Seed Oils vs Animal Fats

 

Looking at switching to a healthier diet and lifestyle? One big first step that will make a huge difference, is ditching the seed oils and switching to animal fats for cooking. Heating these oils, as in cooking and frying, releases toxins into your food, like the hexane solvent used to release the oil from the seed. It's deemed as "safe" in Canada but is going through some testing by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) now. Traces of it are left in the oils. It's a neurotoxin. Need I say more? Seed oils have been linked to inflammation (like arthritis, eczema, and worse).

Seed oils are usually: canola, corn, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and also palm oil because of how it's processed. Coconut oil is not a seed oil, but is over 80% saturated fats with no omega 3's.

The hexane is a health problem and heating the seed oils breaks down polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) to create toxins like
aldehydes (e.g., HNE, formaldehyde), lipid peroxides, and trans fats. These harmful compounds are associated with oxidative stress, inflammation, and potential cardiovascular damage. So, if you still want to use oils in your kitchen, look for organic and cold pressed oils. Keep these in the fridge to stop them from getting rancid. Read the label to make sure it's not cut with a cheaper oil.

You can spend a fortune buying organic cold pressed oils for all your cooking or ... you can use tallow, lard and butter instead. Animal fats contain omega 3's. Any animal fat is so much better for you than any oil. I don't have oils in my kitchen anymore. I kept a little bit, for awhile, to oil my cast iron cookware, but even that's gone now. I do have olive oil for making my own skin/hair care products but I don't cook with it. I use tallow, lard and butter instead. Lard is the cheapest of the three animal fats I use. If you have your own meat or hunt, you will have your own fat to cook with. Veg shortening (ie Crisco) is palm oil.

Another problem with using oils is the omega 6 vs omega 3 problem. All of these oils are omega 6 heavy with no omega 3's. Because they share receptor (GPR120) and enzymes, high consumption of omega-6 can interfere with the metabolism and effectiveness of omega-3. Omega-6 is generally converted into pro-inflammatory mediators, while omega-3 is converted into anti-inflammatory compounds. They often compete and cancel each other out. So... it's very important to limit your omega 6 intake, if you want to stop inflammation, as in arthritis. Animal fats have omega 3. Grass fed is higher in omega 3 but is a lot more expensive. Even less expensive grain fed animal fats have plenty of omega 3, but also some omega 6, since they are fed grain. "You are what you eat." that goes for animals too. Humans eating bread and grains and using plant oils, get more omega 6 than they need, far more, and not enough omega 3. Another reason to switch to animal fats for cooking.