But the worst thing you can do when it comes to cooking your food is to damage the fats they contain by oxidizing them. Fats, especially unsaturated fats, are very sensitive. As you read earlier, they are easily damaged by exposure to heat and even light. Below I discuss specific cooking methods that cause these problems, but first let’s take a look at what these damaged fats do to your body. When you consume damaged fats, your body still uses them to create cell membranes. As you know, your brain is made mostly of fat. Your myelin is made mostly of fat. Your hormones are made mostly of fat. And your mitochondria rely on fat to function. When the cell membranes in your brain and the rest of your body are made of damaged fats, they are less flexible and less functional. Your neurons can’t send or receive messages as efficiently, and your mitochondria start to degrade. Oxidized fats also disrupt hormone and neurotransmitter signaling. One way they do this is by producing excessive amounts of glutamate, the same excitatory neurotransmitter in MSG that can cause neurons to die from excitotoxicity.
But the biggest problem with oxidized fats is that they are highly inflammatory. Every time a damaged fat molecule is used as a building block in the body, it creates oxidative stress. As you read in chapter 5, polyunsaturated fats are the type of fats that are most easily damaged. When heated, these oils produce compounds called dicarbonyls that are particularly toxic to the brain. They damage mitochondria and cause oxidative stress. Dicarbonyls are also precursors to advanced glycation end products (AGE), which, as you read earlier, cause inflammation and further compound oxidative stress. This is probably one of the main reasons I started to feel so lousy after losing fifty pounds on a low-carb, high-fat, ketogenic diet. I was eating foods like pork rinds and consuming toxic chemicals like aspartame all day long, and while I was losing weight and staying in ketosis, I was also unwittingly creating a lot of inflammation in my body. I’ve seen this over and over with ketosis diets that allow inflammatory foods andchemicals. The type of fat you eat matters!
Luckily for me, we replace half of the fat in our cells every two years. Those damaged fats are now long gone from my cell membranes, and I can feel the difference in my brain. I still eat a lot of fat, but I don’t cook with it at high temperatures. When I do cook with fat, I use lower temperatures, water or steam, and a lot of antioxidant spices to counteract the oxidative stress.
Generally speaking, roasting and baking are healthy forms of cooking that result in minimal losses of vitamin C.
However, during long cooking times at high temperatures, up to 40% of B vitamins may be lost in the juices that drip from the meat
Gathering these juices and serving them with the meat, which is sometimes called au jus on menus, can help minimize nutrient loss. Removing charred portions of meat and refraining from using gravy made from meat drippings can also reduce HCA and PAH exposure
One study found that adding herbs to a marinade decreased HAs by about 90% Panfrying and stir-frying involve cooking in fat at high heat for short periods of time. Minimize the production of HAs and aldehydes by using antioxidant-rich marinades and healthy cooking fats.
Choose healthy cooking methods, such as slow cooking, pressure cooking and sous vide, whenever possible.
However, if you grill or deep-fry your meat, you can reduce the risks by removing the drippings, not overcooking the meat and using healthy fats and marinades.
Here are some of the top offenders when it comes to cooking fats.
You already know that fried food is bad for your waistline, but now you have another reason to avoid it: it’s bad for your brain! It’s worse if you’re eating restaurant fried food, because they use the same oil for longer periods, and it gets increasingly damaged as time goes on.
Sunflower oil has the same problem as safflower oil, but it is even more prone to oxidation and it has a lower smoke point. This pretty much guarantees that the sunflower oil you eat is oxidized even before you cook with it.
When the fats in your delicious meat hit the open flame, they were converted into carcinogenic and inflammatory HCAs and PAHs. Most barbecue sauces are also full of sugar. You’ll perform better all summer long if you forgo eating charred meat. If you’re going to grill, wrap your meat in foil first!
You don’t have to make perfect choices at every single meal, every single day. Sometimes it might be worth it to eat something that you know will leave you a little bit inflamed. You can decide when you’re willing to take the hit. But if you have a big interview or presentation the next day, it’s incredibly empowering to know that you can control your mental performance just by making a smarter choice at the dinner table.
Head Points: Don’t Forget These Three Things
• Dairy protein, gluten, trans fats, and vegetable oils cause inflammation in everyone. • Mold toxins are particularly toxic to your mitochondria and are commonly found in grains, coffee, driedfruit, wine, beer, chocolate, nuts, and corn. • You can damage healthy fats by cooking them at high temperatures. This makes them toxic.
Head Start: Do These Three Things Right Now
• Stop using artificial sweeteners. They are toxic to your mitochondria even in small amounts. While you’re at it, cut down on your sugar intake, particularly the fructose that is found in fruit juice and high-fructose corn syrup. • Never eat fried food! Frying damages fats and makes them toxic. • Buy organic produce whenever possible, as GMOs are commonly sprayed with toxic pesticides.