Many of us heard for years how bad saturated/animal fats were for us; no butter, lard, tallow etc. I started using coconut oil a while back after my son set his sights on nutrition with his personal training. I admit I used Smart Balance for a while but real butter kept calling; Sorry, margerine just doesn't cut it! My go-to fats now; butter, tallow, coconut oil, high quality olive oil (right from the Isle of Crete) and avocado oils.
Besides flavor, one cannot talk about fats today without discussing the harm to the body from seed oils. Understanding the complex process which seeds undergo to extract their oils and the effects on health are important. We need to understand more about the food we eat, so we are less easily swayed from truth. Good knowledge leads to good question asking.
Animal fat and plant fat from olives and avocados were easy to extract. Seed oils came along with industrialization because this is a difficult process to obtain seed's oils and get them to look appetizing. Cottonseed oil is naturally black and goes through a process much like petroleum.
The connection to depression and anxiety quoted in this article rattles me. See the whole article link below:
In fact, one of the things that you get uniquely in animal fats is a type of fat called arachidonic acid. Out of arachidonic acid, we make endocannabinoids. We make our own natural marijuana in our bodies. We have receptors for this marijuana and it’s naturally cleared. We don’t get addicted to it or anything. The natural state of the body, if you’re eating lots of animal fats, it’s to be naturally high all the time. You feel good. You feel happy. You feel mellow, but you’re motivated.
People who are not eating animal fats feel lousy. They don’t feel normal. We have to have a lot of sympathy for people who get addicted to drugs. They’re trying to create a feeling of normalcy and happiness. That is our birthright if we would be eating the right fats. I agree. This depression and anxiety and the use of antidepressants and drugs to boost our moods even temporarily, I never want to say 100%, but is quite largely based on the switch from animal fats to vegetable oils. It’s tragic.
This article from Sally Fallon of Weston A. Price Foundation has a good bit of helpful information. Here it is for your consideration.
Avoid Seed Oils by Sally Fallon
If you want to dive deeper to understand the balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6, the connection to obesity, Alzheimer's, autoimmune diseases, etc. this article has a great deal of enlightenment on the subject. RE Zero Acre sugar cane oil, I have not made that switch as I am hesitant to jump on board with new things without completing my due diligence to vet as fully as I can.
*One concerning note on the whole gluten free trend is that almost all those foods are made with seed oils.