Cooking with olive oil, can be toxic

Like most Americans, I have adopted the concept that the first step to healthy cooking is to use extra virgin olive oil.  We hear about this from just about every chef on The Food Network, and Rachel Ray starts almost every dish by drizzling her "E-V-O-O" in the pan.  But did you know that heating olive oil is actually toxic?

I used to be the host and Executive Producer of a food and wine show on NBC here in Chicago called "Taste".  We were on the air for 12 seasons, which meant visiting a lot of kitchens for chef demonstrations.  From Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill to Grant Achatz at Alinea, we got tips from the best in the business.

But there was one food expert named George Mateljan who forever changed the way I cook with olive oil.  George has written 5 books on healthy eating, including The World's Healthiest Foods,and he told me that cooking with olive oil isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"You never want to let olive oil get hotter than 200-250 degrees," he warned as he poured it into a pan for our taped cooking segment.

When you first put room temperature olive oil into a pan, it's green and vibrant- filled with vitamins and anti-oxidants.  But as the temperature rises, all those nutrients are literally burned out of the oil, along with the color, and toxic fumes start to rise from the pan.

"People are inhaling this smoke every day when they think it's being healthy, but in reality, the smoke from heated olive oil is full of toxins," George tells me.

So what's a home chef to do??!!  

"Use an oil that can take the heat," he explains.  

"Like canola oil?"  I ask.

"Use safflower oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil.  You can find all of those in the supermarkets today," he suggests.

George spent 10 years doing research before launching his World's Healthiest Foods book, so I trust he knows what he's talking about.  The book is so large, it reminds me of that Riverside Shakespeare anthology I had to lug around in college.  An easier way to reap the rewards of George's hard work is to go to his website.  Like the book, it is jammed with text, but this is an incredible resource for healthy recipes and scientific findings on nutrient rich foods that are easy to cook.

So does this mean no more olive oil?  Not a chance.  Research says that by ingesting more olives, you can even help prevent certain kinds of cancers- such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and skin cancer.  You just need to know how to correctly use your olive oil in order to reap the benefits.

"I drizzle olive oil on just about everything," says George.  "After I've cooked my meal, I put it on fish, vegetables, whatever you make- it's like adding a handful of nutrients and vitamins to every dish."

So after meeting George, I went out and purchased some of that safflower oil and coconut oil.  I must say, I have noticed much less smoke in the kitchen when making dinner, which is especially good since I have a three year old running around.  Now I drizzle my E-V-O-O on salads and cooked fish, and I find you can actually taste the olives when you don't heat up the oil.

So spread the word, and save the olive oil for the END of the cooking process.  As Martha Stewart would say,  "It's a good thing!"

Reference: http://www.chicagonow.com