cooking – DrChet.com

Lectin: Hidden Danger?

November 18, 2025/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

This week will be about beans and nuts, a tired ad campaign, and some exciting new research.

Let’s begin with the advertising retread. A retired pediatric cardiologist started talking about the dangers of lectins in foods, especially beans and nuts, years ago. They were the reason you had bloating and other digestive issues. That turns out to be partially true, but fire comes to the rescue.

Lectins are proteins found in the beans and nuts but also in a whole array of foods. These proteins bind to carbohydrates with varying results in the body. Some lectins found in beans cannot be absorbed, cause gastric distress, and may even compromise the immune system. Other lectins help boost the immune system, such as wheat lectins, and still others, like mushroom lectins, may have a positive neurological benefit.

Where does the fire come in? If the plants are cooked or roasted, the lectins become neutralized and cause little to no gastric distress. No country in the world suggests eating beans without thoroughly cooking them first. That eliminates most of the issues with lectins. That doesn’t mean that some people aren’t sensitive to them, but it’s not the gut-expanding problem the ads indicate. Time to retire that approach.

However, there is some exciting news when it comes to nuts. We’ll take a look on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Reference: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39471

More About Fats and Oils

June 14, 2025/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

In my research on fats and oils, I found out a few things I didn’t know and discovered some more research about seed oils. The issues raised about seed oils have always been related to how unhealthy seed oils are rather than the overconsumption of seed oils. But are they as hazardous as they’re made out to be?

I Bet You Didn’t Know…

Did you know that lard comes from rendering—melting down—pig fat?

Did you know that tallow comes from rendering beef fat?

The fatty acid arachidonic acid is used to make prostaglandins, hormone-like fatty acids that can impact inflammation. The highest amounts are found in animal fats, not seed oils. The gurus’ claim that all seed oils cause inflammation isn’t true; it’s the amount consumed that matters.

The deadliest fatty acids are trans-fatty acids (TFAs). They can be made from seed oils that have been hydrogenated or saturated fats that are kept at high frying temperatures for long periods of time.

Research Update on Oils

Researchers collected data on the production of trans-fatty acids from cooking with seed oils, including those that contain hydrogenated oils, which are man-made by heating oils at high temperature. They found that as long as seed oils didn’t contain hydrogenated oils, keeping the frying temperature below 400° didn’t produce appreciable TFAs in any seed oils tested.

The Bottom Line

When cooking with animal- or plant-based fats and oils, it’s important to keep the cooking temperature below the smoke point to limit the production of TFAs, which are associated with heart disease. Also, choose oils without hydrogenated fats in them.

To reduce inflammation, it doesn’t really matter whether you use seed oils or lard or tallow—it’s the amount you consume that’s going to make the difference. Eat less. Eat better. Move more.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Reference: Nutrients 2022, 14, 1489. https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu14071489

Cooking with Fat

June 10, 2025/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

Paula and I watch a lot of cooking shows, which led me to wonder: what are the best types of fat to use while cooking? In addition to oils and seed oils, the question would include animal and vegetable sources. I’ll leave taste off the table (or cooktop) because everyone has an opinion. Cooking would include a quick fry in a pan like eggs, sautéing vegetables, cooking meats, and deep-fat frying.

The key to choosing which fat to use is the temperature where the oil starts burning, referred to as the smoke point. Here are the ones I think are most applicable to everyday cooking:

You may wonder why olive oil is listed three times; unless it says “extra virgin,” it will contain some other vegetable oils as well.

Most cooktops generate an average temperature of about 350°, so using oils and fats with smoke points above that temperature is a good idea, depending on the type of cooking you’re doing. But questions remain about seed oils and animal fats. I’ll answer those on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Expand Your Food World

November 9, 2024/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

Paula and I watch a lot of cooking shows; most are competitions and the styles of cooking vary from diner food to high-end restaurants. The one thing that is prevalent is that you see a lot of foods and cooking techniques from other continents and cultures. This weekend, I’m going to challenge you to try different spices, different vegetables and fruits, and different techniques.

The spice blend that we’ve discovered is fish sauce. It seems like it would be used only in cooking seafood, but it gives a great umami (meat-like flavor) to every sauce, casserole, and soup. The only caution would be that it’s made from shrimp or other seafood marinated in salt for up to two years, so if someone is allergic to seafood, don’t use it. Also, try a little first because you can add more, but you can’t take it out.

A vegetable would be ube or purple yams. It’s one of the foods that is the staple of the Blue Zone areas in southeast Asia. It’s easier to find than it used to be, and you can use it like regular potatoes. One of the fruits Paula and I tried was prickly pear, but I don’t have the patience for it because it’s full of seeds. On top of that, the flavor is subtle so while it’s full of nutrients, it doesn’t have an intense flavor or texture.

One technique to try is to spatchcock a chicken or turkey, also called butterflying. The technique involves cutting out the neck and back with shears and pressing the bird flat; press hard enough to break the breastbone and the bird lies flat. It’s easier to get seasoning on the bird meat under the skin, cooking time is reduced, the skin will be crisp, and it will have the moistest breast meat you’ve ever eaten. Just be sure to check the temperature in the breast to make sure it reaches 160° and it should get to 165° or higher while it rests.

Food is one of life’s great pleasures as well as the source of nutrients we all need. It’s a shame to be bored with food, so I’m challenging you to shake it up a little. The objective this weekend is to eat a food, use a spice or blend, or technique you’ve never tried before. Then let me know how it went.

No time to cook? Try a food from another region of the world you haven’t eaten before—West African, Caribbean, and South Asian all have intriguing spices and flavors that may be unfamiliar. They may be a miss, but if you find something you like, you’ve completed the challenge: expanding your food world, even if it’s only a new dessert.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Holiday Eating: Your Strategies

December 15, 2018/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

As we finish two weeks on planning for holiday eating, I’m turning it over to you, the men and women who read the Memo. There are excellent points in every approach.

This one encompasses just about every strategy and was the first response:

Lose weight before the holidays. Be conservative on helpings starting with Thanksgiving. Allow some small portion of goodies or dessert, trying to eat it after protein consumption and while still somewhat full. Try to exercise more—this is more difficult due to the holiday schedule of activities. Stand up every 30 minutes if you . . .

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Holiday Eating: Modify Your Recipes

December 8, 2018/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

The third way of dealing with holiday eating is to modify the recipe—that is, if you’re doing the cooking. This approach can be tricky, especially if you’re baking, and you may want to do a trial run. In some recipes, it’s the chemical reactions between the nutrients that contribute to taste and texture. Simply trying to lower the fat content of a recipe or changing to an artificial sweetener such as stevia may not get the results you want. The sweetness of stevia may be altered by cooking or baking; less fat can change the texture . . .