Discussion of how consumption of processed seed oils triggers similar neurological pathways as smoking weed to increase appetite and food intake to make us fat.
Did you know that vegetable oils in the diet not only contribute to health problems but are a big contributor to weight problems too?
Even the so-called heart-healthy vegetable fats like grapeseed oil should be avoided!
As you can see from the photo above, the cooking oils section of the supermarket is overloaded with these types of fats.
These unhealthy lipids also include Smart Balance and other “natural oil blends” in tubs in the refrigerated section. They are, in essence, nothing more than rebranded versions of toxic margarine.
These factory fats are expanding your backside with every spread of the knife on your morning toast whether you realize it or not.
Omega-6 Seed Oil Dangers
The reason behind vegetable, aka “seed” oils and weight gain is the type of fat they contain…omega-6.
Other names for this type of fat are linoleic acid or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).
Note that these factory fats are very different from inflammation-lowering gamma linolenic acid in organ meats and a few other foods. This special kind of omega-6 fat (that acts like an omega-3) actually helps you lose weight.
Are you confused yet?
The rancid seed oils that constitute the primary fats in the Western diet come from soy, corn, rice bran, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, and canola (which also contains rancid omega-3 fat).
While eating seeds and grains in whole food form is not a bad thing, concentrating the oils from them is.
The fact is that there isn’t a whole lot of oil in an ear of corn or a soybean.
Thus, to make an entire bottle of corn or soybean oil takes violent and heavily industrialized processing.
Suffice it to say that you would be hard-pressed to duplicate it in your home kitchen like the ease of churning cream into butter!
Seed Oils and the Munchies
Here’s where the “fat” part comes in.
While a very small amount of omega-6 fats is necessary for health, when consumed in excess as happens with the Western diet, vegetable oils contribute to the overproduction of neuromodulatory lipids.
These substances are called endocannabinoids and are responsible for signaling hunger to the brain.
Guess what these lipids do?
They give you the munchies!
You may notice that the word endocannabinoids is similar to the etymology of cannabis (weed). Weed is famous for giving people the munchies too.
Thus, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to consider seed oils as the marijuana of fatty acids.
Now you know why you can’t stop eating a jumbo bag of chips or a box of cookies made with corn, soy, sunflower, or any other high omega-6 seed oil.
What about that organic dressing loaded with omega-6 oils drizzled on your salad at lunchtime?
Could it be a contributing reason for the urge to overeat on the main course or the snack attack at 3 pm?
Traditional Fats Cause Satiation, Not Overeating
Just try to gorge yourself the same way with a box of cookies made with butter or coconut oil.
Even French fries traditionally cooked in beef fat (tallow) are difficult to overeat.
You see, whole natural fats like tallow satiate you and keep your blood sugar steady.
The result is that you stay full and comfortable for longer in addition to eating much less in the first place!
Vegetable oils, on the other hand, stimulate you neurologically to keep eating far beyond what constitutes a healthy portion.
What’s most troubling is that food manufacturers are doubling down on the vegetable oil scam.
Instead of switching their products to better fats, they continue to use the most damaging (and profitable) ones.
Adding insult to injury, manufacturers market some of these munchie-inducing fats such as CLA safflower oil as a weight loss aid!
It seems with America’s weight problem now at a crisis level, it’s time for a return to the traditional fats of our ancestors.
Isn’t it high time to stop listening to the talking heads on TV and take matters into your own hands?
Do a pantry cleanout and chuck every item that contains fats that require a literal factory to process.
Your stomach and your backside will thank you!
Get the Skinny on Fat
My book Get Your Fats Straight
References
(1) Why Women Need Fat, William Lassek MD
(2) Dark Calories: How Vegetable Oils Destroy Our Health, Cate Shanahan MD
I have a question regarding Canola Oil. As a tour bus operator, my husband travels quite a bit. During a recent trip, he was able to visit with his sister in VA. She gave him a jar of 100% organic, unrefined expeller pressed Canola Oil, that was locally produced by her neighbors. I know that refined processed Canola Oil that is sold in the stores is not good, but is this locally produced unrefined organic oil ok to use in cooking? I hate to waste it and my husband really thought he was doing a “good” thing. Of course I am not using it in place of raw grassfed butter, and pure coconut oil. I just want to know if I can use it in conjunction with the healthy saturated fats.
Thanks for your posts. They are so very informative!
You absolutely cannot cook with canola as it is high in omega 3 fats which are delicate and go rancid quite easily.
Hi Roseann,
Maybe you could make some salad dressing or something like that with it? That way you could use it without heating it : )
I’m quite proud to say the only reason canola oil is in my pantry is for making homemade playdough!
Ooo, how do you do that?
http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com/2011/08/kool-aid-playdough.html
Great way to use up any leftover bad stuff too.
Excellent use for what is really an industrialized oil not fit for human consumption. But, playdoh? That’s another matter entirely. 🙂
Another great post. This is one of the big things I first noticed when switching to saturated fats – I got full. Simple, but effective. When I remember to take my tablespoon of coconut oil 20 minutes before meals, I know it helps me to avoid overeating.
Did it cause you to lose weight? The saturated fat theory is so true. It does fill me up but I want to lose about 10 lbs.
I was having a discussion about fats and cholesterol with my mom last week. She was showing frustration that her cholesterol was so high. A few years ago she went to Africa on a humanitarian mission for four months. While they were there the food choices were limited, as you can imagine. She ate more butter and eggs than she has ever before and her cholesterol went down and she lost weight! Of course, she came home and got back on her fake butter and gained the weight back and her cholesterol went back up.
One more plug…I had a hard time convincing my husband to switch away from spread margarine. I bought a Butter Bell and love it. Real butter spreads nicely!
Isn’t it amazing the cognitive dissonance that happens when our experience doesn’t jive with what we’re told. We are so conditioned to trust authorities that we discount contradictory evidence. Thanks, Sarah, for your hard work getting us back to reality.
Yes, we must come back to trusting our powers of observation more than what the talking heads and the so called “experts” are trying to make us believe USUALLY with the end result being profit for themselves or those that sponsor their meaningless media chatter.
My Grandpa ate 2 eggs fried in butter every morning for breakfast and ate the thick strip of fat around his steaks. He lived to be 97 on his own independently (chewed tobacco right up into his 90’s too). I don’t know about you, but I’m eating like HIM. I’ll skip the chewing tobacco though 🙂
Although I completely agree that industrial seed oils are not good at all, I can’t say I agree with you when you say that they are bad because they cause you to overeat, in comparison to saturated fats. I have baked a pound of sweet potato fries that were covered with coconut oil and sea salt and still ended up eating them all in one sitting.
Of course you can still overeat on the good stuff. There were still a few overweight folks years ago when processed vegetable oils didn’t exist. Omega-6 fats make it a daily habit though instead of an occasional indulgence.
A very important point!
@Dan – sweet potato fries in coconut oil and sea salt sound delicious. No wonder you ate the whole pound! At least it was healthy saturated fat and not the deadly liquid grain-based oil.
It has been sooo looong since one of these oils was in my pantry – canola was my family’s choice years ago. I wish I’d known then how it was made!!! I even admit to eating Country Crock – Churn Style (what a crock, huh? – pun intended)… I think it has now been over 12 years since I’ve cooked with anything but lard, ghee, coconut oil and occasionally peanut oil. I love going back to traditional fats. I have always loved butter and have eaten it by the spoonfull growing up… I hope to instill the same love in both my boys – my younger 2 YO loves it as I do and my almost 8 YO is on his way!!
Sarah, I am so excited to find your blog! I am new to WAPF and am still reading the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. I have thought of myself as a health fanatic for most of my adult life, but I am finding out that all the different ways I’ve tried to eat has really made me sick!
I will be visiting your site daily and I do have one question. What bran of sourdough bread do you eat? Do you purchase it in the store or online? I think I am confused when it states simply Sourdough or sprouted. If you would share a few brands I would greatly appreciate it.
You are lovely looking, your skin is beautiful and your eyes sparkle. I want that healthy glow too. Thank you for such a wonderful blog!
There are several brands I enjoy … you should really buy the WAPF Shopping Guide and it lists many many excellent brands of bread that you can either find at the healthfood store or by mail order.
One August in the late 1970s, a cousin and I decided that we could take an ear of corn and turn it into butter. Easy, right? That’s what the oleo was made from.
We stripped the kernels off a few cobs and set about mashing them in a big molcajete. Then mashed and mashed and mashed, but we never got butter.
Deciding we were using the wrong tool, we got the butter churn out and dumped our corn mash into that. Still didn’t work.
Apparently you can’t get butter from corn. Who knew?
If people only can just grasp that they can’t make this stuff in their own kitchens they will realize what an incredibly unhealthy processed food these vegetable oils truly are. If you can’t make it in your kitchen easily, it shouldn’t be eaten.
That is a great saying. And absolutely true. It was not even possible to make these kinds of vegetable oil until the twentieth century. And they require heavy processing to reach the form of oil. But, as you said, if you cannot make in your kitchen easily, it should not be eaten.
Yes! That’s great Sarah ….oh I am learning sooo much . I hope someone asked what leaf lard is though ! 🙂
Hi Sarah,
I just found your blog. So nice to find other real foodies out there when time allows me.
Oh, how it makes me cringe when folks start trying to tell me how soy, corn, and Canola oils are good for us. Ick!!!