There are many foods that are labelled “unhealthy”, and what these are depends largely on the nutrition paradigm you follow.
However, there is one food that is universally not good for you, that should be avoided as much as possible. And that food is vegetable oil.
Avoiding vegetable oil may be quite a challenge, as there is vegetable oil in so many pre-packaged and processed foods, as well as takeout and restaurant food. It’s everywhere.
However, as you will soon see, it’s so important to avoid as it’s likely impacting your health more than you realize.
Importance
There are various reasons why vegetable oils are so bad for us:
- Vegetable oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids. While these acids, like omega-3s fatty acids, are important for our health and must be obtained by the diet, we are consuming way too many of them. These omega-6s throw out the balance of omega 6:omega 3, and drive inflammation.
- Vegetable oils are a relatively new addition to our diet — oils like butter, lard, and coconut oil have been around a whole lot longer — creating what is known as an “evolutionary mismatch”
- These oils are incredibly unstable — meaning they can easily oxidize and produce harmful by products.
- This oxidation leads to the production of free radicals, which are molecules that can damage our cells as well as cause inflammation and disease. This is dangerous for the brain, as the brain is especially vulnerable to free radicals.
- Chris Kresser highlights the terrifying process of how vegetable oils are produced:
“First, seeds are gathered from the soy, corn, cotton, safflower, and rapeseed plants. Next, the seeds are heated to extremely high temperatures; this causes the unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds to oxidize, creating by products that are harmful to human and animal health. The seeds are then processed with a petroleum-based solvent, such as hexane, to maximize the amount of oil extracted from them. Next, industrial seed oil manufacturers use chemicals to deodorize the oils, which have a very off-putting smell once extracted. The deodorization process produces trans fats, which are well known to be quite harmful to human health. Finally, more chemicals are added to improve the colour of the industrial seed oils.”
As you can see by this process, these oils have numerous chemical additives and contain various toxic by products created by this process.
- The consumption of these oils leads to chronic inflammation and has been linked to almost every health condition, from asthma and diabetes to autoimmune conditions and depression.
Action Steps
Oils to avoid:
- Canola
- Corn
- Cottonseed
- Soybean
- Sunflower
- Safflower
- Peanut oils
You’re going to have to start looking at ingredient lists, and avoiding takeout food as much as possible. Also be aware of foods that may be cooked in these oils when at restaurants, and opt for foods that haven’t been cooked in oil. Restaurants use vegetable oils because they’re so cheap, so if something is oily, it’s almost always vegetable oil.
Avoid packaged foods such as cookies and crackers. Avoid margarine and shortening. Opt for healthier sources of omega-6s such as nuts, avocados, and meat.
Cook with these oils:
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Coconut oil
- Lard
While it would be incredibly challenging to avoid vegetable oils completely, the idea here is to limit your consumption as much as possible. Simply having an awareness of foods likely to contain these oils is a huge step in the right direction. Consuming these every now and then is okay (though still not ideal), but having these oils every day will undoubtedly wreak havoc on your body and your brain.
