Know your oils for healthier cooking

Spend a little time in the cooking oil section of your grocery aisle and you'll quickly realize you need a reference guide. Canola oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, olive oil, sesame oil, and so on for shelf after shelf. I just want to saute my vegetables and maybe stir-fry some chicken -- but what do I use? Then there are the options: virgin, extra virgin, expeller expressed, organic. And at my food co-op, they're all telling me not to use anything but coconut oil. What's a girl -- a girl who's trying to make better friends with her kitchen, stove top, and cooking utensils -- to do?

I turned to my friend the Internet, and here is what I found -- a clearly written, printable list of various cooking oils and their specific uses. Not only that, this article tells you whether the oil is an omega-3 or omega-6, important because most of us are getting far too many omega-6 oils in our diets, as well as the health benefits of each one.

So now I'm off to make stir-fry for dinner, and I know I can use coconut oil, canola oil, or even the sesame oil I bought last week. It makes me wish every one of life's little questions could be organized into a neat little printable list, you know?