Cooking Without Oils Part 2

Hi Warrior Chics,

In my last post Cooking Without Oil Part 1. We learned that saturated fat intake should not exceed 7% of total calories each day (with optimal levels less than 5%) and trans fat intake should not exceed 1% of total calories each day (even though ideally it should be 0%). 

-The average American gets 30-40% of daily calories from fat, 13% from saturated fat and 2% from trans fat. 

-There are only two essential fatty acids omega 3 (or alpha-linolenic acid) and omega-6 (or linoleum acid), both polyunsaturated fats.

-Adequate daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids is 1.1 grams for women and 1.6 grams for men. 

-Olive oil is composed mostly of mano-unsaturated fats which are not essentials.

-Coconut oil is over 90% saturated fat and has the same detrimental effect on your cholesterol as eating butter. 

Bottomline what we learned in the prior article is that oil, no matter where it comes from, is never a health food. With that said here are some tips for no-oil cooking.

Cooking Without Oil

• Use non-stick pans
• Sauté with non-fat liquids (vegetables broths, juice, vinegar)
• Use oil-free sauces (tamari, bbq, teriyaki, tomato)
• In baking, substitute fruit, pumpkin, or tofu for oil, butter, or margarine. 

Here are some oil alternative to use in cooking and baking. 

Libby’s-100% Pue Canned Pumpkin

365-Apple sauce

Annie Chun’s-Soy Ginger, Korean Barbeque Sauce

Annie’s Natural’s- Worcestershire Sauce, Shiitake mushroom Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce

Ayla’s Organics-Cajun, Curry, Szechwon, Thai Sauce

Cindy’s kitchen-All Natural Sun dried Tomato Fat Free Dressing Marinade

McIhenny Co-Tabasco Sauce

Nabiso Brands-A1 Steak Sauce

Nakano USA-Seasoned Rice Vinegar

Newman’s Own-Balsamic Vinegar

Robbie’s-BBQ Sauce

S&D Foods, INC.- Parrot Brand Enchilado Sauce

Thai Kitchen- Sweet Red Chili

Trader Joe’s- Organic Unsweetened Applesauce

Note: Considering that we are talking condiments plan your meal accordingly. Watch out for high sodium intake and added sugar content in each of these oil alternatives. 

How to Sauté  Without Oil (for example, onions)

From The Keep It Simple, Keep It Whole Book written by Alona Pulde, MD and Matthew Lederman, MD

How to Caramelize Onions Without Oil!

1. Use a good non-stick pan and let it get hot.

2. To the hot, dry pan add your chopped onion and allow it to start to brown . It may appear to stick a little but let it get brown and caramelize without adding any water (otherwise you will start poaching the onion instead of sautéing it). 

3. Once it starts to get brown add a couple of tablespoons of non oil liquid (water, juice, broth, etc.) but not too much, as you don’t want to col the pan. The water added will bubble and steam.

4. Immediately mix the onions around the pan with a non-metal spatula, using the small amount of water just added to collect the brown, cartelized contents from the sides of the pan. The pan will have cooled from adding the water but will quickly heat up again as the onions continue to darken and caramelize further. 

5. Add another couple of tablespoons of water to the pan and repeat the same process again until the onions are brown and caramelized.

Note: The key to this process is that you need to periodically add liquid (in small amounts) compared to oil which you only had to add once. 

I hope this helps!!!

Be Inspired to Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Warrior Chic

XOXO