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
Sarah,
We recently (finally) got a copy of Nourishing Traditions and gave up our EarthBalance! I’m sure my husband read this post and thought, ‘I told you so!’ in the back of his head at me. We used it for about a year when we decided to go off dairy completely. We’ve since come to our senses. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this super-informative article about the benefits of healthy fats.
Does anyone know if you heat raw coconut oil for long enough if it will loose it’s taste? I like it but my husband hates it and protests everything cooked in coconut oil, so I’ve not been using it. Next time I’ll get the expeller pressed but to use this one up, would heat work to take the taste away? Thanks.
My kids have a milk protein allergy and can’t tolerate butter, so we cook with coconut oil for them. I don’t know what to spread on toast, though… besides Earth Balance, which I know isn’t any good. Suggestions?
Try coconut butter. It’s wonderful!
Would Ghee be a possible other option for someone who can’t eat butter due to a milk protein allergy? I know it takes out the lactose, but what about the proteins (or ANY other possible allergens)
I made a homemade toothpaste with raw coconut oil, baking soda, xylitol and sea salt. It tastes so good sometimes I just want to eat it, and I do, but I limit myself because of the xylitol and baking soda. Maybe you could just do a little coconut sugar and sea salt and they would like that on bread. I rarely eat bread, but they might like that. Also in Spain people pour olive oil on toast for breakfast, sometimes plain, other times with chopped tomato & raw (cured) ham. I quickly switched from butter & jam to this breakfast before I knew anything about WAPF because it tasted better and was more filling. “Tostada con jamon serrano, aceite y tomate” for breakfast when I lived there. You can buy this raw ham as Procuitto here in the US. Best if you can get it from a butcher where the owners are Italian.
Traditional alternatives to modern vegetable oils – Lard that has not been hydrogenated, beef tallow, lamb tallow, coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, even bison tallow. They behave better in cooking, and will not give you an overdose of Omega six oils.
And I forgot to mention one of the best, butter.
Thanks for this article Sarah. I’ve kept the “if I can’t pronounce it, can’t make it myself” as a method for deciding to purchase food products but oils I was not so aware of. I guess i stick with olive oil and coconut oil from your inference. thanks.
Rice bran oil confuses me a bit since it is high in saturated fat, but would be bad because you can’t make it in your kitchen? What about raw cocobutter, shea butter, walnut oil & avocado oils? You could technically make those too, they are high in saturated fat as well. What’s wrong with peanut oil? My grandmother used to use that to deep fry chicken, and seems about as easy (or hard) as coconut oil would be to make at home.
Rice bran oil is an industrially processed oil high in omega 6. It was not used in traditional diets and is best avoided.
Hi Sarah
Can I ask how your husband eats that much cream. Does he drink It? I would love my kids to eat more raw cream and butter but not sure what else to give it with . Raw butter on toast and vegis and cream in ice cream. Would love to hear any suggestions
Plenty of cream in a fruit smoothie should go down easy for the kids. If you use very cold cream and frozen fruit in the blender you will get a soft serve ice cream. Depending on the power of you blender you may need to add some milk or fermented dairy to make a product that isn’t so thick it burns out the motor of your blender.
Homemade ice cream and bowls of cream with fruit.
You repeatedly mention the how these processed vegetable oils are part of the “western” diet? As opposed to what? I assume you are trying to draw a contrast with “eastern” diets? If so, I am afraid you are quite mistaken in this assumption. Asian people generally use tremendous amounts of processed vegetable oil in there cooking. A small Chinese family can easily use up over a gallon of vegetable oil in a month. Same is true of most South East Asian culinary traditions. Japan might be the one exception to the rule, but even the Japanese diet includes plenty of fried noodles and deep fried dishes.
there = their… sorry.
Yes they use a lot of processed oil now but this is a new phenomenon and Asians are starting to get fat just like Westerners as a result.
Lard was used traditionally in China for cooking along with sesame oil that was freshly ground by street vendors.
Amen! Traditional fats may cost more, but we use less in the long run. Plus they are infinitely healthier.