February 17: Palm Oil

My wife is convinced that food is going to be the death of us all. Not obesity or an allergic reaction to food, but rather all of the unhealthy ingredients that food manufacturers hide inside their products and the negative affects of those ingredients on the human body. Her latest mission is minimize the sugar intake in our house; she's even gone so far as to resort to scare tactics, telling me that the other day she heard that drinking more than 2 sodas a week can lead to pancreatic cancer due to the sugar levels inside of a 12-oz. pop. God love her for caring so much about our family's well-being (especially me...Sugar Man himself), and for being so astute as to the health implications of the food we eat. However, her commitment to staying on top of these things has also lead me to be more aware of what I'm eating...good for my body, bad for my appetite. I now find myself second guessing that can of Coke, piece of candy or Oreo cookie that, in the past, I never hesitated to devour, much to my delight. Which leads me back to our topic of Palm Oil. As I sat on the couch this evening about to indulge in the Twix bar that my kids selected for me on a recent trip to VGs, I took special note of the ingredients; partially because my wife was seated next to me and I wanted to impress her by taking interest in what I was about to put inside of me. The ingredient Palm Oil jumped out at me, as I seem to see that same ingredient on a lot of different foods. I had no idea what Palm Oil really is so I figured I would learn something new and find out a little bit more about this popular ingredient. I discovered that Palm Oil is "an edible plant oil derived from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm" or so Wikipedia says. Basically, it's a form of vegetable oil, however, unlike some of it's oil siblings, it is higher in saturated fats and low in polyunsaturated fats. According to some sources, such as the U.S. Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), it can lead to a higher risk of heart disease. not to mention the production of it is contributing to the destruction of rain forests in SE Asia (where I guess oil palm trees grow aplenty). Yet others, like the American Palm Oil Council, believe that some of the primary nutrients in Palm Oil actually reduce one's risk of heart disease; even some forms of cancer. Yikes! In my quest to become a little more knowledgeable, I had instead stumbled upon a worldwide Palm Oil controversy! Although, in my opinion, it's just one more debatable topic for people to spend significant chunks of time arguing about without any type of resolution in sight. I don't know who's right or who's wrong on this one, but I do know that there's one philosophy that's served me well through my 42 years in life, and that's "everything in moderation" I don't know who coined the phrase, but my wife certainly likes to use it; especially when referring to food. And guess what, she hasn't been wrong yet.