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Condiments and Seasonings
Condiments and seasonings are used to enhance the flavor of food preparations and to improve their digestibility. They can include a variety of raw or cooked herbs and spices, seeds and nuts, vinegars, oils, vegetables, and products made from combinations of grain, salt, beans, sea vegetables, animals, and fruits. Though various types of fats have been used in ample quantities as a macronutrient among traditional peoples, for convenience and ease of access I will include the energetics of fats and oils at the end of this section, as they are also used to enhance and flavor food in much the same way as other seasonings and condiments.
Any of these ingredients, when used in small quantities to enhance a particular food preparation, can be considered a condiment. Generally speaking, the stronger or more intense the flavor of a particular condiment, the smaller the quantity needed to enhance a preparation. The more mild the flavor, the greater quantity needed to enhance a preparation.
Condiments act as carriers of other foods. In addition to enhancing the flavors of foods, condiments energetically can help carry foods and preparations in the human body in one of the following four directions:
Ginger root, for example, has a downward and outward energy. When added to sautéed dandelion greens (upward-growing vegetables with an upward and inward energy), the greens are enhanced by the downward and outward quality of the ginger. Sautéed dandelion greens, without added ginger, will tend to strongly affect the upper body, yet the addition of ginger can bring these qualities down to the middle or lower organs of the body. Ginger root grows under the ground and outward, so it carries the energy of whatever it is combined with in that manner.
If the same sautéed greens are seasoned with black pepper instead of with ginger, then the preparation, rather than having an upward and inward effect on the upper part of the body, will now have an upward and outward effect. The upward vine-growing pepper is spicy and dispersing and adds these qualities to the sautéed vegetables.
How much a condiment carries a preparation or a food in a particular direction through the body is based largely on the quantity of the condiment used. If the sautéed vegetables mentioned above are prepared with very little oil, the vegetables will maintain an upward and inward effect. However, if they are sautéed with a large amount of oil, the vegetables will have less of an upward and inward effect and more of a downward and sinking effect.
These energetic directions of foods and condiments have been observed and applied to food by people for thousands of years throughout the world.
Another example of how a condiment might carry a food preparation in a particular direction would be a kidney bean stew prepared with carrots and onions, and garnished with chives. Once cooked, this stew would have a sinking, downward and slightly inward energy. However, when garnished with chopped raw chives, which have an upward and dispersing energy, the stew would retain its downward energy, but the addition of the chives will carry energy of the stew slightly upward and outward. While spices and herbs can have extreme effects, they can also help to balance other extreme foods.
Many condiments serve the dual purpose of being both a seasoning and a vegetable or animal, while others are single-purpose condiments and are used purely as seasonings. The onion is a vegetable, yet when finely chopped and used as a raw garnish, the onion becomes a condiment or seasoning. Tiny fish and shrimp are animal foods, yet when dried and ground into powder and made into a paste with hot peppers (a common seasoning in Thai and other Asian cuisine), they become condiments.
The mustard seed is an example of a single-purpose condiment. Unlike the onion, mustard seed has far too strong a flavor to be eaten as a vegetable. Therefore, it is used as an ingredient to flavor other foods, or as a spread.
Dual-purpose condiments consist primarily of vegetables that can be eaten as vegetables or can act as seasonings. These include scallions, onions, garlic, watercress, radish, turnip, chives, and so forth.
Single-purpose condiments consist primarily of seeded or small leafed spices and herbs used primarily for seasoning, and include pepper, mustard, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, oregano, thyme, sage, etc. Many of the seed spices can increase metabolic rate and promote circulation.
Prepared condiments, a third category of condiments, consist of numerous combinations of seasonings and whole foods, prepared through various cooking methods or processed in some way. They include miso, tamari soy sauce, kuzu, corn starch, vinegars, umeboshi plum or paste, fish sauce, shrimp paste, and the like, as well as simple home preparations using seed and nut butters, and vegetables.
To write about the energetics of every condiment would be virtually impossible. Herbs and spices alone would fill a book. Therefore, I have chosen a few examples of what I feel to be some of the more commonly used condiments essential to a healthy diet.
Garlic
Garlic is a member of the onion family that includes onions, chives, leeks, shallots, scallions, and other pungent-flavored plants—yet garlic is more potent in flavor than most of its family members. It is unique among the onion family in that it consists of a bulb neatly wrapped in a delicate papery tissue that contains additional individually wrapped cloves joined together at a root base.
Both garlic and onions were among the first foods cultivated. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Chinese are just a few of the many cultures who revered garlic as an important plant food. The historical shroud of mystery and contradiction surrounding garlic is as prevalent today as it was in times past.
On the one hand, it has a reputation for making people who eat it smell bad and for being overly dispersing and stimulating. On the other hand, garlic is one of the oldest antibiotics known and has proven to have beneficial antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties; to detoxify excess bacteria produced from meats and seafood; to purify and cleanse the blood; to eliminate intestinal parasites; to stimulate the immune system by reducing oxygen depletion; to destroy free radicals; and to reduce high cholesterol.
Garlic has the broadest spectrum of any natural antibiotic substance known. Recipes for healing potions of ancient Sumeria, dating as far back as 4000 BC, state that both garlic and onions had been used for centuries as antiseptics, diuretics, sedatives, poultices, and aphrodisiacs. These qualities have led to the belief that garlic is more suited to medicinal uses only, or as no more than an occasional seasoning. While these are certainly appropriate uses for garlic, it also holds a vaunted position as a true vegetable in many places throughout the world.
The bourgeois of eighteenth-century Europe, while acknowledging its strengthening properties, thought garlic fit only for laborers and the poor. In Asia, the Koreans, Chinese, and others have enjoyed the health benefits of garlic for thousands of years. For a long time the exceptions to Asian garlic lovers were the Japanese, who now use it creatively in much of their cuisine.
In fact, Japanese scientists have done much of the scientific work proving the therapeutic benefits of garlic. Their research has shown that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation experience reduced side effects when eating garlic. Among alcoholics who consume garlic, there have been reduced fat deposits on the liver. Garlic also proves helpful in the treatment of jaundice, hepatitis, and yeast infections.
The shadowy relationship between garlic and vampires reveals the powerful effects of this food on the dead—or should I say, the undead. The symbolism of the vampire—who has an insatiable thirst for fresh new blood, who cannot leave his grave or coffin if surrounded by garlic, and who cannot harm the living if they are protected by garlic—is but one of many mythical homages to the blood-purifying, life-enhancing, and cleansing qualities of garlic.
A Spicy Controversy
Garlic is generally thought to have a hot temperament, meaning it is purported to make one hot. However, just because garlic is hot to the taste does not necessarily mean that it generates heat in the body. This rule holds true for most other hot-tasting spices as well.
Throughout the world, the people who consume the largest quantities of spices and spicy foods are those who dwell in hot or tropical climates. People living in hot environments certainly would not want to increase their body temperatures.
In fact, people in hot climates traditionally eat spices in order to keep themselves cool. This effect occurs because spices first stimulate blood circulation, which induces heightened perspiration, allowing for a greater release of body heat through the surface of the skin.
Spices tend to have a cooling and drying effect on the body.
There are three categories of spicy foods, and as with other foods, variances in temperaments exist among them. There are the seed spices, which include black and white pepper, cumin, cayenne, and mustard; the leafy spices, which include watercress, chives, scallions, basil, and arugula; and the root spices, or underground spices, which include radish, ginger, garlic, and onion.
Many of the leafy and root categories can be prepared as vegetables, while those of the seed category tend to be used only as seasonings for other foods.
The heating and cooling temperaments of any spicy food or seasoning can be determined by two factors: 1) with what other foods the spice is combined and eaten, and 2) the internal reserves (fortitude) or lack of same within the individual choosing to eat it.
The nature of spice is to stimulate and disperse accumulated energy. This causes a release of stagnation in the blood and body. If a person has a hot temperament and a strong inner reserve of energy resulting from an excess consumption of fat and protein, then spices and spicy foods will affect him in one of two ways.
Should this individual drastically reduce his consumption of concentrated foods, the spices will eventually assist in cooling his hot temperament by breaking down his concentration of inner reserve. However, if the person with the hot temperament continues to consume large quantities of fats and animal proteins in addition to using spices, then the hot temperament will not only continue to remain hot, it can become even hotter. Spices stimulate the stored reserves of heat-producing foods (meats, eggs, cheese, and so on), thus increasing body temperature.
In other words, it is not the spice per se that heats the person. It is the stimulating action of the spice on the concentrated foods or the individual’s stored reserves that makes the spice appear to be heating. The simulating action of spice on dense or concentrated foods also helps to balance these foods by assisting in the breakdown of the food and the regulation of metabolic functions.
An individual with little inner reserve, with a cold temperament, or one who is very depleted, thin, and weak may experience a temporary warming effect from spice, due to its stimulating properties. However, the effect will quickly change to one of greater cooling if the person does not include more substantial, nutrient-dense foods in combination with the spice.
If people with cold temperaments choose to eat spices with the intention of increasing their body warmth, they also must increase their protein and fat consumption (richer, more dense foods) in order to produce the desired effect.
The quantity of spice one eats and the regularity of use is best determined by what one has eaten in the past and what one is presently eating.
Pepper
Pepper (Piper nigrum) has historically been the most important and most widely used spice in the world, and still is today. In the United States, we use more pepper than all other seasonings put together. It is, without a doubt, the “king of spices.” It is native to southwest India and bears no relationship whatsoever to the nightshade family of capsicum peppers.
Pepper grows on vines that thrive in tropical climates. The vines, complete with tendrils, will cling to any tree that may be convenient to them. Once attached to the needed support of a tree, pepper vines grow an average of fifteen feet; they have been known to climb up to thirty feet. Each vine contains hundreds of flower spikes, and each one of the spikes will produce a cluster of about fifty peppercorns.
The optimum growth requirements for pepper are found close to the equator. However, environments with high temperatures, long rainy seasons, and partial shade will encourage pepper vines. Pepper vines begin to bear fruit after two to five years, and will continue to bear fruit for forty years or more.
Black and white peppers are the same species. The small fruit, called peppercorns, are green when full grown. As they begin to ripen, they turn a yellowish-red color. Black pepper comes from peppercorns picked when ripe, then sun-dried until they turn black. White pepper comes from ripened peppercorns that are soaked in water to loosen the skins; the skins are then rubbed off and the peppercorns are dried. White pepper can have a stronger flavor than black pepper; however, this can vary, depending on the type of pepper and where it is grown.
Pepper has a strong dispersing nature; when added to hearty food preparations and animal foods, it can induce a deep, sensuous feeling of warmth. When added to lighter fare, it stimulates the blood and produces a deep cooling and dry effect. It has a strong ability to disperse deep internal heat in the body and, because it is a climbing vine, it tends to disperse heat centrifugally. Because it is a seed, it also disperses heat rapidly. Seed spices tend to have a more explosive release of energy than leaf or root spices.
In ancient times, pepper was used to slow down spoilage of other foods by inhibiting microbial growth. It also has powerful antifungal properties and can be helpful for those with unhealthy bacteria in their digestive systems. It can also be beneficial for upset stomachs due to food poisoning and stagnant blood due to inactivity. If stored properly, in a cool, dry environment, pepper can keep for up to one hundred years.
Mustard
After pepper, mustard is the second most important and widely used seasoning in the world. It is native to Eurasia and belongs to the cruciferous family of plants, a family that includes radish, cabbage, turnip, mustard greens, and cress. This family includes approximately two thousand species, none of which are poisonous.
Mustard was cultivated in many areas of Europe during the Stone Age. It is a highly productive plant, so much so that the ancient Indians regarded it as a symbol of fertility.
Not only was mustard traditionally regarded as an important table condiment, it was also used as both an external and internal medicine by the Romans and Greeks. Internally, it was used to relieve toothaches, and externally, it was ground to make mustard plasters, a remedy applied directly to the body for the relief of aches and pains as well as inflammation in deep tissue. Mustard also is an age-old remedy used in footbaths to relieve tired and aching feet.
A unique quality of the mustard seed is that it contains a good amount of oil, up to 35 percent. This oil is used widely as a seasoning in much of Asia, particularly to flavor meat and fish dishes. Although the mustard seed is high in oil, the seed is very dry and the distinctly pungent flavor of mustard is not released until the seed is broken and wetted. When moistened, a chemical reaction takes place between an enzyme and a glucoside in the mustard seed, producing spicy oil.
The two most common types of mustard are black mustard and white mustard. Both are often used together, and both plants contain edible leaves that make fine additions to salads and soups.
Like pepper, mustard is a natural preservative and can retard the growth of bacteria in certain foods. It also has an emulsifying effect on fats through the action of binding and thickening.
Unlike pepper, which releases deep internal heat, mustard has a more surface level or peripheral cooling effect on the body. It stimulates the skin and superficial blood flow, especially around the reproductive organs. When eaten with oily or fatty foods, it can assist in the storage of internal heat, yet when eaten with lighter fare (salads), it tends to have a dispersing, cool and dry effect. Mustard is especially effective in dissolving excess mucus and helping to rid the body of common cold symptoms. It is also well known as an appetite stimulant.
Ginger
Though native to tropical Asia, ginger has also spread to many other tropical areas of the world. Records show cultivation in China as early as the sixth century BC. An underground stem often thought to be a root, ginger is actually a rhizome (like the potato), producing new stems and roots from the mother stem. Ginger is a deciduous perennial plant that needs long, warm, humid summers to grow.
One of the most important ingredients in Asian cooking, this knobby fibrous “root” adds a moist pungency to a variety of animal and vegetable preparations. It is also used as a spice in baking throughout much of Europe.
The medicinal use of ginger has a long history in Asia, where it was used either alone or in combination with other herbaceous plants to treat a wide variety of illnesses.
Ginger grows underground in an irregular pattern. Unlike most other root plants, it grows horizontally outward rather than vertically downward. Its pungent, dispersing quality primarily affects the middle organs, the pancreas, spleen, liver, and gallbladder. It has a tendency to create hot conditions by causing an influx of peripheral blood flow into the organs. In addition to producing heat, it stimulates the production of bile and pancreatic and other digestive enzymes.
Like other spicy seasonings, the effects of ginger can be determined by what it is combined with and the condition of the individual using it. Even though it is of tropical origin, ginger, more than any other spicy seasoning, has the strongest ability to produce heat in the body—heat derived through stimulation of stored reserves in the middle organs. It has long been considered helpful in ridding the body of toxins and is well known as a remedy for vomiting, coughing, abdominal distension, and fever. In Africa, a tea made from ginger root is used as an aphrodisiac.
Horseradish
Horseradish is a cylindrical taproot that is a member of the cruciferous family of plants. Its origins are vague, yet some historians believe it originated in or near Germany, which historically is the area where it has been most widely used. Many consider it the most pungent of all the cultivated edible roots.
Horseradish tends to grow vertically downward, with many small branching roots extending from the main root. Some horseradish roots have been known to grow as large as a human infant.
While it is used in many of the same ways that ginger is used, it is also used either straight or with added salt and vinegar as a table condiment for hearty meat preparations. Its downward growth is indicative of how it primarily affects the organs of the lower body—the intestines, bladder, and reproductive organs. Historically it has been known for its many healing and cleansing properties relative to the digestive system, where it is helpful in ridding the body of accumulated wastes and stimulating intestinal peristalsis.
Cinnamon
True cinnamon is native to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). It grows as a bark on a tree that can reach heights of up to sixty feet. Another cinnamon, properly called cassia, which is more highly scented and has a dark reddish brown color, is the plant most widely used as cinnamon in the United States and Europe.
True cinnamon is tan colored, more slender, and has a milder flavor than cassia. Cultivated cinnamon comes from a dense bushy plant that does not reach its natural height, but grows only to about seven feet in height.
The first-known reference to cinnamon is in a Chinese treatise on plants from about 2700 BC; however; there is evidence of its use in Egypt several hundred years earlier.
Both genuine cinnamon and cassia consist of the inner bark peeled from the tree’s inner shoots during the rainy season. Once dried, the bark rolls up into quills. These brown spiral whorls are warm and spicy to taste and emit a pleasant and soothing odor.
Energetically, cinnamon tends to have a warm and dry effect on the body. It tends to focus its energetics on the kidneys, bladder, and spleen. When used in cooking, it contributes slow, smooth, and calming warmth to the body. It is especially beneficial for those suffering from stagnant cold conditions.
Vanilla
The vanilla plant is an orchid native to Central America, more specifically to southeastern Mexico. It is the world’s most popular flavor and is now grown in a number of tropical countries with high rainfall, including Madagascar, the world’s largest producer. There are three grades or qualities of vanilla, and Mexico produces the best, exporting about one hundred thousand pounds annually to the United States.
A climbing vine that attaches itself to the sides of trees, the vanilla plant is capable of reaching a length of 350 feet. The vanilla orchid is a species of the decorative orchid flowers commonly used to make corsages. A vanilla pod in its natural state is virtually odorless until it goes through a process of fermentation. During this process it sweats for hours and begins to release its familiar odor and distinctly pleasing flavor. Vanilla is used in many parts of the world to make perfume.
The fruit of the vanilla plant consists of a long thin pod between four and twelve inches long, filled with a multitude of tiny black seeds imbedded in a sticky liquid. The pods are picked when ripe, yet not if fully ripened because the pods will split open by themselves and dry out. The harvesting of vanilla pods is therefore a bit of an ordeal: each one must be picked individually at precisely the right time.
The vanilla plant is hermaphroditic, that is, it contains both the male and female organs of generation; yet it cannot pollinate itself. A tonguelike protrusion between the anther and stigma of the pod is set up in such a way as to permit only one insect (the melipona bee) or one small breed of hummingbird to extract and later deposit the pollen. Man now does artificial cross-pollination—and it is not an easy task. It is a delicate operation that must be done by hand. This is one reason vanilla is so expensive.
The word vanilla is a diminutive of the Spanish word vaina, meaning “sheath” or “pod.” Vaina, in turn, comes from the Latin vagina, for “sheath.” Apparently, the shape of the vanilla bean suggested this name and at the same time inspired vanilla’s reputation as having aphrodisiac qualities.
The sweet and mildly aromatic qualities of vanilla give it energetic properties of being slightly warm and damp. It has a sultry, sensuous quality and tends to slowly relax and soften the reproductive organs, thus causing a slow and gradual filling of the blood vessels.
Vinegars
Vin aigre is French for “sour wine,” and that is actually what vinegar is, or at least what it starts out being. The making of vinegar is an ancient process that goes back before the days of the Old Testament. Historically, vinegars have been used to season both raw and cooked vegetables, as a marinade for meats, for pickling, and in some parts of the world, as a folk remedy for a variety of ills.
We can classify vinegars into two groups, the first being fruit vinegars made from fermented fruits (including apples, grapes, berries, and so on), and grain vinegars, which are less acidic and tend to be milder in flavor; these latter are made from fermented grains, such as rice, barley, or wheat.
While both grain or fruit vinegars make fine complements to salads of all sorts, one’s choice of vinegar is more or less determined by the type of preparation one is using it for. A Chinese stir-fry just doesn’t seem right when made with sweet and tart balsamic vinegar. On the other hand, a marinated Italian bean salad just wouldn’t be an Italian bean salad without a fruit (balsamic or wine) vinegar of some variety.
Most European styles of cooking lean toward the use of wine or fruit vinegars and most Asian or Oriental cooking styles lean toward the use of grain vinegars. A variety of high-quality vinegars certainly deserve a space in any creative chef’s kitchen.
Vinegars of all types are sour with varying degrees of acidity and sweetness. Energetically, they create a cool and dry effect in the body. They are astringent and have the tendency to empty full and hot conditions. The effect on body tissue can be likened to a wet sponge being squeezed dry.
Being fermented, vinegars affect rising blood flow in the body, particularly in the liver, where large quantities of blood are stored in order to rise to the heart for circulation. For people with empty conditions, those who are cold, thin, and weak, the excessive use of vinegar can contribute to wrinkled skin, depletion of energy, and weakened muscle tone. For people with hot and full temperaments, vinegar can have an all-around cleansing and soothing effect.
Olives
Although olives are in a sense pickles, for many they are much more, and thus they deserve a separate mention. They are indeed a food of great historical significance, and one that has played a vital role in shaping the character of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and other peoples, gracing many of their poetic legends and myths. They also are a food of great importance to the West, since Mediterranean cuisine, more than any other, once represented the heart of Western civilization.
The cultivation and processing of olives for food and oil goes as far back as the fourth millennium BC with roots in Syria and Palestine. The versatility of the olive made it indispensable to the ancient world. Not only was it an important food, its oil was also used as a base for soaps, perfumes, and medicines.
The olive tree possesses a unique personality and has become known as the most deeply loved of all trees. It has been said that the olive tree can live for centuries, some even beyond two thousand years; however, botanists claim that the average life span of an olive tree is anywhere from three hundred to six hundred years. In the beginning, the tree is slow to bear fruit, and if cut down it will sprout new branches. Olive trees possess deep, penetrating taproots, do not tolerate shade, thrive in full sunlight, and have an uncanny ability to rid themselves of excess water and moisture.
This civilized tree with its vital fruit has long been a symbol of peace, as exemplified in one of the most commonly read stories in the Bible. When Noah sent a dove from the ark to see if the flood had subsided, the dove first returned empty-handed. On the second try, the dove eventually returned with an olive branch, a symbol of peace that announced the endurance and constancy of trees and the hope of peace through the rebirth of civilization. The olive tree and its fruit have long been associated with revitalization, regeneration, wisdom, continuity, longevity, and even immortality.
Green olives are unripe, while black olives are ripe. There are numerous varieties, some having a rich, tart flavor and others having a combination of sour and bitter flavors. Whatever the flavor, they are a fresh, cleansing, and sensual food. Depending on the type, they can have a cooling and dry effect or a cooling and damp effect on the body. Olives and olive oil can be beneficial for congested lymphatic conditions and lung congestion, and are soothing to the stomach.
Olives are a sophisticated, civilized, and respectable food, one of the few foods that have always been able to bridge the gap between the most decadent of the rich and the poorest of poor. One of the world’s original pickles, the olive is a healthy digestive aid to any meal.
Salt
Salt is the most assertive and dominant seasoning of all. It is this basic substance, sodium chloride, that makes plant and animal food coherent for human digestion and assimilation.
An essential dietary element in one form or another, salt is the ultimate catalyst of transmutation and biological transformation. Some Native Americans did not use it, and neither do Eskimos—but that does not mean they did not and do not get it in their food.
The Romans considered salt a valuable commodity: the word salary comes from the Roman word for salt. One who was deemed not “worth his salt” was worth not much indeed. History abounds with such references to the inherent value of this quintessential mineral and to its pivotal role in shaping our physiology and human destiny as the “salt of the Earth.”
Salt brings out the flavor of food by penetrating it. No other seasoning has the penetrating power that salt does. It has the power to draw out flavor as well as lock it in. It can create the coldest of cold conditions or it can contribute to the hottest of hot conditions.
However, salt is capable of doing little in and of itself. Salt is a team player—indeed, it needs a team (consisting of fat, protein, and cardohydrates) in order to accomplish anything. Too much salt, and the team becomes overly aggressive and arrogant. Too little salt, and the team becomes confused, lost, and lacking in endurance and focus. It is the only ingredient in the world of food and cooking that can fit in and play with any food and any preparation—yet it cannot be consumed by itself.
How much? Only you know for sure. “Take it with a grain of salt”—but take it, and preferably with a grain of high-quality sea salt!
Other Essential and Supportive Supplements
While condiments and seasonings are essential to any healthy diet, additional supplementation with high-quality food-grade supplements can help to replace the need for stimulants, drugs, and junk food including “natural junk foods.” They can also provide supportive nutrition to the declining quality of your daily foods.
When choosing your type of supplementation, it is important to have your macronutrition in order first. In other words, consider how well balanced your daily consumption of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and minerals is before choosing supplements. Well-balanced diets will require less supplementation—and no supplementation can replace the essential nutrition found in healthy foods.
Minerals
In sea salt, Na (sodium) and K (potassium) are the two cations (positively charged ions) that seek balance and regulate water economy in the body. Other forms of mineral supplementation may include calcium and magnesium. However, remember that minerals need fats to help them metabolize properly, and fats need proteins to help them metabolize, and proteins . . .
Many of our foods today are mineral deficient, so first seek foods high in minerals, such as sea vegetables and wild plants. The body can tolerate a vitamin deficiency more readily than a mineral deficiency.
Herbs and Spices
We have already discussed a few herbs and spices, but it is important to add them to your diet, even if you are not used to them.
Many herbs and spices have powerful healing qualities. For example, leaf cilantro (also called coriander when in seed form) has been shown to help release heavy metals such as mercury from the body; it is also helpful in clearing infections and viruses.
Enzymes
There are three basic types of enzymes:
Superfoods
Many superfoods are biomodulators. Biomodulators are substances that affect many functions and systems of the body in a synergistic manner. They can help to restore, maintain, and optimize normal body functions.
Some of these superfoods transcend boundaries, while others have more specific functions.
Blue-green algae, chlorella, wheat grass, bee pollen, maitake mushroom, reishi mushroom, cordyceps mushroom, and mangosteen fruit are just a few of many superfoods that are not vitamin supplements but can be used in a similar way, in small quantities, to naturally enhance nutrition. Some have natural medicinal qualities, while others have a combination of high nutritional components with additional medicinal qualities.
For example, bee propolis is a resinous substance collected by bees from the leaf, bud, or bark of a tree. It is used as an adhesive for structuring their hives. Because this resin represents the lifeblood of the tree, carrying protection to every part of the tree, ancient Egyptians regarded it as a source of eternal health and life. Today we know it as a natural antibiotic with many health benefits.
Royal jelly is another ancient superfood involving bees—in this case, not simply collected by bees, but actually produced by them. Royal jelly is secreted from glands of young female bees and is the only food used to nourish the queen bee—and while other bees have life spans of six to eight weeks, the queen lives on average five to eight years. The queen is also significantly stronger and larger than the other bees.
Many superfoods have ancient origins and long traditions behind them and can be very supportive to good health.
Sweeteners
Other supplemental foods to use in small quantities include various natural sweeteners. Honey is pehaps the most ancient sweetener used in human diets. Other healthy sweeteners that may be used in moderation with a healthy diet include: raw honey, agave syrup, rice or barley malt syrup, raw cane sugar, maple syrup, and fruits.
Fats and Oils: Misunderstood, Mistreated, and Misrepresented
Fats of all types consist of three basic elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They are concentrated forms of energy with strong thermogenic properties. Fats can be considered building foods, especially those fats containing a greater quantity of saturated fats. Most polyunsaturated fats are liquid; fats with more saturated fatty acids tend to be solid at room temperature. Fats with ample amounts of saturated fats are those derived from animal meats, dairy products, and some tropical plants, including palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil.
Olive, sesame, walnut, almond, hazelnut, soy, safflower, sunflower, and canola are examples of plant oils high in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, yet not all of these are suitable for human consumption. Almond oil has such a fine viscosity that it has actually been used to lubricate the detailed mechanisms of watches.
Whether unsaturated or saturated, fat in some form is an essential ingredient to human metabolism. Fat is essential to metabolic integrity and is required by the body for helping in the assimilation of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K, and E. The essential fatty acids found in some fats are also necessary to hormone synthesis and are important for maintaining the membranes that surround each cell. Fat also forms a protective layer around nerve tissue that helps to insulate nerves from shock. This is why people deficient in fat are often irritable and unable to withstand strong environmental stimuli.
How you digest and process fat in your body depends on your individual metabolism. How you metabolize fats, in turn, is largely dependent on your consumption and absorption of essential vitamins, minerals, and protein, along with the quality of fats you choose to eat or not eat. As a macronutrient, fat is both dependent on and essential to the digestion and assimilation of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
The Saturation Point
No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Contrary to prevailing popular thought, saturated animal fats are not necessarily “bad” for people. Consumption of excessive hydrogenated (artificially solidified) saturated fat has been linked with numerous health disorders. However, while the excessive consumption of saturated fat (as with anything in excess) can be unhealthy, for many people the total elimination of saturated fats can contribute to even more serious problems than they had in the first place.
For individuals eating a diet based on vitamin- and mineral-rich whole foods with little or no animal foods, fats can be one of the most challenging and difficult foods with which to establish a balanced relationship. It is unwise and even dangerous to eliminate all types of fat from one’s diet, even if one has overconsumed fats in the past.
Fats dissolve in fat—not in water. Fats will also dissolve in alcohol, and the high trans fat intake of many Americans—about 30 to 40 percent of average diets—may be a strong yet still undiscovered link in alcohol abuse. The drastic reduction of fats from your diet can contribute to both a hardening of previously accumulated trans fats and intense cravings for additional fats.
Linolenic acid, found in high-quality palm and coconut oils, is said by some researchers to actually help discharge aggregated deposits of saturated fats and cholesterol in body tissue. Research has shown that fat consumption of less than 5 percent of total caloric intake inhibits the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and can lead to nutritional deficiency.
Research has shown that polyunsaturated plant oils should not be heated or used for frying, because the oils react to heat and thus produce free radicals. Free radicals are the result of oxidation that occurs when oils are subjected to high temperatures (hence the value of antioxidants in that they can help to prevent this damage), and they can in turn cause destructive chain reactions in the oil molecules. An excess of free radicals can lead to tissue degeneration, early aging, hardening of the arteries, and cancer.
It is true that the production of free radicals is an important and normal biochemical function of the human body. It is only when free-radical production gets out of control that they become harmful.
The real danger lies in the types of fats and oils used for cooking. All food molecules change when they are cooked; fat is not the only food that is subject to producing adverse chain reactions in molecules. An individual eating a diet low in vitamins and minerals and high in processed dairy products, meats, and other processed foods stands a good chance of developing problems from heated oils and the free radicals produced from them, because of the diet he or she is eating. Heated oils, if they are high-quality, heat-stable, organic oils, are not the cause of these problems. Rather, it is a toxic diet combined with poor-quality fats that results in the excessive accumulation of free radicals, which may then adhere to cell membranes already sticky with excess refined polyunsaturated fats, hydrogenated fats, chemicals, and fake foods.
For thousands of years our ancestors ate both unsaturated and saturated fat and were relatively free of these problems. However, diets high in never-before-eaten polyunsaturated oils, processed saturated fats, and processed foods is a relatively recent phenomena.
It is well worth noting that Tannenbaum, the man who did the original work on dietary fat and cancer nearly forty years ago, in fact, did not use animal fat in his experiments—he used hydrogenated and processed cottonseed oil and soybean oil. His experiments did show severe hardening of the arteries—and this shoddy research led to oil industry propaganda that all forms of saturated fat are created equal and thus dangerous.
Animal Fat or Vegetable Fat?
Another interesting piece of perspective here is that animal fat consumption has not increased in the last sixty years, during which we have seen the incidence of coronary artery disease climb so drastically—but the consumption of processed polyunsaturated and saturated fats (margarine, soy, canola, safflower, cottonseed oil, and pasteurized and homogenized dairy products) has. There is indeed an international epidemic of heart attacks, hardening of the arteries, and all the other problems associated with “saturated fat”—but its dietary causes are not what the popular press has led us to believe they are.
Moreover, dietary cholesterol overall has only increased by about 1 percent in the last eighty years. It’s funny how our nation quickly becomes a nation of believers when the “experts” claim a statement of truth. There is an issue concerning quality here that I don’t expect large oil companies with profit-only concerns to address, but you and I had better address it, and we need to do it now!
From an energetic perspective, the oil in a plant seed serves as an energy reserve and a catalyst that the seed uses to become a seedling. Just as the eggs of animals store fat as energy to develop into full-grown animals, so too do the seeds of plants need enough stored reserve energy to become full-grown plants. It is the oil contained in the seed that nourishes this unfolding metabolic process of growth and development. Likewise, the quality of fat or oil you choose to eat will affect your metabolism and your process of growth and development, on many levels.
Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated plant and animal fats will accumulate, harden body tissue, slow metabolism, and make you fat. These types of fats also contribute to low tissue oxygenation, and this interferes with your cells’ ability to use oxygen to the point where cellular membranes become defective and cells become weakened and disorganized. This can further lead to depression, neurosis, and finally degenerative disease.
On the other hand, nonhydrogenated, naturally occurring organic plant oils and animal fats do not produce the effects of the trans fat group of fats and some of the polyunsaturated fats. Rather, these fats and oils assist metabolic functions by contributing to the flexibility and permeability of your cells. They also contribute to physical and mental flexibility, and they do not make you fat.
Simply put, the best sources of animal fats include fat from all animals used traditionally for food, such as butter, ghee (clarified butter), chicken, cow, pig, lamb, goose, duck, and so forth.
The best and most healthy sources of plant-based oils for daily food preparations include coconut, palm, palm kernel, olive, hazelnut, and sesame oils. Although olive, hazelnut, and sesame oils cannot withstand the higher temperatures that the others can, they are still traditionally used oils and are beneficial to health. Small amounts of some raw, high-quality seed and nut oils for marinades and dressings are also fine to use. Oils to avoid include (but are not limited to) flax, soy, corn, sunflower, canola, and safflower.
Each type of oil has unique qualities. For example, sesame oil, when used exclusively, will tend to contribute to dry skin, especially if used for frying, sautéing, or baking. Sesame oil traditionally was used in Asian and Middle Eastern cooking more as a seasoning and added after, or near the end of, sautéed vegetables. Sesame has a dry and cool effect.
Olive oil may well be one the most digestible and healthiest monounsaturated oils because of its high levels of monounsaturated fats. It certainly has a history of varied uses, including as an external lubricator for beautifying and toning the skin, and as a lamp oil that supplied illumination for the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and others.
Like other quality oils and possibly more so, olive oil has the vital properties of penetratiing, softening, strengthening, and nourishing. Incorporated into human cells, olive oil has proven to increase their stability and protect them from free radicals already present in the body. Traditional peoples throughout the Mediterranean region believe olive oil keeps the cells alive longer and thus retards the aging process. Walnut and almond oils are also easy to digest but are best eaten raw, as the high polyunsaturated fat content makes them more susceptible to oxidation and they are unable to withstand heat.
Some plant oils can withstand higher temperatures than others. Those with low saturated fat content do not like light or warm places, and they therefore should be stored in a cool, dark place.
Quality plant oils, when used for cooking, generally have a warm and damp effect on the body. Cooked oil also helps to build a metabolic foundation from which one can better absorb and assimilate protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. When plant oils are used raw, as in salads, marinated vegetables, and pickles, they have a cool and damp effect on the body.
Cooked oils have a sinking nature that tends to affect the middle and lower organs of the body. Raw oil has a rising nature that tends to affect the middle and upper organs of the body.
Animal fats tend to have a warm and damp effect on the body, more so than plant oils. Many plant foods contain fat; the amount of fat contained in a particular food is precisely enough to balance that food’s other components. However, a meal containing foods with already existing fat (beans, grains, and so on) does not necessarily mean the meal contains enough variety of fat to digest and process the meal. This is why some form of additional animal or plant fat was added to meal preparations throughout the world.
Fats and Oils, Revised: Awakened from Blind Belief
Back in 1987, when I was preparing the first edition of this book, I was in the midst of a very busy seminar schedule and had not given a great deal of thought to the issue of fats and oils. After all, it was accepted “scientific fact” that saturated fats, including those of animal origin as well as tropical oils—palm, coconut, and palm kernel—were just about the deadliest food products one could eat. Sure, one could eat them—but according to the research, one would face the very serious threat of heart disease and cancer if you did.
At that time, I was more strongly in support of a semi-vegetarian/ macrobiotic diet, so the current scientific research on fats happened to fit my own agenda rather well, and therefore, the fats and oils issue for my book was pretty much a done deal. The verdict was in, the science was there to back it and it was clear: saturated fats were bad, unhealthy, and downright dangerous to your health.
Just like everyone else, I bought this agenda-driven science completely. Why did we all buy into this saturated fat myth?
Science, yes, in part: scientific research said it was true, so it must be true. Not only true, but true based on highly credible sources.
Years later, as more information and resources became more readily available (in large part thanks to the Internet and its epic capacity to democratize information), it turns out that the “science” behind the fats-and-oils research for the most part simply does not wash (is not water-soluble!)—and that saturated fat was not the enemy it had been presented as being. Hell, ten years ago I was not aware of the American Soy Association (ASA) propaganda campaign to rid the market of tropical oils like palm and coconut oil.
The idea was to replace tropical saturated fats with inferior polyunsaturated trans-fatty acids in order to help support the vegetable oil’s several-billion-dollar industry. The best way to do this was to create a health crisis where there wasn’t one. Saturated animal fats and tropical oils equal degenerative disease. Sure, that will work—and in the minds of most people, it did work, and quite convincing it was.
That is, until it backfired—and the new inferior replacement products proved to be the real contributors to the health crisis. It is sad to see that some of the very people we are taught to trust for solid nutritional information, the experts in the field, can be bought by multinational companies with one agenda: to profit, even if it is at the expense of our health.
Let this serve as a lesson for all of us who need it. Had I carefully researched traditional peoples’ use of tropical oils, instead of blindly accepting the scientific literature, I would have realized that so many island peoples and other traditional cultures where coconut and palm oils were and are consumed are generally healthy people with great skin and low incidence of heart disease and cancer. After all, these oils, along with traditional animal fats, have a long and strong history, having been used for thousands of years by peoples with very positive results.
By contrast, the scientific methods used to condemn tropical oils and traditional animal fats are in their infancy, a point that speaks volumes when it comes to the energetics of any aspect of food and diet. How a food was eaten and how long a food has been used by indigenous peoples is critically important—and in many ways, far more important than scientific or technical research. Whenever a food has a long history, we can ascertain that its many properties have been well understood—through experience, not theory—by the people consuming it. If a food with any historical relevance did not provide health benefits, then traditional peoples would not have continued to eat it—or if they did, it would show up as having been to their detriment. Tropical oils have long provided tremendous health benefits, and the very same method of scientific inquiry used to originally condemn them can now be used to prove their exceptional health benefits.
As natural product consumers, what many of us need to come to terms with is that there are two general sources of scientifically derived information on nutrition.
The first is the genuine science of linear dissection commonly used to find the answers we all want to know. One example is the old saying that “fish is brain food” and the modern scientific discovery of omega-3 essential fatty acids found in some fish and this substance’s benefits to brain tissue. Many positive steps in nutrition have been made through this approach to science and will continue to be made through the sincerity and dedication of its researchers.
The second source of scientific information incorporates the same methodology and is perhaps best termed agenda-driven science.
While as convincing as any good science, agenda-driven science is just that, scientific activity driven by a specific agenda. Often the people behind it will spare no expense in enrolling and enlisting the media, scientific journals, the medical profession, case studies, and anything else necessary to pound their square pegs into those round holes.
It is not unusual to find blatant examples of the use of good science to support an agenda to make something unhealthy look healthy. As an example, the omega-3 fatty acids that occur naturally in the tissue of some fish have been given equal status to the omega-3s in flax oil, a decidedly inferior source. While the omega-3 fatty acids from fish have been eaten for millennia, the omega-3 fats found in flax seed oil cannot be credibly compared to the traditional source. Flax oil is a substance that no one has eaten until fairly recently. Does the sheer fact that both sources are high in omega-3 fatty acids automatically mean that these two are equally healthy choices? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Saturated and Unsaturated Fats: Differences
To gain a better understanding of the fat controversy, let us consider some basic science-derived information on the nature of fats.
All fats, whether of plant or animal origin, contain a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. The essential differences between the various fats and oils lie in their proportions of these three basic types of fatty acids, and each has its unique effect in the body owing to its unique proportion of these three basic fats.
While most vegetable oils consist of mostly polyunsaturated fats, there are three common exceptions: olive oil, which is largely composed of oleic acid and is mostly monounsaturated fat; and coconut and palm oils, both of which consist of mostly saturated fats—even more so than beef tallow and lard. Coconut oil is up to 92 percent saturated fat.
Within these three types of fats, there are also three types of fatty acid chains: long, medium, and short. Long-chain fatty acids are found in abundance in polyunsaturated fats, while medium- and short-chain fatty acids are found mostly in saturated fats.
When medium-chain fatty acids are utilized by the body as energy, the efficient burning process does not produce body fat or negative cholesterol. Medium-chain fatty acids also help to break down accumulations of the long-chain fatty acids that have a tendency to accumulate in the body. If more people were aware of this simple fact—that fat dissolves in fat—there would be far less interest in low-fat diets, which can be damaging in the short run, and certainly do not work in the long run.
In today’s world, obesity is caused mostly by an excess of trans fats and polyunsaturated fats—in other words, the wrong kinds of fats—and refined carbohydrates, which turn to fat in the body. In order for fat to help dissolve fat for the purposes of weight loss, one simply needs to replace poor-quality fats with the right fats: natural animal fats, coconut oil, and palm oils. Yet we have all been conditioned to believe the opposite.
Long-chain fatty acids from polyunsaturated vegetable oils require special enzymes to pull them through our cells’ double membranes, which causes the process of converting fat to energy to be slow and taxing on our enzymes reserves. Polyunsaturated fats also force cholesterol into body tissue, giving the impression that they lower cholesterol—when in fact the whole process is extremely taxing to the system, especially the pancreas, which is overworked by having to secrete a large amount of insulin.
This process is exemplified in the biochemical reactions of popular low-fat diets so prevalent today. For example, low-fat diets are known to lead to nutritional deficiencies, and dieting in general causes a decrease of oxygen to cells, thus slowing metabolism. Fat, especially saturated fat, is essential for regulating metabolism. When the only types of fats being consumed when dieting consist of polyunsaturated fats, the polyunsaturated fatty acids end up replacing the natural saturated fats in cell membranes, causing the cell walls to become weak and inflexible. Blood cholesterol is then driven from the blood into tissue and cells to help them regain structural integrity. This is why polyunsaturated fats appear to reduce cholesterol.
Medium-chain fatty acids from saturated fats, on the other hand, easily permeate both cellular membranes without the need for enzymatic support, where they are then sent directly to the liver and converted to energy, resulting in increased metabolism.
Insulin is not involved with medium-chain fatty acid absorption. When our metabolism is increased, our cells function at a higher rate of efficiency. Polyunsaturated fats, with their long-chain fatty acids, slow metabolism and decrease cellular efficiency.
Dr. Mary Enig, one of the foremost experts on lipid research, states in her book Know Your Fats: “. . . the practice of calling animal fats ‘saturated’ is not only misleading, it is just plain wrong.” She then enlightens the reader with examples such as beef fat (which is 54 percent unsaturated), lard (60 percent unsaturated fat) and chicken fat (about 70 percent unsaturated)—all of them less than half saturated. Dr. Enig’s book is essential study material for every fat-fearing fanatic and for anyone interested in eating a healthy balanced diet.
Trans-Fatty Acids
Most of the fat-causing disease today is the result of trans fats derived from polyunsaturated refined vegetable oils that have been either fully or partially hydrogenated.
Hydrogenation, a process introduced in the 1930s, involves removing the fat-soluble vitamins A and D from plant oils and, under high temperatures, bombarding the oils with hydrogen molecules to force-saturate the fat. The purpose of hydrogenation is to prevent spoilage, and it turns out to be less expensive to produce and market these force-saturated fats than traditional tropical oils and animal fats.
Current evidence linking trans fats to disease is undeniable, while evidence for any adverse effects of unrefined tropical oils and natural animal fats is severely lacking.
Trans fats have different structures from naturally saturated fats. Unlike saturated fats, trans fats are not found naturally in the body. They cannot be recognized as nutritional sources by the human body, nor can the body utilize them in a constructive way. They have been shown to adversely affect the genetic blueprint, leading to degeneration of human tissue. The consumption of trans fats can lead to premature aging, immune depression, and the destruction of white blood cells. Trans fats also cause tissue to lose omega-3s, while interfering with and reducing the conversion rate of omega-3s to the prostaglandins EPA and DHA (prostaglandins are hormonelike substances that help to regulate normal cellular processes). In fact, natural saturated fats are needed to help the conversion process of omega-3 fatty acids.
When cooking with fats, the fat’s stability is of utmost importance. A fat’s stability is determined by its degree of saturation. This is important because saturated fats and monounsaturated fats are capable of withstanding varying degrees of heat. For cooking purposes, saturated fats are the most stable, and unrefined vegetable oils the least stable.
Stability also has to do with a fat’s ability to store at room temperature. Most seed and nut oils are relatively unstable; the most unstable are flax and hemp. Because they are more susceptible to oxidation and rancidity at room temperatures, especially in warm weather, most seed and nut oils should be refrigerated after opening.
The best uses for polyunsaturated oils are in salad dressings, marinades, and other raw preparations. It is best to use the time-tested olive, hazelnut, macadamia nut, and sesame oils for these purposes and for various types of light cooking. The best and most healthy fats for general cooking purposes are coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, butter, ghee, lard, and other types of animal fats (such as goose, duck, chicken, and pork).
Some Fats to Avoid
Soy, like flax oil and many other vegetable oils, has a very short history as an edible oil—and for very good reason: it is very difficult to extract oil from the soybean. Because of this, modern equipment uses high pressure, chemical solvents, and high heat to do so. This in turn destabilizes the already heat-sensitive polyunsaturated oil.
More than two-thirds of the vegetable oil used in the United States today is soy oil, and most of that is hydrogenated with trans fats. It has been estimated that about two-thirds of the fat that clogs the arteries, causing arterial plaque and giving rise to heart disease, is from unsaturated vegetable fats (polyunsaturated oils). The reason for this is that saturated fats do not oxidize as easily as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
Oxidation of vegetable fats occur mostly from processing methods that remove the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E, and also subject the oils to heat, which produces free radicals. It is this type of oxidized fat that tends to end up as artery-clogging plaque and contributes to a host of other health problems as well. Although soy oil is high in EFAs (it is sometimes used as the model against which other sources of EFAs are measured and compared), this does not make it a healthy oil to consume.
How are we supposed to know this, when all the scientific research on the soybean makes it look like nature’s perfect food? Many people naturally assume that if the bean is so good, then the oil from the bean should be pretty darn good, too. The truth is, neither the oil nor the soybean that produces it offer all those health benefits they are said to possess. And as far as processed soy products go, the only ones fit for human consumption are those processed in the traditional manner of aging and fermentation, such as naturally brewed soy sauce, tempeh, miso, and natto. Even then, it’s a good idea to use them sparingly, for this is how they were used traditionally—and certainly not as substitutes for more reliable healthy and balanced sources of protein.
Canola oil is one of Canada’s major exports, its largest market being the United States. The oil is produced by gene transfers from the laurel plant, a toxic weed that has been known to cause considerable damage to livestock when used in feed. Originally used as a lubricant, canola oil tends to form a latexlike substance called transisomers that have been shown to cause red blood cells to clump together. Like most of the other oils mentioned in this section, canola depletes vitamin E (an antioxidant) and blocks enzyme function. It has also been shown to contribute to vision and respiratory problems.
Safflower oil is like canola in that when heated, it produces polymers, latexlike substances that are damaging to blood cells. Left at room temperature, it becomes sticky; this is why it is so highly valued as a base for paint in India.
Flax was also used for this same purpose (as a base for paint), but never consumed as part of any traditional diet. Flax oil has a history of use in textiles and paints that reaches back thousands of years. This fact of history is often misquoted as meaning that flax oil has been consumed for thousands of years. If it were a healthy oil to consume, then it certainly would have been—but it was not, and for very good reasons.
The same is true of safflower oil. The flowers of safflower were used in China to make a tonic tea to treat menstrual problems, pain, and swelling from trauma . . . but otherwise, the oil was nowhere consumed as part of human diets.
Some Healthy Fats and Oils
Olive oil is composed mostly of monounsaturated fat and it contains substances with pharmacological properties. Oleuropein, one substance found in olive oil (and in many medicinal plants as well), can stimulate blood flow in the heart, has antispastic properties, and can be helpful in reducing blood pressure. Olive oil is a versatile oil that has been consumed by Middle Eastern and Mediterranean peoples for thousands of years.
Butter, while being about 80 percent saturated fat (the rest being milk solids), is another healthy fat that simply cannot be substituted with margarine or any other modern imitation-butter product.
Ghee, or clarified butter, is 100 percent saturated fat. In India, it has long been recognized as a food that “regenerates life by satisfying internal fire.” It was called the “golden fire” for its even consistency of metabolic burning in the body, and was also used externally as a body lotion.
Coconut oil is about 92 percent saturated fat and one of the healthiest—if not the single healthiest—fat one can consume on a regular basis. It is a clean-burning fat that leaves no residue. It is especially supportive to glands and the production of body fluids.
Palm kernel oil is a relative of coconut and is quite similar to it, though from a different species of palm tree. Palm kernel oil is derived from what look like white mini-coconuts.
Palm oil, on the other hand, comes from the husk surrounding the palm seed and is reddish-brown in color, due to its high carotenoid content: natural palm oil is high in vitamins E and A. Refined palm oil, unfortunately, has these antioxidant vitamins removed. In tropical countries, palm oil has a red color; in nontropical countries, it is orange. Both varieties have high levels of the antioxidant vitamin E and only moderate amounts of omega-6s. They also have low levels of polyunsaturated fats, are stable at high temperatures, are resistant to rancidity, and are nature’s most abundant source of vitamin A. Palm oils, along with coconut oil, have been used in India, Southern China, and Africa for thousands of years.
These tropical plant oils, high in stable saturated fats, help to keep food fresh while increasing shelf life. They are sometimes called “lowfat fats” and have antiviral and antibacterial properties. They are also called “functional foods” because they provide numerous health benefits beyond their basic nutritional contents.
Unhealthy hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated varieties of these tropical oils are best avoided and should not be confused with healthy unrefined tropical oils.
While polyunsaturated fats are generally best consumed as whole foods in the form of nuts, seeds, and so forth, there are some that have long been used for various preparations throughout history and are healthy oils to use on a regular basis. For example, western Mediterranean countries have long recognized the healthy qualities of olive oil and walnut oil, while other peoples have used hazelnut and sesame oils.
The Importance of Fats in Physiology
Fats, especially saturated and to some degree monounsaturated fats, have important effects on all body tissue, skin, bones, muscles, and organs. The brain is 70 percent fat.
Fats help protect and cushion vital organs from impact and trauma.
Fats are essential for proper nerve functioning; fats insulate nerves by supporting the myelin sheath that surrounds them. Fats’ role in nerve regulation can in turn have stabilizing effects both physically and emotionally in conditions of increased stress.
Fats supply healthy cholesterol to cells that help them to form properly. It also determines the flexibility and permeability of cells. Cholesterol is a fundamental element in all cells and plays an extremely important role in metabolic functions. Minus water content, about half of our adrenal glands are pure cholesterol, while 10 to 20 percent of the brain is made up of cholesterol.
Our bodies also need cholesterol to produce sex and stress hormones and vitamin D. The nervous system and immune system are also dependent on cholesterol. There are two types of cholesterol, often referred to as “good cholesterol” or HDL and “bad cholesterol” or LDL. Many people panic at the mere word cholesterol, but it is important to recognize the essential role that good cholesterol plays in health.
Fats help to regulate hormones and glandular function. Without an adequate amount of fat in the diet, vital organs suffer and hormone problems become prevalent.
Fats help to balance and regulate the absorption and assimilation of other macronutrients and micronutrients, including the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K, E and carotenoids. Having less than 5 percent saturated fat in one’s diet inhibits absorption of these vital nutrients.
Fat is the primary energy source for the heart and kidneys. It is essential for healthy skin and the regulation of metabolism that helps to control blood sugar and curb eating disorders.