Know your Fats Infographic

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The infographic above is a breakdown of the most common fats and oils in our diet

✅= Healthy, good to use in cooking and consume!
⚠️= Okay in moderation with nuance.
❌= Avoid in cooking and limit consumption due to high polyunsaturated fatty acids, trans-fats, pesticides and toxins (special mention goes to canola with its double Xs).

Included are the percentages % of each fatty acid in the listed oils:
💚Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA)
✴️Mono-Unsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) and
⛔️ Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA).

Also included are:
🔥smoke points of each fat/oil
💛A few comments about each type of fat!
🚮(green spray man). If the oil is likely to be high in pesticides, herbicides, fungicide insecticide or other toxins.

When cooking with these oils, it’s important to factor in both the smoke point and the fatty acid composition!

For Higher Heat cooking, seek fats high in stable saturated fats (SFAs) and MUFAs, and also look for high smoke point! (Palm, Beef tallow, Ghee, Avocado, Coconut)

Fats high in PUFA should absolutely NOT be heated or used in cooking! (contrary to government dietary advice 🐍).
The reason LVLUP Health suggests you avoid the PUFAs is because they don't contain as many hydrogen atoms/bonds as saturated fats, and their double bonds make them highly unstable and prone to damage and oxidation from heat, oxygen and light!

Cooking with PUFA (and to a small extent MUFA) causes the oils to go rancid and become oxidised ,and when we consume them they cause inflammation in our body and mess up our bodies metabolism + deplete our endogenous antioxidants like glutathione, selenium, vitamin E and more. They are bad news!

☠️Lipid peroxides are the big players here, and are abundant in vegetable oils. They are strongly linked with heart disease and many other chronic inflammatory conditions such as neurodegenerative disease, autoimmunity, obesity and cancers.