A lot of interesting reactions to our recent Coconut Oil article came in with some good questions, which are the inspiration for this particular article. Here is a comment we received:

“Recently in my attempt to make light whole wheat/spelt bread for my family I started using extra virgin cold pressed organic olive oil in the bread (about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons in a large loaf). My family loves good healthy bread. I don't feel sluggish after eating it and no one seems to suffer from digestive issues, but I'm still wondering about it. Is this something to be concerned about? Does this create a problem for digesting the starches? Does your wife have a good, light whole wheat bread recipe that does not use oil? (I'd be interested!!). Thank you and God bless,”

Thank you for writing in and for your questions. Here is a good link to how to make good bread without oil: https://youtu.be/xsmchOVc8mU

So, in light of this question raised, what about baking with oil, after all wasn’t oil used in Bible times? My question is, would we recognize the oil used in Bible times? Unprocessed olive oil is rather thick and strong flavoured. And, for over a million people traveling on foot through a desert during the ‘Exodus’, how much oil per person do you believe they used on a daily basis?

But what about baking with oils? Now as an aside, but in approach to this topic, one common way oils are used is in frying, which we know significantly deteriorates their valuable properties and saturates them with oxidized products of thermal degeneration, referred to as lipid peroxidation.¹ Oxidized fats are a source of much disease and suffering. Such as Autoimmue Inflammatory Disease.

But what about simple baking with oils, such as adding a little bottled oil to a bread recipe? I was fascinated to serendipitously discover (while doing scientific research on why it is harmful to mix fruits and vegetables such as lettuce with tomatoes) a set of articles on bread baking, of which, when compared, showed that adding a little oil to bread increased oxidative stress in it by 10 times!^2,3 That’s right!, ten times higher oxidative stress for bread in which bottled oil is one of its ingredients. We are talking here about the same oxidative stress that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease^4,5, rheumatoid arthritis⁶, and psychological disorders⁷. Yes, psychological disorders. So, if your oil loving friends seem a bit dysfunctional, just cut them some slack and chalk it up to dietary choices :-).

Now, obviously, baking and frying aren’t the only ways we use bottled oils. But over all, increased use of bottled vegetable oils has a negative impact on health. Ok, so at this point, you are probable catching your breath and saying to yourself, “He doesn’t sound like a loyal vegetable oil company sponsored salesman”. Well, here’s why. A high intake of vegetable oil increases the risk of stomach cancer by 4-1/2 times⁸, and breast cancer by nearly 5 times⁹. What’s more, it increases the risk of high blood pressure¹⁰ with all its attendant health implications.

Now that said, someone is going to ask, ‘what about my 100% pure extra virgin cold pressed olive oil?’ And my first question will be, how do you know you have 100% pure extra virgin cold pressed olive oil? Some say it’s hard to find¹¹, some say it’s not¹². That said, the study above on the deterioration of frying oils was a study on olive oil, it deteriorates too when heated.

Does addition of free oil (i.e. bottle vegetable oil) to baked goods create a problem for digesting the starches? The results of cooking starches with oil is that the starches become resistant to digestion¹³. Whereas starch digestions starts in the mouth, facilitated by water- based enzymes, oil digestion occurs in the small intestine, facilitated by bile and fat based enzymes. If the starch is oil coated, the water-based enzymes cannot get at it to digest it.

‘So how do I make my favourite recipe without oil?’ Well, there are a number of viable alternatives--some good substitutes. I’m not saying you are going to be able to deep fat fry anything in these alternatives, but in recipes they may work well for you.

Ground flax can be used in some recipes, as used in the bread recipe link above. Here is how it works: for each tablespoon of oil, margarine or butter the recipe calls for, substitute three times that much ground flax meal. Ground flax can be used to substitute for all of the oils or fats in the recipe or for just a portion them. Beware though, this will tend to make the baked goods brown more quickly. You may also want to add a little more liquid to the recipe or decrease the other dry ingredients a bit to make up for the added dry flax meal.

Personally, in breadmaking, I prefer to substitute the oil, tablespoon for tablespoon, with unsweetened applesauce. So, if the recipe calls for one tablespoon of vegetable oil, I would substitute one tablespoon of applesauce.

Another alternative worth knowing in baking is to add 2 Tablespoons of soy flour per 1 cup grain flour, this adds natural fat to your culinary creation.

Have you ever considered making olive bread, similar to raisin bread, except that instead of raisins sliced olives are mixed in the bread?

What can you spread on your bread?

Good alternatives to margarine or butter include: nut butters such as almond butter, seed butters, for example sunflower seed butter, mashed avocado, or an olive spread, or even applesauce, or some other fruit based spread. On our website we have a recipe for “Love Your Heart Butter”. Here it is:

Love Your Heart Butter or Honey or Orange Butter

1 cup cooked cornmeal mush (1 cup boiling water & 1/3 cup corn meal, cooked) 1⁄4 cup water

1⁄2 cup cashews

3⁄4 tsp salt

1/3 cup coconut milk

Directions: Cook cornmeal much on stove until thick. Blend cashews and water together in blender until VERY smooth first. Add coconut milk to keep blend going, if needed. Then blend all ingredients together until very smooth and creamy.

* Note: If you have just opened a can of coconut milk, you won’t want to let it sit in the refrigerator until the next time you make butter. Measure remaining coconut milk out into 1/3 cup quantities and freeze in little baggies tied tight with a twisty. When ready to use, get it out of the freezer to thaw a bit.

Variation: To alter the flavor to a honey butter or orange honey butter (great on cornbread) simply add 1-2 tsp honey and if wanted two drops of orange oil/essense when blending.

In summary:

• In refining foods you loose something—nutrients and fiber—making them not the best for promoting good health.

• Once refined, oils no longer are protected by the seeds outer shell or its fiber and they become easily oxidized.

• Oil is a most concentrated food source, high in calories and low in nutrients.

• There are viable alternatives—if in deed the appetite for oil is a legitimate craving one needs to maintain or cultivate with a substitute food.

John the Baptist’s diet is not reported to include oil or fat as an ingredient.

A great work was before John, and in order for him to have a sound physical constitution, and mental and moral power, to do this work, he must control appetite and passion. John was to lead out as a reformer, and by his abstemious life, and plain dress, rebuke the intemperate habits, and the sinful extravagance, of the people. The indulgence of appetite in luxurious food, and the use of wine, were lessening physical strength, and weakening the intellect, so that crime and grievous sins did not appear sinful. The angel Gabriel gave special directions to the parents of John in regard to temperance. A lesson was given upon health reform by one of the exalted angels from the throne of Heaven. John was to reform the children of Israel, and turn them to the Lord. He had the promise that God would work with him. He was “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” { RH January 7, 1873, par. 7 }

John was a representative of the people of God in the last days, to whom God has committed important and solemn truths. The world at large are given to gluttony and the indulgence of base passions. The light of health reform is opened before the people of God at this day, that they may see the necessity of holding their appetites and passions under control of the higher powers of the mind. This is also necessary, that they may have mental strength and clearness to discern the sacred chain of truth, and turn from the bewitching errors and pleasing fables that are flooding the world. Their work is to present before the people the pure doctrine of the Bible. Hence health reform finds its place in the preparatory work for the second appearing of Christ. { RH January 7, 1873, par. 8 }

All in all, I want to thank you all for your feedback and questions regarding the coconut oil article. Here is what you said:

“My Thus saith the Lord experience regarding coconut oil:

When I was running a massage school, I felt impressed to put together a certified medical missionary training program. I scheduled it for in the summer when the massage school was not in session.

For some reason the "committee" that made all decisions & approved all programs asked another medical missionary help teach it.

Her lectures included a lengthy presentation and sale pitch on how wonderful coconut oil was, including power point presentation and books on it she was selling. She happened to give me one of the books. I was so busy handling all the admin, coordinating with the kitchen for lunches, plus teaching 3/4 of the lectures that I had no time or energy to look at the book. Our kitchen had a low oil/no oil policy for food for people attending our wellness programs.

After the 9 day course was over and everyone went home, including the guest medical missionary presenter who was blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other from behind the lens cataracts. I sat down at my desk in my little office and pulled out the book on coconut oil that she had given me (same one as she was selling to the students), As I started to open it, I was strongly impressed to get out my Bible, which I happened to have there at work. With Bible in front of me I was impressed to read in Leviticus. When I got to the food rules in Lev., as I got to the one about cutting the fat off of the meat before eating it, I hear an audible voice in my head say 'What type of fat is it?' I answered 'Lord, it's animal fat, but I don't eat animal fat, I am vegan, remember?' The same question was spoken to me again. I gave the same answer. The question came a third time. Now, as tired as I was, I was now getting irritated with this question a third time. But one can't afford to get irritated with the Lord. So I paused and thought to myself, what is he asking me? I thought awhile and I think the Holy Spirit must have helped me because I finally asked, Lord, do you mean saturated fat? I knew I had the right answer this time as the next thing I heard was "What type of fat is coconut oil?' In one of the lectures on coconut oil the other medical missionary had said that it was 91% saturated fat. The fat on beef that we are instructed to cut off is saturated fat.

I threw the book on coconut oil in the waste basket without ever opening it. And, I started do research on the internet. All over the internet was the statement that coconut oil raised your HDL. As I started looking at studies on coconut oil, and fortunately I had already learned by that time that you have to look at who funds a study, I finally came across the actual study where the product advertisers get the raising HDL from. Yes, in the study, coconut did in fact raise the HDL. But what they neglected to mention in touting the wonderful virtues of coconut oil based on scientific studies, is that same study showed that it also raised LDL, VLDL, apo proteins A & B, all significantly!!! One, in fact, went up 512%.

By the time I was done, I had a 2 hour PowerPoint presentation against oils in general and definitely coconut oil, with every slide pretty much documented with the study reference(s) on the slide.”

“Greetings. I just read your article on “Sluggish for 3 days “.....And I’m remembering the 80’s. My late wife and I would go to the pie shop ONCE A YEAR before Christmas and I would order Boysenberry Pie Alamode (With 2 scoops of ice cream On top of warm pie). I found that for 3 days I felt Sluggish!! My mind was so sluggish that I felt the need (I didn’t use one except then) to use a calculator when figuring costs. After 3 days the cloud slowly disappeared. I can fully appreciate and understand what you say, and I’m 100 percent in agreement. But it may not affect all people that way. I’ve asked people if foods such as that affect them that way and most people don’t notice .... or don’t know the difference.”

“I just received your newsletter and article about coconut oil. It confirmed what we already thought. We have never used margarine, smart balance, or any free oils in frying or other cooking. If I happen to eat some while out, I can testify to feeling so sluggish and sleepy and such a dull mind.”

“Thanks heaps John for this great info - another touchy subject. Should have heard the reaction when I emailed my church brothers and sisters the one on fermentation!

Out goes the coconut oil! Have to hand it to you, you sure are saving me money! God bless you, Julie and Connor!”

“Dr. Clark,

Thank you so much for your newsletter. It is so easy to get off track. Your article on coconut oil and grease was meant for me. I needed the added reminder. We are on the road so much, it's easy to eat way too many fats.”

“Dr. John, Thanks for good articles. There subjects are well done and ones I have interest in.

In Russia seems all whole wheat bread is sour dough. My mission service in Phuket Thailand where coconuts were used daily and no heart disease in the rural area at that time. the whole food seems to be the answer.”

Good afternoon Dr. Clark!

I made the butter! It's actually pretty good but one must have a converted tongue in order to like it. Reminds me of cornmeal porridge that I grew up eating in the islands.

I do have a question- How is coconut cream different from coconut oil? I'm asking because I'm going to be explaining this to my church members. I did reread your article on the matter and did not find my answer. Coconut cream does have saturated fats but does it act differently in the body than coconut oil?

Thank you for your email.

The best choice, if one is finding a need for coconut is to eat, and chew, whole or shredded coconut meat with its undisrupted fibre. Coconut cream/milk is basically coconut smoothie- -blended coconut with water, having the fibre disrupted.


In 2007 – 2008 my son came to live with me and he began to make the bread and he thought he was doing wonders in his bread making experience when he began to pour more oil Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the bread making recipe. Somehow the loaves began to rise even better and to look more rounded and ‘perfect’ on top and more beautiful, just like the perfect loaf but over time for some strange reason I found my knees began for a second time in my experience at that point, my knees began to become swollen and sore, I already had a life threatening health issue that I was in the midst of learning how to resolve with God’s Natural remedies. But here I was wondering what was wrong with my swollen and tender knees after a bit of prayer and meditation I finally recalled that I had once before experience this issue at another residence I had lived in and after doing more open air walking exercise each day it mysteriously disappeared and I thought little of it. At the same time I had begun to mention this issue to my son and eventually he said Mum I wonder if I have been putting too much oil into the bread making, so we stopped using the oil in our bread making and alas the bread did not quite appear as nice plump and rounded on the top as before but guess what my knees immediately responded to the oil free bread and the swelling and pain melted silently away and since then, like Dr Esselstyne we call for “NO OIL”… “NO OIL” … “NO OIL” in the bread. Now I cook only what needs to be cooked for my digestion and everything else I incorporate RAW and FRESH before serving. Food is much more flavourful raw and fresh and unchopped even and of course healthier by far and less valuable TIME consuming making this recipe up and that recipe turning us into Matha’s and leaving us less time to be Mary’s.

References

1 Gómez-Alonso S, Fregapane G, Salvador MD, Gordon MH. Changes in phenolic composition and antioxidant activity of virgin olive oil during frying. J Agric Food Chem. 2003 Jan 29;51(3):667-72.

2 Ranawana V, Campbell F, Bestwick C, Nicol P, Milne L, Duthie G, Raikos V.Breads Fortified with Freeze-Dried Vegetables: Quality and Nutritional Attributes. Part II: Breads Not Containing Oil as an Ingredient. Foods. 2016 Sep 8;5(3). pii: E62.

 

 3 Ranawana V, Raikos V, Campbell F, Bestwick C, Nicol P, Milne L, Duthie G.Breads Fortified with Freeze-Dried Vegetables: Quality and Nutritional Attributes. Part 1: Breads Containing Oil as an Ingredient. Foods. 2016 Mar 14;5(1). pii: E19.

4 Schisterman EF, Faraggi D, Browne R, Freudenheim J, Dorn J, Muti P, Armstrong D, Reiser B, Trevisan M.Minimal and best linear combination of oxidative stress and antioxidant biomarkers to discriminate cardiovascular disease. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2002 Oct;12(5):259-66.

5 Walter MF, Jacob RF, Jeffers B, Ghadanfar MM, Preston GM, Buch J, Mason RP; PREVENT study.Serum levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances predict cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary artery disease: a longitudinal analysis of the PREVENT study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004 Nov 16;44(10):1996-2002.

6 Mateen S, Moin S, Khan AQ, Zafar A, Fatima N. Increased Reactive Oxygen Species Formation and Oxidative Stress in Rheumatoid Arthritis. PLoS One. 2016 Apr 4;11(4):e0152925.

7 Chakraborty S, Singh OP, Dasgupta A, Mandal N, Nath Das H.Correlation between lipid peroxidation-induced TBARS level and disease severity in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Mar 17;33(2):363-6.

8 Suwanrungruang K, Sriamporn S, Wiangnon S, Rangsrikajee D, Sookprasert A, Thipsuntornsak N, Satitvipawee P, Poomphakwaen K, Tokudome S. Lifestyle-related risk factors for stomach cancer in northeast Thailand. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2008 Jan-Mar;9(1):71-5.

9 Ceber E, Sogukpinar N, Mermer G, Aydemir G. Nutrition, lifestyle, and breast cancer risk among Turkish women. Nutr Cancer. 2005;53(2):152-9.

10 Kaufman LN, Peterson MM, Smith SM.Hypertensive effect of polyunsaturated dietary fat. Metabolism. 1994 Jan;43(1):1-3.

11 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you- keep-buying-it/#67c0dc03639d

12 https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/olive-oil-fraud

13 Farooq AM, Dhital S, Li C, Zhang B, Huang Q. Effects of palm oil on structural and in vitro digestion properties of cooked rice starches. Int J Biol Macromol. 2018 Feb;107(Pt A):1080-1085.