New Year Fresh Start Challenge Day 4: Seed Oil and Olive Oil Guides
Your guides to healthier oil choices
Welcome to Day 4 of the New Year Fresh Start Challenge! Today’s Focus: Learning About Seed and Olive Oils
Yesterday’s Challenge was about understanding food labels - and part of what to look for when reading labels are oils. Your checklist for today is simple:
Familiarize yourself with oils, and which ones are preferred choices for an anti-inflammatory diet
Use our Seed Oil Guide and Olive Oil Guide to help you choose the oils you want to use in your daily cooking!
Oils are in many food labels and recipes, and can be pro-inflammatory… or anti-inflammatory depending on what you choose. Read on for more information.
Understanding Seed Oils
For most of us, oils are found in foods we eat every day - whether that’s in snack foods, a stir fry, a classic comforting meal, or dessert… almost all foods use some sort of oil or fat. Fats are necessary for more than satiety, texture, and flavor - healthy fats offer up benefits such as:
Energy. Fats are highly energy-dense, providing stored fuel for the body, and are essential for insulation and protecting organs.
Vitamin absorption. Fats help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E, and K.
Cellular health. Fats are vital components of cell membranes, supporting overall cell function and growth.
Essential fatty acids. Your body needs Omega-3s and Omega-6s (found in oils like olive, flax, and walnuts) for brain function, inflammation control, and heart health.
The type of fats you choose is important, especially if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. Healthier fats are typically unsaturated and found in extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, algae oil, nuts, and seeds - these help lower bad cholesterol. Less healthy fats are saturated or trans fats. Found in processed foods and fried items, these can increase the risk of heart disease and are generally pro-inflammatory. Use the guides below to learn more.
Seed Oil Guide
Our Seed Oil Guide will walk you through the oils to minimize in your diet. This is free for all of the New Year Fresh Start community!
Olive Oil Guide
Our Olive Oil Guide covers the types of olive oil, what to look for, how to avoid fake olive oil and more!
Tomorrow’s challenge puts some of these healthy oils to use in our brain healthy Snack recipes!