Sunday 3 February 2008

Plant Oils Versus Lard

When first on this diet, most of our 'treat' food turned out to be things that were fried, like donuts and chicken balls (because I was really missing Chinese food).

Well, at first, I used peanut oil. However, my Dad began sneezing every time he ate my deep fried foods. So, I switched to grapeseed oil.

The grapeseed oil I had found was cold-pressed, which I knew was good. So we started using it on our salads and noticed a big improvement in the condition of our skin. So it became a staple at the table along with the salt and pepper.

However, once it was cooked, like in the deep fryer or for a stir fry, I noticed that skin eruptions began to occur. Eventually, I backed up fried foods to such an extent that the connection between cooked oils and skin eruptions became quite blatant, while raw oil seemed quite the opposite. (Henceforth my opinion is that, once heated, plant oils become something quite evil.)

And so I switched to pig fat for my deep frying and noticed that we no longer 'broke out'.

Eventually I came to want some lard to make some old fashioned icing sugar for a cake. Well, the store-bought lard looked oddly white to me, not to mention the fact that the additives made me shiver.

So, now that I've found my organic farmer who is absolutely passionate about her animals, their psychological and physical welfare and her final product, I've decided to finally make my own lard.

Of course, as always, I enjoy reading up on this stuff beforehand and found out such interesting stuff that I thought I'd share my startling finds and sources:

Pork fat is one of the highest sources of vitamin D. It *can* cause an improvement in heart health. It is*not* a saturated fat.

Like I always say though... too much of anything is *not* a good thing. So, keep it down to once a week... maybe twice. My strict belief after all that I've experienced is that the most important aspect impacting improved health is: Rotation! Rotation! Rotation!

The New Homemaker
Obsession with Food: Lard Rendering Recipe

My biggest problems regarding finding good information had more to do with the fact that typical pork has herbicide and pesticide residues... as well as the lard not being homemade but the grocery store lard which is a different animal altogether (figuratively speaking) as mentioned above. So, if there's anything good about grocery store lard, I figure that homemade is doing much better than that.

I had some trouble finding any science backup information that states lard is a monounsaturated fat or high in vitamin D, as stated in The New Homemaker. That doesn't mean it's not out there though, so I'll keep looking and add the abstracts when I find them.

The oil fumes article was extremely interesting. And since I'm always trying to pack some weight onto my kids and increase their protein intake, I was really happy to find several of the references. I especially enjoy the one about lard and it's use to help correct a thiamin deficiency and because of this, believed to be the reason for yielding positive results in some failure to thrive kids.

Recipe Link to "The Goblet"

Experimental Diabetes and Diet
Methylmercury Toxicity and Fat Intake
Oil Fumes
Cholesterol and Triglycerides, Lard and Vitamin C
Biotin Deficiency and Lard's Effect on Weight Gain
Red Meat is not Associated with Colorectal Cancer
Porcine Diet and Fatty Acid Development
Full Fat Diet the Cure to Hypertension?
Porcine Diet and Conjugated Linoleic Acid resulting in Saturated Fat
Bladder Cancer and Diet High in Meat and Fermented Product
Pork Livers Greatest Protein Quality
Thiamine Deficiency and Failure To Thrive
Vitamin E Supplementation and Lipid Stability
Porcine Supplementation Results

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