On Sunday, when fitness instructors Raj Ganpath and Arvind Ashok took to the stage to thrash seed and vegetable oils as problems of the Indian diet, little did one expect that Coconut oil would be hailed as the best bet.
“Seed and vegetable oils are extremely unstable. When cooked, their chemical bonds break and they release free radicals,” Arvind explained, saying that the regular Indian diet had a lot of polyunsaturated oils. Contrary to popular belief, Arvind informed that Olive oil, even the one that is commonly considered safe for Indian cooking, might not be the best option because of the same problem of instability. “Coconut oil or similar saturated or monounsaturated oils are the safest options for cooking,” he said. The next best option to cooking in coconut oil or ghee/ butter is cooking on a low-flame.
Coconuts, Arvind added, were nothing short of magical. “Coconuts are rich in lauric acid, which is known for being antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal,” Raj explained.
And if your heart skipped a beat at the thought of cooking with ghee or butter, Raj explains that fat, like any other nutrient, is also essential. “Nothing is naturally low fat. Imagine how much processing must go into something to make it low fat!” he said. One has to have calories in their diet. Raj explained it in simple terms, “If you don’t have enough calories, you will get hungry, and eat more. Low fat diets are just the result of someone saying that fat is bad.”
This was at an expert interactive experience session called ThinkRealFood, organised by the newest fitness outfit of the city, The Quad. “Since the Indian diet is completely grain-based, it’s skinny on all other nutrients – vitamins, proteins, minerals. This is why India is the country with the highest incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” explained Raj, who runs The Quad along with Arvind Ashok.
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