In contrast to the modern low-fat fad diet proponents, we encourage the use of animal fats and tropical oils. Traditional people valued fat and went to great expense to insure that they had enough of it. Butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, are all wonderful fats and oils to include in the diet. Small amounts of cold-pressed flax or other fragile polyunsaturated oils are good to include, but are needed in much smaller quantities than the stable saturated and monounsaturated fats. Fat content of traditional diets ranged from 30% to 80% of calories, but only a small percentage was from polyunsaturated oils. Most fat in traditional diets was the saturated and monounsaturated fats from animals and tropical oils. All natural fats and oils contain a mix of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.
About Fats & Oils (from Healthy 4 Life):
There are four main types of fats and oils. Saturated fats, such as butter, lard (pig fat), meat fats and coconut oil tend to be solid at room temperature; monounsaturated oils like olive oil and canola oil tend to be liquid at room temperature but become solid when refrigerated; polyunsaturated oils like soybean oil, cotton seed oil, corn oil and safflower oil are liquid even when refrigerated; partially hydrogenated fats are liquid seed oils that have undergone an industrial process to make them hard.
Contrary to what you may have heard or read about fats and oils, the healthy fats and oils are saturated fats like butter, lard and meat fats, and monounsaturated olive oil. These fats and oils are stable and don’t break down into harmful substances when processed or heated. They can be used for cooking, and they also last a long time.
Animal fats like butter and lard carry the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K2, necessary for strong bones and teeth, protection against infection, normal growth, normal reproduction and a happy attitude towards life. Highly saturated coconut oil also protects against infection and diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Read More >> Download the Healthy 4 Life booklet
Also see: Fat-Soluble Activators
The Oiling of America:
For information about how the nutritional policy in America got so out of whack with traditional wisdom, please see: “The Oiling of America” at the Eugene Public Library
Types of fats & Oils:
Animal fats:
- Butter
- Ghee (butter that has had the milk solids removed)
- Tallow (rendered beef or lamb fat)
- Suet (raw beef or lamb kidney fat)
- Lard (pig fat)
- Poultry fat or “Schmaltz” (chicken, duck, goose, etc.)
Most calories in a traditional diet come from animal fats. The fat will be cleaner (from herbicides, pesticides, and other residue) and have more vitamins when it comes from grass-fed and pasture-raised animals. For butter, raw is best, but the fat in butter is very stable so it is damaged less than the other components in milk during pasteurization. Butter (even commercial, pasteurized) is always better than margarine!
Fats from animals raised naturally, without the use of antibiotics or hormones (and especially from grass-fed cows), will be rich in fat-soluble vitamins and free of chemical residue.
The best ways to obtain good quality fats is by collecting your own from the meat you buy. The Eugene Chapter, WAPF has occasional classes and workshops on rendering fats to help you learn this simple process.
See: How to Render Lard
Plant Oils:
Plant Oils (Saturated & Monounsaturated):
- Coconut Oil
- Palm Oil
- Olive Oil
Nut & Seed Oils (Polyunsaturated):
Must be cold pressed! Use in small quantities. Buy unrefined, cold-pressed, in dark bottles and store in the fridge. Do not cook with these fragile oils!
- Flax, walnut, almond, etc.
Processed fats and oils (avoid these!):
- Corn Oil
- Cottonseed
- Canola
- Soybean Oil
- Hydrogenated fats & oils
- Partially hydrogenated fats & oils
- “Vegetable Oil”
- “Salad Oil”
- Partially-hydrogenated brands of lard
Corn, soy, cotton & canola are frequently GMO, and that is reason enough to avoid them, however even when the are organic and certified non-GMO they are frequently rancid oils, due simply to the fact that these are fragile oils that have undergone processing.
Avoid the food that use these highly-processed fats and oils:
- Margarine
- Salad dressings
- Mayonnaise
- Crackers
- Cookies
- Chips
- Deep fried foods
- and many others
Read the labels! I have yet to find an “olive oil” mayonnaise or salad dressing that actually contained 100% olive oil. Even organic brands of mayonnaise and salad dressing use canola oil. Learn to make your own. The Eugene Chapter, WAPF can teach you how! We demonstrate making mayonnaise occasionally at potlucks, and also in cooking classes and workshops. See newsletter posts: mayonnaise
Cod Liver Oil:
The Weston Price Foundation recommends cod liver oil as an excellent source of the fat-soluble vitamins; A, D & K2. This is not the same as “fish oil”.
For more info see: Cod Liver Oil
FATS & OILS
BEST
Organic extra virgin olive oil; organic cold pressed macadamia, avocado, almond, high oleic sunflower and high oleic safflower oils; organic virgin coconut oil; unrefined organic palm oil; fat and lard from pigs allowed to graze; tallow and suet from grass-fed cows and sheep; poultry fat from pastured poultry.
GOOD
Cold pressed or expeller pressed unrefined sesame, sunflower, peanut, macadamia, avocado, almond, walnut, pecan, pistachio, hazelnut, brazil nut, pumpkin seed, camelina, flax and high oleic safflower oils in small amounts; refined palm oil; refined coconut oil; extra virgin olive oil.
AVOID
Most commercial vegetable oils including cottonseed, soy, corn, canola, rice bran, hemp and grapeseed oils; all margarines, spreads and partially hydrogenated vegetable shortenings.
From our Shopping Guide Categories
Videos:
- The Oiling of America – on youtube
- “The Oiling of America” at the Eugene Public Library
- Traditional Fats and Sacred Foods Video by Sarah Pope
- Salad Dressings and Basic Sauces Video by Sarah Pope
Articles on the Weston A. Price Foundation website:
Cod Liver Oil, Vitamins A, D & K2:
- Cod Liver Oil Basics
- FAQ: Cod Liver Oil
- On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved
- Journal, Spring 2009, The Cod Liver Oil Debate
- Vitamin A Saga
- Vitamin Primer
- Vitamin A Vagary
Know Your Fats:
Main location for articles: Know Your Fats
Find Articles on Saturated Fats on the Weston A. Price Foundation
- A New Look at Coconut Oil
- Thailand: Land of the Coconut
- The Skinny on Fats
- The Latest Studies on Coconut Oil
- Saturated Fat Attack
- More Good News on Coconut Oil
- Some Typical Questions and Misconceptions on Fats and Oils
- FAQ-Fats and Oils
- In the Land of Oz: The Latest Attack on Coconut Oil
- Why we still love coconut oil – Wise Traditions Podcast Episode #106
- The Skinny on Fats
- Know Your Fats
- Taking the Fear Out of Eating Fat
- The Importance of Saturated Fats for Biological Functions
- Saturated Fats and the Lungs
- Saturated Fat Phobia Lacks Scientific Basis Experts Urge a Return to Butter and Whole Milk – Press Release
Modern Fats & Oils:
Low-Fat Diets:
Losing Weight:
In the Eugene Chapter Newsletter:
- Eugene Chapter Newsletter posts tagged “Fat”
- Eugene Chapter Newsletter posts tagged “Oiling of America”
Elsewhere on the web:
- How eating FAT can get you pregnant – Dr. Marc Sklar interviews Sally Fallon Morell
- Butter, Meat and The Science and Politics of Nutrition – Dr. Mark Hyman interviews Nina Teicholz
- Low Carb & Keto: What about Cholesterol? – YouTube
- Why I Didn’t Get Fat From Eating 5,000 Calories A Day Of A High Fat Diet – Sam Feltham
- Challenging Nutritional Beliefs – Zoë Harcombe, PhD at Wise Traditions Ireland 2017
- Nina Teicholz – ‘Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story’ – YouTube
- The Story of Fat: Why we were Wrong about Health – YouTube
- Nina Teicholz at TEDxEast: The Big Fat Surprise – YouTube
- Coconut Oil Info – Kelly the Kitchen Kop
- 5 Benefits of Cooking with Tallow & Lard – Radiant Life
- Stearic Acid & Mitochondrial Health – Remnant MD
Cooking with traditional fats such as butter, cream, animal fats (and also lots of egg yolks and organ meats) was common practice a few generations ago, well before heart disease became an issue. Old recipe books give us a peek into the past:
- BaptistCookBook (1895)