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Oils, coconut milk, and Whiskey

Just found an informative read about fats and oils over at Mark’s Daily Apple written by guest poster Scott Kustes of Modern Forager.

In the post, Kustes explains that the molecular bond stability of saturated fats makes oils high in saturated fats ideal for cooking.

Amongst the four types of fats, saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans, (trans being the only unequivocally bad fat), the lack of double-bonds in a saturated fat molecule makes it less prone to degenerating / breaking down when left sitting around or cooked.

On the other hand, monounsaturated fats have one double bond and polyunsaturated fats have multiple double bonds. Double bonds are easier to break, so mono- and, even moreso, polyunsaturated fats are more unstable.

The big takeaway? When reaching for oils for cooking, coconut and palm oils as well as animal fat are all ideal choices as they consist of mostly saturated fats and monounsaturated fats (more of the former than the latter, at that).

Another interesting takeaway was that the the short chains of saturated fats found in coconut milk (or oil) are immediately absorbed into your blood via your stomach, resulting in a boost of energy which can noticeably raise body temperature, metabolism, etc. I might have to try that one out and see what happens. Makes me wonder if coconut milk might be an ideal beverage for endurance athletes who need an energy boost.

One other thing I learned whilst scanning Mark’s Daily Apple: apparently, whisky, gin, vodka, scotch, and 100% agave tequila all have zero carbohydrates. I was immediately a little skeptical as I find Maker’s Mark to be a bit sweet — but upon checking it out, yep, zero carbohydrates (I consider Maker’s Mark my reasonably affordable whiskey of choice).

Tequila shots anyone?

4 replies on “Oils, coconut milk, and Whiskey”

My maiden name is Owings. Funny thing is, you write your O with wings on it the same as a brother of mine used to. I thought he was unique in this. Donna

Just one thing, short and medium chain saturated fatty acids are absorbed directly into the blood stream via the SMALL INTESTINES, not the stomach!, which is good because there is no need for bile salts to break them down. So coconut oil is especially ideal for people with liver or gall bladder problems…

Two other very wonderful things about coconut oil is: it actually has less calories than any other fat. All fat has 9 calories/gram, except coconut oil has 8.54 calories/gram.
The other thing is, coconut oil is the highest source of monolauric acid, besides mother’s milk, which is an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal agent. It emulsifies the cell membrane of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens so that our phagocytes can them eat them…

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