Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

4

If fat is not unhealthy then surely frying your food is not unhealthy either? Can't get the CW out of my head, I feel like everything I eat these days is fried and that it's bad for me

flag	asked Jun 16 at 21:47 HuntingBears 5,499●3●15●40

2

SAD frying usually involves breading as well, so that is also part of the stigma. But when frying, Scottts got it right, it is also important to be aware of the smoke point of the oil you are using, as well as to be conscious not to keep the oil at high heat for tooo long. – EricAmz Jun 16 at 23:19

Well if you're using oil, you're just asking for it...! Use tallow or lard... bacon grease is the most flavorful though, get it from a good source not to worry about preservatives. – a mesmerizing trickster Jun 17 at 3:14

^ pork is largely grain fed, and its omega 6 level is really quite high. Because of this, I dont think bacon grease would be much healthier than vege oil in terms of o-6. Coconut oil a very high smoke point, and you can get it deflavoured. Thats what I use anyway... – Jamie Jun 17 at 12:45

1

yes. gives all ur bacon to me. – Aughra Oct 9 at 16:36

scottts · Answer 1 · 2012-06-16 21:54:43Z UTC

3

As long as you don't exceed the temperature capability of the fat you using, I don't see a problem with frying. Some folks think high temp cooking of protein causes AGEs but the evidence that ingesting AGE leads to higher levels of AGE in your body is nebulous at best.

answered Jun 16 at 21:54

scottts
2,771●1●3●10

I worry about this every time I fry up my chicken sausages for breakfast. But they taste better that way than zapped. Do you have studies that you can cite? – MiMintzer Jun 16 at 22:00

What does age stand for? – HuntingBears Jun 16 at 22:13

1

Frying has to be better than microwaving, hands down! – MathGirl72 Jun 16 at 22:19

1

AGE is advanced glycation endproduct. It basically means when proteins and other things in your food are reacting with fructose/glucose. By this logic fried sweet/sugary foods could be worse than sausage, for example. – Ingenol Jun 16 at 22:20

Advanced Glycation Endproducts. I don't have cites off the top of my head sorry. It's a pretty common topic on paleo and diet blogs. – scottts Jun 16 at 22:22

show 6 more comments

Irene · Answer 2 · 2012-06-17 10:29:57Z UTC

1

Frying food is fine provided you use an appropriate oil, i use coconut oil when frying as it a healthy oil and is ideal for frying with.

answered Jun 17 at 10:29

Irene
389●3●7

Chinaeskimo · Answer 3 · 2012-06-17 02:50:25Z UTC

0

Well, it terms of being on a Paleo diet, our ancestors never ate fried food, right, so how can it be Paleo? That said, I love fried foods!

answered Jun 17 at 2:50

Chinaeskimo
4,659●5●24

1

True, I suppose. But on the other hand they may have spit roasted with hot fat running over the surface of the meat. Frying without the pan? – scottts Jun 17 at 17:20

OH, I thought we were talking about deep frying. – Chinaeskimo Jun 24 at 4:39

bachcole · Answer 4 · 2012-06-17 05:24:12Z UTC

0

Did the folks 25,000 years ago have frying pans?

answered Jun 17 at 5:24

bachcole
1,434●2●10

11

Paleohacks also is not Paleo since our ancestors did not have the Internet. – Dualhammers Jun 17 at 7:54

2

how do you cook your food then? over a fire in the garden? – HuntingBears Jun 17 at 10:14

1

The frying process, because it alters the chemistry of the food more than most cooking, is less paleo than some other forms of cooking. – bachcole Jun 18 at 16:30

Even though there's no pans in caves, it is still paleo, it is just less paleo? There must have been a faster way to say that. – JeJ Oct 9 at 18:13

I'll bet they had big, flat rocks to fry on. – Dan Oct 10 at 2:15

Spears · Answer 5 · 2012-10-09 17:31:38Z UTC

0

I fry my lamb's mince and beef mince in their own oils. I do make a point of keeping the temperature down.

answered Oct 9 at 17:31

Spears
538●7

John R. · Answer 6 · 2013-02-28 22:19:42Z UTC

Given that building fires required time and resources (wood), my guess is that our ancient ancestors didn't even cook food unless necessary for (learned) health reasons.

Frying in fat/oil/breading? No.

Frying against a hot surface? Probably not.

Is frying food unhealthy?

6 Answers