“This myth still has a scientific basis,” says Yulia Kolesova, nutritionist and author of the GetLean weight loss program. - Fats are divided into saturated and unsaturated. The first ones (they mostly include animal fats) are so called because they are saturated with hydrogen. This very molecule makes their structure very dense, which is why they are rather slowly absorbed. It is due to the low speed that they can leave deposits on the walls of blood vessels, which in turn can lead to the occurrence of atherosclerosis. When scientists discovered this mechanism, all saturated fats fell under the distribution without distinction, and olive oil began a golden age.
But, as Julia explains, in practice, not everything is so scary if you adhere to certain rules. Any natural sources of saturated fat: dairy products, meat, poultry can be safely eaten 3-4 times a week - this amount fits into the concept of a healthy diet. At the same time, you still won't eat a lot of brisket or butter at a time - the body itself will stop you.
However, saturated fats have their own advantages: they are better stored and withstand heat. “When our grandmothers fried in lard and used animal-based cooking oils, they did the right thing,” insists Kolesova. "If the oil does not withstand heat well, it begins to release carcinogens, which, if accumulated, can contribute to the formation of cancerous tumors." So butter (especially ghee or ghee) is well suited for frying, and indeed any animal fats.
Are you a vegetarian? Give preference to coconut oil (it also refers to saturated) or switch to refined vegetable oil.
“You cannot fry on extra virgin olive - the remains of the olives that are stored in it burn when heated, releasing the same carcinogens,” says Yulia. - For a frying pan, it is more suitable to be cleaned of these impurities, that is, refined."
As for the good old sunflower oil, this is also not a bad option: it withstands heat well, but at the same time it is much inferior to olive oil in terms of the content of omega-6 fatty acids.
But in this whole rosy story, there are still negative characters - hydrogenated or trans fats, which people created with their own hands. Vegetable fats, for all their usefulness, also have weaknesses: they oxidize faster, do not withstand repeated heating, and quickly deteriorate. Therefore, from the point of view of food manufacturers, they are very unprofitable. But enterprising inventors managed to integrate a hydrogen molecule there chemically, and these unsaturated fats began to live the life of saturated ones: keep their shape at room temperature, store for a long time and serve in every possible way to the benefit of industrial manufacturers. But not to consumers.
“The whole benefit of unsaturated fats is that they are quickly absorbed and thanks to this property they cleanse the walls of blood vessels from the deposits accumulated there. If you eat margarine (the brightest representative of trans fats) and products that use it, then the body receives a solid molecule, but lets it along the "fast" route. In this case, the risk of atherosclerosis and death from a heart attack increases dramatically, - warns Julia. "In my opinion, this is one of the most terrible inventions of mankind, but trans fats are added everywhere - even in baby products." So if you, while reading the composition, see there margarine, hydrogenated, deep-frying, cooking or combined fat, it is better to put the product back and take a pack of Vologda butter.
Another important point is how you fry. "When a brown-black crust forms on a finished dish, it becomes harmful, no matter what it was cooked on - this color palette of fried foods just means that carcinogens have accumulated on their surface," warns the nutritionist.
And finally, starting to plan pieces of bacon into a frying pan (and generously splashing refined olive on it), remember that frying in any fat greatly increases the calorie content of the final dish. And people gain weight precisely because they exceed the daily calorie intake without noticing it. But if all numbers are normal - bon appetit.>
