Vegetable Fat

Vegetable fat

Fats furnish us with heat and energy. They are of two kinds – animal and vegetable. Both kinds are essential to the body, and a little of each should be eaten every day.

Animal fats (butter, cream, lard, and dripping) contain very little essential fatty acids (called E.F.A., for short). These are found chiefly in vegetable fats and vegetable oils (cold-pressed) and, as the name implies, are essential to the body.

Nuts and sunflower seeds are rich in vegetable fat; they also contain vitamin E, which is essential to many important body-processes.

Margarine is made with vegetable oils, but it is hardened by a process which destroys its E.F.A. content. It is therefore better to omit all fat when cooking. (Cake can be sliced and buttered when cold.) It is better also because when subjected to heat treatment, all fats become indigestible and slightly toxic.

A spoonful of cold-pressed vegetable oil enhances the value and flavor of all vegetable or savory dishes, and a spoonful mixed with an equal quantity of cider-vinegar, a dash of paprika and of kelp powder, makes an excellent salad dressing.

Insufficient vegetable fat or oil in the diet causes a shortage of E.F.A in the blood, and this may eventually lead to hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) and coronary thrombosis.

Keep all fats refrigerated, if possible, as even only slightly rancid fats kills vitamins in other foods we eat.

Keep butter in an airtight container and, like milk and cream, in a dark place. Milk left out on the step in full daylight loses much of its vitamin A content.

Vegetable fats and oils are better than animal fats for older people, though a little of each kind (vegetable and animal) is advisable.

Meat fat (which contains no E.F.A, no vitamins, and no minerals), is useless to the body. Without sufficient E.F.A. in the bloodstream, a vital substance called cholesterol, which is essential for cell building, accumulates on the walls of the blood vessels and furs them up – just as line in hard water furs up the water pipes.

Starches and Sugars

These are fuel foods. A certain amount of fuel foods is necessary to produce heat and energy, especially in cold weather, but most people eat far too much of them – more than they need – leaving little or no room for the other important things, such as fruit and vegetables and salads.

The best fuel foods are wholewheat bread (preferably home-made), potatoes, bananas (tree-ripened, obtainable from some health foods shops, are best), honey, dates, raisins, cereals such as wheatgerm, barley-kernels, oatmeal, etc.

Preserves, also chocolate, made with brown Barbados sugar are obtainable from health foods shops. These are superior to white-sugar products.

Flour-and-sugar products, such as cakes, biscuits, tarts, puddings, pies, etc, are inferior in food value to bananas, dried fruits especially dates, and honey. Honey is the purest and best form of sugar. Glucose and saccharin are both synthetic substances and should never be eaten.

Use the protein-foods list to check your daily protein intake, remembering that most people need 60-70 grams daily, in the proportion of 50 per cent first-class protein and 50 per cent second-class.