Are You Taking Poison in The Name of Refined Oils? | Yogic Blogging

What are refined oils? Why you should stop using it immediately? 

According to Ayurveda there are three doshas which mostly effects our body i.e. Vata, Pitta, & Kapha dosha. Vata dosha is one of the prominent doshas and it plays a crucial role. Imbalance of Vata dosha causes dry skin, neurological diseases, arthritis, rheumatism, bloating, gastric issues, indigestion etc. Oil and Vata dosha have direct connection. Chances of Vata imbalance would be very less if you start using a pure and organic oil for cooking. Pure oil means oil which is directly extracted from the seeds without adding any chemicals.

Today most of us use refined oil for cooking, without knowing the harmful side effects of them. Be it rice bran, soy bean, or sunflower once it is refined it loses all its nutritional properties. Refined oil is basically a colorless, odorless, nutrition less and tasteless oil which surely doesn’t have any health benefits but of course long-term use of refined oils will make you pay a visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, most of us nowadays use refined oil without knowing that it is a slow poison which will eventually damage our body.     

Using refined oils for a long period of time will make you gain weight. It will also lead to many diseases like heart blockage, diabetes and even cancer. If you are health-conscious and want to bring drastic changes in your health then one thing, I would recommend you is to stop using refined oils. If you are using refined oils you should stop using it immediately and throw it away without any second thought.

Are there any alternatives to refined oil?

Yes, of course there are alternatives to refined oils. You can easily replace refined oil with cold pressed virgin oils. Cold pressing / wood pressing or kachi ghani is an ancient Indian traditional method of extracting oil in its raw form from seeds of mustard, coconut, sesame, groundnut etc. Cold pressing doesn’t involve any heating process, while extracting the oil neither it involves addition of harmful chemicals like TBHQ or hexane into the oil like refined oils.

How ancient Indians extracted oil?  

Ancient Indians used the method of cold pressing to extract oil from seeds and they all were healthy and well. And at least they didn’t have any diseases related to heart like heart attacks. If you look at the ancient India, people in northern and eastern parts of India used mustard oil, while people in Andhra and Rajasthan used sesame oil, southern Indians used coconut oil and in central India groundnut oil was staple. Indian people extracted oils from seeds which was locally available in their place. This shows how rich was Indian culture.

Why you should switch to Cold pressed oils?

Cold pressed oils are those oils which are extracted by the method of cold pressing. They have a strong odor and smell and are sticky. There are a plenty of cold pressed oils available in the market such as cold pressed sesame oil, mustard oil, groundnut oil, coconut oil and much more. 

Cold pressed oils are little expensive compared to refined oils. I would recommend you to ditch the refined oils and switch on to organic cold pressed oils. From balancing your Vata dosha to keeping your digestion strong, cold pressed oils can do miracles to your body if consumed on regular basis. You should start cooking food with cold pressed oils and make it a part of your diet. You will start seeing changes gradually as you switch to cold pressed oils.

I have completely switched on to cold pressed organic oils in the last 2 years. I can really feel the change now. I have had a very good experience with cold pressed oils personally. You can keep switching the oils for cooking suppose if you are using sesame oil for making breakfast, then for lunch you can use coconut oil and so on. Using a variety of cold pressed oils can give you multiple benefits.

The truth about olive oil:

Nowadays due to the intensive marketing by European union (EU) Indian markets are filled with olive oil. People who are little bit health conscious are switching to olive oil without knowing that they might be harming their system. Of course, olive oil is one of the most healthy and nutritious oil with enormous health benefits. Have you ever wondered is it suitable for Indian cooking? Most of the Indian dishes are deeply cooked / fried. Whereas the smoking point of olive oil is only 210°c.

Thus, cooking Indian dishes in olive oil is not a good idea. But if you look at the smoking point of oils like sesame, mustard or coconut it is very high as compared to olive oil. Therefore, using these oils are ideal for cooking Indian dishes. Also using olive oil is expensive since it is an imported product, so why use olive oil when better options are available to us.

If you like using olive oil prefer to add it in salad and dressings or on those dishes which doesn’t involve deep cooking / frying. There are so many varieties of olive oil, I would recommend you to buy only ‘extra virgin olive oil’.

Conclusion

Avoid buying the so-called refined oil. Instead switch on to cold / wood pressed oils. Prefer buying organic cold pressed oils though a little expensive but nothing like it, however if you can’t afford organic oils just make sure the oil you are using for cooking is made using cold pressing and doesn’t have added chemicals or preservatives.

It is recommended to buy the cold pressed versions of sesame oil, coconut oil & mustard oil. If you wish to buy olive oil make sure it is extra virgin. Don’t cook Indian dishes with olive oil. Prefer adding olive oil in salads and dressings only.

At first you may not like the strong aroma and smell of cold pressed oils. You will eventually get adjusted to it. Adopt cold pressed organic oils in your diet and lead a healthy life.