Vegan butter. . . my one weakness.
What do I mean by "sick"? Who should eliminate fat from his or her diet?
There are some studies that link oils in the diet to diseases of affluence. To have a disease is to be sick. To be sick is to require the help of a physician. Physicians commonly prescribe medication to treat disease. It is my opinion that being on medication is the marker of someone who is "sick". To get well, one must find and eliminate the cause of disease.
What you put into your mouth is just as important as what you don't put into your mouth. Every ingredient in my vegan butter is there for a purpose. In addition to the compliment of flavors, the ingredients provide more "touches" of food for health in our diet.
Some beneficial agents in my vegan butter:
Curcumin - The dietary agent in turmeric. This agent has been shown to assist apoptosis (cancer cell death) through multiple cellular mechanisms.
Caffeic acid and phenethyl ester - Raw honey has many healing properties, one of which is to trigger apoptosis. The propolis in raw honey comb has colon-cancer-preventive properties, antibacterial and antiviral properties, and can be used in combination with the honey in dressing open wounds.
Lauric acid and medium chain triglycerides - virgin, organic coconut oil is processed by the liver and converted quickly into a source of energy. It is also a booster to the immune system. My guess here: perhaps someone with a weakened liver should be cautious about consuming anything that is solely processed by the liver.
Grape seed oil
There is hype about grape seed oil right now. It may have some good qualities and it is worthy of investigation. The only caution that I have with grape seed oil is that grapes are one of the food sources that can take up arsenic from the soil where pesticides are used. Brown rice is similar in its uptake of arsenic. I think that grape seed oil would be safe if sold under an organic label, but anything else would warrant further investigation regarding arsenic content.
Coconut oil
Dr. Mercola has written a recent article on coconut oil.
Coconut oil is great for cooking. It is also a good source of quick energy for times of strenuous physical and mental activity! Coconut oil gets burned or eliminated but is not thought to be a fat that gets stored.
It is important to note that coconut oil is high in omega 6. However, coconut oil is a saturated omega 6 fat making it different from the omega 6 used in cancer research. Many doctors who speak about healing disease through nutrition will often tell patients to omit oils from the diet (with the exception of flax seed). Dr. Blaylock states in his publication, JANA vol 3, No. 3 Fall 2000, "There is considerable evidence that the polyunsaturated N-6 (Omega 6) oils enhance tumor growth and spread, and that the N-3 oils inhibit growth in breast, colon, and possibly prostate cancers."(1. Kollmorgen GM, King MM, Kosanke SD, Do C. Influence of dietary fat and indomethacin on the growth of transplantable mammary tumors in rats. Cancer Res. 1983; 43:14-19. 2. Wang Z, Pei H, et al. Mammary cancer promotion and MAPK activation associated with consumption of a corn oil-based high-fat diet. Nutr Cancer. 1999;34:140-146. 3. Hurston SD, Thornquist M, Henderson M. Types of dietary fat and the incidence of cancer at five sites. Prev Med. 1990; 9:242-253.) He also sites that omega 3 fatty acids play a role in tumor angiogenesis (the reduction of blood vessels within tumors). Dietary sources of omega 3 fat is highest in walnuts and ground flax seed.
I think reducing or omitting oils is an excellent approach to health. However, I get the sense from what I have read that coconut oil should be considered as a beneficial oil along with flax seed oil. I have not been able to completely eliminate added oil from my diet. Since I try to use as little oil in my diet as possible, I have used only coconut oil and olive pomace oil - the second run of oil from the olives which is more stable when heated. My fat consumption has gone from a stick of butter over a 3 day period of time (in addition to the fat in whole milk, half-and-half cream, sour cream, and cheese on a daily basis) to using only coconut oil / vegan butter on one or two pieces of toast a day and the olive pomace oil used in my homemade bread recipe. In spite of the moderate consumption of oil, my cholesterol lowered from 234 to 177 after 14 weeks of a plant based (meat and dairy free) diet.
Flax seed oil
The Omega 3 fats are the most beneficial with regard to cancer prevention and treatment through nutrition. A person can acquire the necessary amount of Omega 3 fat by consuming 2 Tablespoons of freshly ground flax seed daily. This should be taken fresh, uncooked and in the ground state, not the whole seed. Use a coffee grinder or a blender to grind the seeds so that the fat can be released and digested. It is delicious sprinkled on top of cereal, added to smoothies or juiced vegetables. This is the most affordable way to consume flax seed oil. There is cold pressed oil available in the refrigerator of your health food store, but it is expensive and has the potential of becoming rancid before you purchase it or while you store it in your home. Do not cook with flax seed oil.
More on coconut oil from Dr. Mercola.
Coconut oil has been studied regarding its benefit for treating dementia and other diseases. When the brain cells are unable to utilize glucose as an energy source, the ketones in coconut oil can provide the much needed source of energy for optimum function. The next video is "Coconut Oil Touted as Alzheimer's remedy" CBN.
Here is another good blog post that I found on oils.
http://completebodynutrition.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/oils-how-to-know-if-you-are-healing-or-harming-when-using-oils/
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