FATS

We consume food following ways, if not Raw:

·       Roasted

·       Boiled

·       Fried

Most of food items can be Boiled, Fried & Roasted. They taste different in all the three forms. Frying is also done two ways; deep fry & shallow fry.

For health Roasted & Boiled are best; But roasting is difficult & Boiling is limited to cooking up to temperature 100^O Centigrade. If food has to be cooked above it; it has to be fried. Medium of frying is fats.

Taste of food changes, if fried in different fats; as cooking temperature is different of each fat (depending upon their boiling temperature).

There are primarily two types of natural fats

·       Animal Ghee          Cow/Buffalo Ghee,  refined butter

·       Vegetable oil          Coconut, Mustered, Linseed, Olive etc.

There are two types of fat

·       Saturated              Do not react with water

·       Unsaturated           React with water

Ghee, Deshi Ghee, made of COW MILK. It is a saturated fat. In turn it does not react to water.

Ghee, made of BUFFALO MILK also keeps the same characteristics; the only difference is as per Sanatani classification

·       Cow milk is                       Satvik                    characteristic

·       Buffalo milk is                 Rajasi                     characteristic

In vegetable oils, only COCONUT OIL is saturated fat.

Vegetable Ghee is also saturated fat, as it is already hydrogenated with help of chemicals (not friendly with human body).

The easiest way to check about saturation is put some oil/Ghee in water for a few days.

·       If the fat is saturated, the Oil/Ghee & water remain separate and do not change their characteristics.

·       If fat is unsaturated, an amalgam type sticky material will be formed & the pleasant odder shall be lost, rather it will start stinking.

Some characteristics we require to know to analyse the subject:

   Physical

·       Human body temperature of is                                37^O Centigrade.

·       Melting temperature of cow/buffalo Ghee is          37^O Centigrade.

·       Melting temperature of coconut oil is                     36^O Centigrade.

·       Melting temperature of vegetable Ghee is              42^O Centigrade

   Chemical 

·       Saturated fats contain nothing, which reacts with water.

·       Unsaturated fats contain organic compounds; when in contact with water, they react with hydrogen content (of water) and form sticky material with foul odder.

Cow/Buffalo Ghee, Coconut oil & vegetable Ghee, are the only saturated fat.

Advertising gimmicks of certain brands of vegetable Ghee, vegetable oils & refined oils may propagate certain characteristics, soliciting their point. But they do not expose the whole truth.

There is one more type of edible fat, available in animal body, but that is consumed with the meat only while cooking. So it does not become part of discussion.

DIGESRION SYSTEM OF HUMAN BODY

When Cow/Buffalo Ghee & Coconut oil are consumed; some portion is digested and it delivers calories, the rest passes through stool lubricating the digesting organs.

They do not accumulate fat under skin, (making person fat) or around digesting organs (creating pot belly); reason being

·       They stay in liquid form only in the body                           (Physical)

·       They do not react with water present in the body            (Chemical)

           

When vegetable Ghee is consumed; theoretically all remain same excluding

·       It does not melt at body temperature, so gets stuck here & there causing obesity & pot belly.

·       It leaves bad effects on body, as chemicals are used (for hydrogenation, to make it saturated) are not consumer friendly.

When other unsaturated oils are consumed, they work as advertised, but the organic compounds available in oil, react with water (present in body) and produce sticky stuff. This accumulates under the skin causing obesity & around digesting organs causing pot belly.

Unsaturated vegetable oils are no way inferior to Ghee or Coconut oil. Every vegetable oil has its own characteristics, flavour & medicinal qualities. There are advantages also of unsaturated oils. Most of cooking, around the world, is done in these oils only; it makes a big difference to health as well as taste. Some time they work as medicine also.