Q & A: How concerned should I be about seed oils? Are seed oils making Americans fat and ruining our health?
A: Seed oils have been a big part of the obesity epidemic, but not because there’s anything particularly “bad” about seed oils. Americans today eat 800 calories more per day then we did in 1961, and half of those calories have come from vegetable oils.
Adding 400 calories of avocado oil, olive oil or grass-fed beef tallow would all have the same negative impact on our health. It’s just calories, and all fats are dense sources of calories. While the human body does need some fat stored on it, adding 25 pounds (on average) is going to lead to negative health outcomes.
What’s more is that during the same 55 year period our step counts have gone from 14,000+ down to just 3-4,000. We’re drowning in calories and starving for activity, and bickering about seed oils online consumes the time you could’ve spent walking.
Interesting Facts
- At 3,600 calories per day (the average number of calories Americans eat per day), most women would need to average 23,000 steps per day to maintain their weight.
- Castro took over Cuba in 1959 (almost the same time period), and while the average American has gained 25 pounds, the average Cuban has lost 19 pounds*. Why? Because centrally planned economies (socialism, communism, etc.) do not work, unless you define “work” as “effective means of starving an entire nation” or “making everyone economically equal by plunging everyone into extreme poverty.”
- Our taste buds have no limit on how much fat they enjoy. What I mean is that food generally tastes better with some salt, but keep adding salt and eventually your food is too salty (gross). Same for sweetness – food can get too sweet. However, food scientists have added as much fat as possible to foods and the result is always that people crave it more. This is a big practical reason why the lion’s share of the extra calories in our diets have come from oils.
*The 19 pound statistic (for those who survive) is pretty consistent: Venezuelans lost about 19 pounds on average after Chavez “liberated” his citizens from the “evils of capitalism” and delivered them into a “socialist utopia.” North Koreans, who live in the “worker’s paradise” that Kim Il Sung started, weigh 20 pounds less than their South Korean neighbors.
Quick Seed Oil Q & A
Q1: Do the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from seed oils really stick around for 2 years in your body?
A1: You determine how long the PUFAs (or MUFAs or SFAs) stick around. (MUFA = monounsaturated fatty acid, and SFA = saturated fatty acids. PUFAs, MUFAs and SFAs are the 3 types of dietary fat.) Meaning that if you eat more calories than you burn some of the fats you eat will be stored in your fat cells. Those individual fatty acids will stick around until you give your body a reason to use those calories, and if not they’ll be with you until you die.
Q2: Do the PUFA’s in seed oils drive inflammation?
A2: Excess bodyfat drives inflammation, so, yes, overeating seed oils (or tallow or olive oil) will all drive inflammation. Conversely, losing body fat reduces inflammation, and reducing your fat intake (from all sources) is the most effective way to reduce body fat. Fat is more fattening than anything else calorie for calorie.
Q3: What’s the most important thing to know about seed oils?
A3: Time spend researching seed oils and whatnot is time that would be better spent walking or exercising. Nobody needs more time spend motionless in front of any device.