Mainstream nutritional thinking and recommendations still involve avoiding saturated fats, meat, dairy, and anything not plant-based to lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid chronic degenerative diseases, including heart disease.
Our most trusted government health organizations, and their media pundits, blame the consumption of saturated fats, cholesterol, and animal foods as the scourge of humanity and killers of the earth.
However, this thinking is based more on politics and financial incentives rather than what is best for optimal human function and the actual preponderance of scientific data.
Let’s keep it simple here.
The preponderance of scientific evidence shows that replacing animal fats high in saturated fat and cholesterol with plant-based fats like vegetable and seed oils does NOT lead to better health outcomes. (To learn more about the importance of cholesterol and saturated fat on health outcomes, watch this webinar.)
In fact, the evidence shows the OPPOSITE is true. We have clear mechanistic data that shows how the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and vegetable/seed oils leads to cellular inflammation and worse health outcomes, and higher rates of disease (including heart disease) over time.
So, to summarize:
- Eating a variety of animals fats and minimally processed plant fats = less inflammation and better health outcomes.
- Overconsumption of processed fats (vegetable/seed oils) leads to worse health outcomes over time, including heart disease.
Fat in foods is composed of, and can be broken down into, many different types of fatty acids. All of which can play a key role in the proper function of the human body.
However, when we consume too much of specific fatty acids (Omega-6 Linoleic Acid), we get hyper-oxidation (inflammation) of the cells in ALL of our tissues. This, of course, leads to many different disease outcomes OVER TIME.
Vegetable and seed oils contain overly high amounts of Omega-6 Linoleic acid.
Vegetable and seed oils are in just about EVERYTHING you see at the grocery store.
Why? Because they are cheap!
Sadly, most food companies care more about their bottom line than using ingredients that optimize human health.
Thus, most humans (especially in the United States) are consuming excessive amounts of these inflammatory fats/fatty acids.
This would explain why we are one of the sickest countries in the world, with some of the highest rates of chronic degenerative diseases (including heart disease).
High amounts of omega-6 linoleic acid in the diet OVER TIME leads to an increasingly pro-inflammatory phenotype. In other words, habitually consuming all the crap lining the shelves at your local Cub Foods, Wal-Mart, etc. etc., will inevitably lead to physical manifestation of disease (symptoms) OVER TIME.
It’s just science and common sense.
I keep emphasizing OVER TIME.
Why? Because it is important to understand that the physical manifestation of most sickness and diseases (symptoms) takes time to develop. Indeed, many fatal heart attacks and advanced cancers go undetected. The reality is, most of the underlying inflammatory mechanisms that produce cancer and heart disease, go unnoticed throughout life.
The presence of symptoms can take YEARS to occur. Inflammation and the degradation of human tissue doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a time dependent process that involves complex mechanisms. It is affected by EVERYTHING you do on a HABITUAL basis.
The complexity of why any individual human being stays healthy or gets sick is affected by the dynamics of their habitual lifestyle habits/choices.
How do you think, move, eat, and interact every day? What environmental carcinogens are you exposing your body to habitually?
The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” couldn’t be more accurate. It is always easier to stop something from happening in the first place than to attempt to repair the damage after it has happened.
Which is why it is always a worthwhile endeavor to work to create lifestyle habits that optimize your health.
IN SUMMARY:
Here are the fats you should be looking to cook with and consume regularly as they are less inflammatory and provide nutrients that optimize body function:
- Beef Tallow
- Lard
- Butter/Ghee
- Coconut Oil
- 100% Pure Avocado Oil
Here are the fats that you should be MINIMIZING in your diet and NOT cooking with as they contain a HIGH amount of Omega-6 Linoleic Acid:
- Soybean Oil
- Cottonseed Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Safflower Oil
- Peanut Oil
- Corn Oil
- Canola/Rapeseed Oil
The replacement of the above inflammatory fats with healthier fats can be one of the most beneficial steps a human can take to better their health and life.
Complete Chiropractic 