SEED OILS ARE A PROBLEM
We should use them less...
Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Sunflower Oil, and Canola Oil are among the most popular seed oils. They are oils taken from seeds, or beans, or from a 'kernel' of corn.
These oils are used a LOT in Canada and The United States.
The main oils that are NOT 'seed oils' are:
Olive Oil
Avocado Oil
Coconut Oil
Animal Fats like Tallow, Lard, and Butter
I think we can safely say that Olive, Avocado, and Coconut Oils are generally considered to be about the best and healthiest oils we can use.
There is a big debate over the Animal Fats – are they healthy??
But animal fats have been used for thousands of years.
Seed Oils Are New and Industrial
The Seed Oils are the newest. I think the first seed oil was put out by Proctor and Gamble around 1911.
Because seed oils have to be 'industrially created', they're not really 'natural oils' as the others are.
Nina Teicholz, the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Big Fat Surprise” says:
"Seeds, nuts, [and] beans can only be made into an oil in a factory. It needs to go through so many industrial steps in order to create the oil.”
So seed oils are, almost by definition, more corporate and less natural.
Why Are Seed Oils So Common?
But, seed oils are used a lot in our foods.
Restaurants use them because they are cheaper.
And because they are cheaper, and supposedly pretty healthy as well, they are widely used in processed and ultra-processed foods.
So they are not really natural, but they are very widely used, and they displace good oils like olive, avocado and coconut because they are cheaper.
And also we've been told for some decades now that meat oils, which were widely used for many thousands of years, were unhealthy.
But now it is widely believed that the seed oils that replaced them are definitely unhealthy.
What I Personally Do
Personally I try and buy as little processed foods as possible.
For cooking, if I am going to fry some vegetables I always mix a little oil – I like olive oil or coconut oil – in with a bit of water and stir-fry the vegetables in a water / oil mix.
The water keeps the oil from getting too hot, and you still get a bit of the nice taste of 'fried food'.
Someone showed me that style and I've used it ever since.
And I try to cook the same with, for example, chicken too – a similar kind of water/oil mix.
You lose the great 'fried' taste, but I think you get a healthier food.
Or sometimes one way and sometimes another?
Final Thoughts on Seed Oils
But back to seed oils:
I think olive and coconut oil are healthier than seed oils.
I think Animal Fats may be healthier than seed oils as well.
The Science and the Trust Problem
The Science:
We often don't know who is 'paying for' the science, so it's hard to know what to trust.
Usually the media are more interested in corporate profit than they are in our health, so we have to always be careful when trusting the media.
And the politicians are even worse, so just because the government says it's safe (like they say that GMO foods and Roundup are safe)...
Sadly the government saying it is safe is totally meaningless.
As I said, for me:
I try to buy as little processed foods as possible
I buy good quality oils (organic and in glass bottles)
I cook using a water/oil mix
And at restaurants, I guess we are really on our own.
But ... bottom line, good food is important for our health so we should try to eat as good as we can.
And I really think that for most of us, if we eat good food rather than unhealthy food, it will make a difference.
(This article is based on a story I read by Dr. Joseph Mercola in 'The Defender' which is the online newspaper of the group Children's Health Defense, a group started by Robert Kennedy prior to his presidential campaign last year. (Was that really Last Year?))
