Oils?

Although oils are not a part of the food group, they are important part of your diet. Choose My Plate has a section on them under the food group section because they provide essential nutrients. Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature. They come from many different plants and from fish. Foods that are mainly oil include mayonnaise, certain salad dressings, and soft margarine with no trans fats. Most oils are high in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, and low in saturated fats like canola oil, olive oil, and corn oil. Vegetable and nut oils do not contain any cholesterol and are the healthiest oils to use when cooking! However, coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil, are high in saturated fats and for nutritional purposes should be considered to be solid fats. Solid fats are fats that are solid at room temperature, like butter and shortening. Solid fats come from many animal foods and can be made from vegetable oils through hydrogenation. Try to avoid these kinds of oils!

Americans can consume enough oil in the foods they eat, such as nuts, fish, cooking oil, and salad dressings. For women ages 19-30 the general recommendation is six teaspoons. For men in the same age range the recommendation is seven teaspoons. These are just the general allowances because a person’s allowance for oils depends on age, gender, and level of physical activity. So even though oils aren't apart of the food group system, they are essential to your diets because of the nutrients they provide.