Healthy(ier) Nutella replacement? / oils for cooking

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1
Dear all,

I was wondering, is there any healthier Nutella replacement spreads in the Switzerland? I mean, for sure there are some.

There is this link:

http://www.epicurious.com/archive/bl...ernatives.html

It provides 9 healthier alternatives. Does any of you have some experience with this?

Because, I've found Nutella very useful, to fill in the "holes" through the day when I get hungry, or when I don't have much time.

One more thing: What about oils for cooking? I've used whole my life sunflower oil, and now in Switzerland I've started buying vegetable oil, but I've found out (like yesterday) that vegetable oil is *THE WORST* thing that you can have. Probably will cause cancer and stuff. I mean, I know it's not that bad, but I am sure it's not good either.

So, I've read that the olive-oil is (also) best for cooking (even though there are some myths about olive oil and high temperature).

So, do you have any experiences with pan-frying, cooking, baking in oven with olive-oil? And what kind, precisely? I've read that extra-virgin olive oil is the healthiest one, but has the lower "smoke-point" - the temperature when the oil starts to smoke. Maybe I should make a new thread for that.

Thank you in advance!

2
Pure 100% peanut Peanut Butter.

Apart from vegetable oil (such as olive, safflower, canola, grape seed, etc) there is fish oil and crude oil. The later is not very healthy and not fit for human or animal consumption. Better leave it to machines and robots. The other is healthy but I do not know if it is good for cooking or on salad and such. Instead of oil there is also lard from various animals. Pork lard is perfect for Wienerschnitzel and Berner Rösti.

3
They aren't myths. The high heat of cooking changes the oil's structure after you pass its "smoke point". In order to be sure, you should cook with an oil with a high smoke point which produces a lower aldehyde amount.

The myth comes from olive oil apparently losing its nutritional value after heating, which it doesn't, but it also takes on some distinctly unhealthy characteristics...

4
It depends on the olive oil. EOV has a much lower smoke point, but I use it for all except deep frying or baking (peanut oil for that).

Tom

5
Rape seed oil is a good alternative to olive oil for cooking.

6
Except that I hate the taste.

Tom

7
Yeah... after you pass the "smoke point".. But smoking points for extra virgin olive oils is about 190-200 degrees, and for virgin olive oil can go up to 240 degrees... And that's something people generally do not know.

Anyway, I was at the store today, and at the back of the most extra virgin olive-oils it says that you can pan-fry and deep-fry to 180-190 degrees.

Now, I'm not sure what's the usual temperature when you cook/fry meat in the frying-pan? Is that under 180-190 degrees?

And, what about oven-baking?

BTW, nobody mentioned the alternatives of Nutella... On that link that I've posted there are many.. but I'm not sure if we can buy those in Switzerland..

8
What do you mean by "vegetable oil"? And can you give us links discussing its cancer causing properties? I have my doubts about its negative health effects, apart from getting fat.

9
But both are vegetable oils...

10
Have you tried asking in a Reformhaus (don't know what it's called in French). They usually stock alternatives of all sorts of food, purporting to be healthier.

As to the olive oil, your question was also whether it was "best for cooking". It's down to personal taste, of course, but I've found that it's bitter and nasty if you fry items in it which have a delicate flavour and prefer cooking with an oil more suited to high temperatures and one that doesn't have much taste otherwise.

11
This is kind of a long list.

But, what I though precisely are those cheap yellowish vegetable oils (2-3 CHF), that are mainly used in my surroundings. Main ingredient there is "soybean oil".

One quote:

"Seed- and Vegetable Oils

Vegetable Oils

Industrial seed and vegetable oils are highly processed, refined products that are way too rich in Omega-6 fatty acids.

Not only should you not cook with them, you should probably avoid them altogether.

These oils have been wrongly considered “heart-healthy” by the media and many nutrition professionals in the past few decades.

However, new data links these oils with many serious diseases, including heart disease and cancer (21, 22, 23).

Avoid all of them:

Soybean Oil

Corn Oil

Cottonseed Oil

Canola Oil

Rapeseed Oil

Sunflower Oil

Sesame Oil

Grapeseed Oil

Safflower Oil

Rice Bran Oil

One study also looked at common vegetable oils on food shelves in the U.S. market and discovered that they contain between 0.56 to 4.2% trans fats, which are highly toxic (24).

It’s important to read labels. If you find any of these oils on a packaged food that you are about to eat, then it’s best to purchase something else."

Some other links if you are interested:

https://authoritynutrition.com/6-rea...ils-are-toxic/

http://www.thankyourbody.com/vegetable-oils/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/heal...y-experts.html

http://www.prevention.com/eatclean/best-cooking-oils

I mean, the Internet is flooded with this topic, so you can just google it.

So, everyone is saying that the extra virgin olive oil is the best one. Just, you need to be careful about the "smoking point". I'm currently investigating this

Also, keep in mind that not all of the "extra-virgin" olive oils are really that good. Take a look at this:

http://www.realfoodforlife.com/which...ive-oil-fraud/

And one last thing to look for when buying olive-oil is the "FFA" - Free Fatty Acids, it MUST be below 0.8%, but the best olive oils have this unde 0.2% (and then, the smoking point is higher also, so it's safer for cooking at higher temperatures), but I suppose those ones are really expensive. I will check that soon.

I hope that I've answered your question.

12
You could make your own substitute for Nutella and add your own choice of oil. Maybe also use and alternative sweetener instead of sugar

http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/homemade-nutella

13
If you think Nutella is unhealthy but you like it then still eat it but just eat less of it.

14
Haha

Yeah, that's one way to solve it

Today I bought Ovomaltine for the first time, because I've read here that it tastes even better! So, I will try to follow your advice