy. Life is an experience. Only healthy body can experience. Sick body suffers along with its occupant.
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