Akshay Modi believes we all need to make some proactive choices for our health, starting from the oil we cook our food in
Your lifestyle has evolved and it is time your diet catches up too. Fast-paced lifestyle and stressful situations impact one’s health and heart conditions. It is an open fact that stress, inactive lifestyle and poor diets are a major cause of heart-related diseases. Today, cardiovascular diseases have become a rising concern for people.
To restrain these circumstances, it is highly essential to be health-conscious and preserve one’s health. A health-conscious consumer not only lives a wellness-oriented lifestyle but also makes proactive choices on a daily basis. Take the first step by making healthy choices and consuming healthy food. While it is crucial to be conscious of the food you consume and cook, the most important thing is to be able to choose the right oil. Whether it is sautéing, deep-frying, shallow-frying, or grilling, oil is one of the most common and essential ingredients used in cooking.
Why is choosing the right oil important?
Edible oils are a source of fat but too much of the wrong kind can lead to risk of heart disease. Today, though there are a wide variety of oils available in the market, not all are known to promote heart health. However, it is widely accepted that olive oil and rice bran oil have some assured benefits. Let us examine why.
Olive oil is extracted from olives and is rich in healthy monounsaturated fats. It contains large amounts of antioxidants, which reduces the risk of many diseases. Olive oil has strong anti-inflammatory properties, It contains nutrients that fight inflammation. It lowers blood pressure, protects ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol particles from oxidation, and improves the function of blood vessels.
Several studies demonstrate that olive oil provides heart health benefits such as favourable effects on cholesterol regulation.
Rice bran oil is extracted from the outer bran or husk of rice grains. It has a high smoke point and is useful for high-heat cooking. Rice bran oil is a good source of Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and good fats like polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Consuming these unsaturated fats can improve blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease the risk of heart disease.
Several studies have proved that rice bran oil has oryzanol and is effective in lowering cholesterol. This effect may be due to the high concentration of Vitamin E in rice bran oil. Besides this, rice bran oil also helps lower blood pressure and is effective against high blood sugar
Owing to various number of benefits, a blend of olive oil and rice bran oil is perfect for everyday cooking for people who believe in adopting a proactive approach and are concerned about their heart health:
With the current times, the eating patterns tend to keep changing and upgrading. Hence, it is fundamental to choose the right oil that widely contributes to the body’s nutritional needs in the right manner. According to nutritionists and cooking experts, a healthy multisource cooking oil provides the combined nutrients and boosts immunity which keeps you active throughout the day. So,before you fall prey to cardiovascular disease, it’s time to take a proactive approach to prevent your heart health by making the right choice.
(The author is the joint MD of Modi Naturals, a leading FMCG company in the healthy cooking oil sector in India.)