Tonight I’ve been on an “oil” kick when the topic of trail mix came up and the kind of oil certain ones are made with.
It’s hard to decipher food labels sometimes when you’re out at the stores browsing for something that’s good for you. Not only are the nutritional panel information to look at, so is the ingredient list, if not more important!
Apparently we’ve been misled for many years about the benefits of Canola oil being heart friendly. The more I read on the dangers of canola oil, the more anxious I become on trying to find a better oil. I personally use mostly olive oil but being that I’m on this health and fitness kick for the past 6 weeks and have lost my first 10 pounds with proper eating and plenty of exercise, I’ve actually cut down on the amount of oil I consume or cook with….high calories being the reason.
I’ve only bought canola oil once and it was for a recipe that called for canola oil in the salt scrub I was making. I never ate it, I just rubbed it on but I really didn’t agree with the salt scrub I made with that oil so I tossed it out. Perhaps it was some part of me that knew intuitively that it was not the oil for me.
But my dad started buying canola oil since last year….maybe from all the massive advertising everywhere spouting the heart healthy benefits of it. If you google “canola oil bad” as I did, you’ll be SHOCKED by the amount of information on it and how we need to stay away from that stuff! Canola oil is some genetically engineered oil that is really cheap to acquire. Perhaps the reason why so many food manufacturers use it in their food products. It’s like some big propaganda linked to promoting this oil to fatten up the pockets of the manufacturers.
Just google it, it’s frightening to say the least or visit this website. I know from looking at ingredient lists on food labels that A LOT of products use canola oil. It seems like the more health conscious I become, the harder it is to really discern between what’s considered healthy and what’s TRULY healthy. I buy a lot of nutritional bars and I know I’ve seen canola oil listed. ….and salad dressings too! I just went on a rampage at the grocery store and bought like 6 bottles of different supposedly “healthier” or “light” versions of various dressings that I now have to go back with a fine tooth comb to check out the ingredient list.
What’s tricky is that you really HAVE TO look at the ingredient lists carefully. Salad dressings that say on the front panel “made with real olive oil” is not completely true. That promotional statement on the front is in fact stating that their dressing is made with real olive oil….but when you flip it over and look at the ingredient list, you’ll find that yes it does list olive oil….but it also list other oils and some have canola oil in it.
What they are saying isn’t a lie because they did make it with real olive oil…even if it’s just a tablespoon amongst 10 or 12 oz of the other crap oil. :blink:
So my bf Bryan said that he may have to start making his own trail mix instead of buying this organic kind because it’s so expensive. The less expensive kind uses canola oil where as this organic kind he usually gets is made with coconut oil. Kudos to him for wanting to make his own. I think in the end, that’s how you can truly monitor what’s really going into your own body. If you’re making it yourself, you know what kind of crap you’ll be ingesting.
He tells me that organic coconut oil is really a much better choice. The problem is that it’s VERY expensive! You think Extra Virgin Olive Oil is expensive, try finding Extra Virgin Coconut Oil!!! They don’t come in very big containers and it’s very pricey. He bought me a jar last year but I decided to put it into this smaller oil container, not knowing that it turns semi solid below 76 degrees. I haven’t used the oil since it solidified but I will warm it up some to move it to a jar.
With that in mind, I have to really think about not only myself but also my family. It’s like how do you get your parents to change when they are in a different generation that basically looks for a deal and holds onto their money? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being frugal on some things but not at the expense of one’s health.
I saw at Amazon a 2 pack of organic coconut oil 29oz for around 32 bucks. If you “subscribe and save”, it’s around 27 dollars. That’s a total of 58oz. I looked at an average size bottle of oil, say canola and it runs about 48oz. I’m not sure how long that would last but 48oz of canola oil probably run about $4 bucks depending on where you buy it or if it was on sale etc. Coconut oil is like 7 or 8 times the cost of canola. For someone who isn’t that concern about their diet is NOT going to fork out the money, to them, oil is oil. I seriously can’t see my family wanting to spend that much just on oil.
Being that I’ve started to consume less oil, even oil in baking recipes I’ve started substituting apple sauce, I could see myself justifying buying the coconut oil because it will last awhile for me but for my parents, it’s a tough call. Stuff like this isn’t a “do it sometimes” sort of thing. You either do it right or not do it at all. It’d be like someone who’s switching from regular marlboro’s to marlboro lights, it’s still cigarettes! Any little bit is gonna cause havoc to your system. But I suppose replacing some canola oil with coconut oil is better than just consuming all canola oil.
I’m going to keep reading and seeing what my options are. Been on the lookout for the partially hydrogenated oils and now I have to look out for canola oil too. It’s hard to escape them when you’re buying ANYTHING that is packaged. Something as simple as oil to use for cooking up even healthier whole food items is now on a lookout list. I’m not sure there is enough hours in a day to do all this research and discern what is truth and what is stretching the truth. :blink:
On a happier note, I got these cool sleeves for my klean kanteen water bottles finally! I’ve been using these stainless steel water bottles for about a year now and absolutely LOVE them! At first they did have a slight metallic taste but after awhile, it goes away and you’re left with really clean and crisp tasting water, especially when the water is cold. I hated that plastic tasting water and have pretty much cut out drinking bottled water. The only time I would drink a bottled water is if I was out somewhere and didn’t have my own bottle of water. I like not contributing to the wasteland of our country too. I guess it’s all part of “going green”.
I have been using these awesome acme reusable bags (earth tote in black) I bought from the same place I got my water bottles. I’m going to order more soon as they are really handy. A bit pricey but they work sooo well when I got to Sam’s Club where it’s a pain to bring your items inside. I got 4 of them and have been using them a lot and they hold a lot of groceries too! Plus they are eco-friendly!
I bought some more energy saving light bulbs today too. I didn’t realize they had different grades of brightness within each of the wattages! There was some promotional or introductory pricing at home depot on these light bulbs so I bought a few packs in different brightnesses to see how they work out.
I’m a big recycler but what makes it easier to do is that our county started implementing a no sort recycling. Before you would have to separate your papers from your plastics and glass etc. Now it can all go into one bin and they sort it out. It’s probably easier for them to do it in the first place. And we have those new recycling bins that are round and tall like a trashcan! We’re still using the box ones but I’ve seen other neighbors sporting the taller round ones. And I love that they are free for residents of our county. You just go pick it up at the dump.
Now if only I can come into a large pile of cash, I’d turn all our major appliances into energy star appliances in a heartbeat! I can go on and on since I haven’t blogged in awhile. I’ll save it for another day as it’s way late and I have a demo to do tomorrow, I better get some sleep.
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