Nutrition Frustration

I've been getting very frustrated with the nutrition portion of my gym class.

For example, I cook with olive oil and canola oil, depending on the heat level. Both are supported by WW and a well-researched blog I read. Yesterday, the nutritionist told us we should be cooking with saturated fats - oils that are solid or semi-solid at room temperature, because unsaturated fats turn to trans fat when heated. Olive oil should be added at the end for flavor only and canola oil is not natural and shouldn't be used it at all.

I was perplexed, because I thought trans fats were purposefully created in a lab setting, not accidentally in my kitchen. (Googling results have so far supported my view.) As for canola oil, she asks "What's a canola?" She says if we can't identify the original source or the final product doesn't resemble it, we're not supposed to eat it. In general, I agree.

However, canola oil comes from rapeseed or field mustard and doesn't seem to be any more processed than olive oil. (If only I'd known that yesterday!) Lots of things are named something different than their source for marketing reasons. Rapeseed oil isn't terribly appealing. "I've never heard of a canola," is not enough justification to consider something unhealthy! There have been other things, and I'm so irritated. Sometimes it's like she's only done half the research, and then draws uninformed conclusions and passes it on to us as gospel.

A lot of the things she says are valid. Processed sugars, flours, etc? Foods that are stripped of their natural nutrients and then enriched with them and others in lab? Yeah, not as good as something untouched by crazy processes involving toxic chemicals (chlorine, for example) to bleach, dry, rehydrate, and preserve FOREVER. But how do I know what's valid and what's fuzzy statistics or something she's just pulling out of the air? I'm getting frustrated and discouraged. I don't know what advice to take.

At the same time, the good things I've learned make me wonder if Weight Watchers is strict enough for me to reach my goal. Like, maybe my metabolism needs help recovering. That's one of the things my nutritionist is supposed to teach us how to do, but I don't have any sources I trust to check against her advice. (I like WW, but sometimes information is hard to find or just not here.) When I was watching my carb-to-protein-to-fat ratios, I lost weight more steadily. It was harder to track, and I got lazy with it. WW is easier to stick with, but I'm afraid my health still won't be where I want it when I've lost the weight.

I think the harder path would be better if I can stick with it. Basically, it calls for 1200-1600 calories of lean meats and minimally processed carbs in equal proportions. Healthy fats account for 20% of the daily calorie intake. I think olive oil is okay for most cooking and canola for high heat. Butter is better than margarine when called for, but I don't think it's best for everyday cooking no matter what the gym chick says. She recommends 2 servings of veggies for 1serving of fruit with a combined total of 9-11 per day. I'll try for more vegetables and overall servings, but not 2:1. I'm just not sure what a reasonable cushion for indulgence moments should be.

It requires a lot more detailed tracking, so I'd use another program, but might keep WW for the blogging community. I would also need to talk Bobby into letting me get a heart rate monitor to figure out how much extra to eat to fuel my workouts. (I want one anyway, but I agreed to make it a milestone reward, which is still 16 lbs away.)