Before harvesting sunflowers and rape, farmers spray the crops with herbicide to ensure that the plants mature at the same time. This process is also called desiccation. One of the most common sprays is glyphosate. For this reason, the oil obtained from plants that have been forced to mature and then harvested and processed has a high glyphosate content. This high glyphosate content is devastating to our health. Amongst other things, it inhibits the production of lactase enzyme in the base of the intestinal epithelial cells. So many people are lactose intolerant.
It’s so insane that crops are routinely sprayed with glyphosate prior to harvest. We need more awareness on that so people stop eating poison! Thanks for your post.
A desiccant is a drying agent, or substance, or thing. My guess is that the “desication” you read on coconut oil is describing some aspect of the process. Can you specify how the word is used? No coco oil in my house has the word desiccation on label, and so I’m curious about yours. What brand?
" Ranger Pro with 41% Glyphosate (same active ingredient as Roundup) is a complete broad spectrum non-selective post-emergent professional herbicide. " They will do whatever it takes to ge a harvest in. These are our great American Harvesters. You sprinkle your crops with herbicide. Gee, what a great idea. So --- what does "herbicide" do? Kill herbs? Before harvesting : kill them a little. Oh yeah? I don't think so. See my surresalistic post: Billionaire Vignette for a complete story of the the (alleged) secrets of the billionaires. Or ---some of em!!!!#
When I have recovered after my cancer surgery, a doctor (whom I should have met earlier and I am sure I could have avoided the operation) told me that basically I could eat anything in moderation, but should stay away from 3 types of food:
- these oils
- MSG
- artificial sweeteners.
That was 15 years ago, and so I am keeping this advice as best as I can. And I am looking and feeling great for my age (except for two chronic conditions that were caused by the surgery 🙁)
However, a question: grapeseed oil???
Here in Hungary we have it cold-pressed and it is said to have great health benefits.
Hey there! so grapeseed oil has the following fat ingredients:
Saturated: 10%
Monounsaturated: 16%
Polyunsaturated: 70%
The problem with it is that the polyunsaturated (PUFAs) are unstable with double bonds that easily break down in your body and create free radicals. So they cause chronic inflammation which contributes to all kinds of metabolic disorders. Cold pressed is of course better than other extraction, but are you sure they don't process it with hexane after pressing?
Because nothing says this is fit for human consumption like:
- a 70 minute wash with "a solvent"
- a 20 minute wash with sodium hydroxide
- a further bleaching process
However, we're not quite done yet because the product smells so bad they have to use a "steam injection process" to remove the stench from the final product.
I'm reminded that a friend of mine knew of a girl working in a lab, doing cancer research: the best way to have the cancer cells reproduce in vitro was vegetable oils and sugar. 'nough said.
There are so much information, all different and which one do you choose. Personally do not eat any of them and use only olive oil and peanut oil sometimes, all are organic. The olive oil I get from Amazon is from small farms in Italy, the wild olive oil is excellent and light. The problem if you enjoy french fries, restaurants use Canola oil. I enjoy french fries but avoid them but sneak in an order once in a while. Canola oil really puts on the weight when one eats in restaurants, etc. With all the different information remember we live in a realm of duality, everything has it opposites. Be just like Frances, know and listen to your body, if you feel off, or your body tries to eliminate it quickly, just do not go there no matter what you read. Much love to everyone.
If you're after getting the right balance of Omega 3 to Omega 6, you'll have your work cut out for you. Most of the cuts of pork and chicken that are enjoyable (the fattier portions) are very high in Omega 6 because of the diet these monogastric animals consume. Forget ever eating bacon. It's a significant source of Omega 6 even though it doesn't have to be that way if a pig were on an ancestral diet.
But I think the tide is turning, and the Ray Peat, Bio Energetic people are seeing vindication about the dangers of both Omega 3 and Omega 6 as a source of PUFA. I'm with them. Just avoid PUFA altogether. Not just seed oils, but cold fish oil and any animals fed a high grain / soy meal diet.
You can use animal fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil. I wrote about it on my substack if you need more info, in the post about vegetable oil.
No matter how you extract it, that isn't the whole story. The problem with it is that the polyunsaturated (PUFAs) are unstable with double bonds that easily break down in your body and create free radicals. So they cause chronic inflammation which contributes to all kinds of metabolic disorders. Cold pressed is of course better than other extraction but it is still an unstable oil. I wrote an article about this problem today.
Being organic wouldn't make a difference to the level of heat to extract the oil, which this article implies is the man problem. Cold press would and is a more expensive way to press olives traditionally.
I'm trying to find more info on sunflower and avocado oils as I've seen a lot of propaganda but nothing that really educates me to make a decision.
I’m not an expert but just sharing my personal research. I think sunflower might be high in omega 6 and is probably not a very stable oil, in or outside of the body. I think avocado oil is fine but the trick is finding a brand that is not adulterated. Avocado oil and olive oil are both more along the lines of a high fat fruit juice because they come from the flesh and not the seed of the plant. But, they are both commonly diluted because it’s a good (profitable) way to mark a product cheaper in order to outperform sales of higher quality more expensive brands.
I think your information is right on the money! Sunflower oil is one of the worst out there, basically all seed oils. Avocados and olives are fruit, so they are safe, and of course there's always coconut oil too.
I know that Chosen Foods Avocado Oil and Primal Kitchens Avocado Oil have both tested pure as of last year.
That’s what I had read too. Hopefully whoever tested acted in good faith. It’s hard to know for sure these days but my Chosen Foods avocado oil tasted like avocado oil in a good way. I just opened a bottle from a generic brand and it’s not as good.
We have a specialty shop in our small town with very high quality EVOO. Estate grown, not mixed from different countries. The cost reflects this. Maybe there is a shop near you that has some also. Another option is dr Mercola’s website. He has an excellent brand. But, I don’t cook with it because I believe it looses the valuable nutrients when heated significantly. Anyway, good luck!
We have a shop that buys it buy the barrel and let's people mix it. I don't trust that it's not bulk bought. Before the pandemic I used to run food and drink tastings. I worked with The Oil Merchant who is the middle man of the estate grown oil industry who sells to places like Harrods and all the boutique shops shops that sell estate produced foods. We did lots of oil tastings over the years teaching people the art of drizzling and dipping olive oil. You are correct that it shouldn't be heated.
I'm looking for something healthy I can cook with.
I'm in America now where authentic food seems rare in comparison to England.
But worse, you can't trust the information. When I googled avocado oil, it seemed like the propaganda machine was spinning out the same article on avocado oil, which is why I bought sunflower. But I've since heard all seed oils are bad. However it can't be as bad as crisco that my mother cooks with, so it's a step in the right direction.
I don't mind paying more for quality, but I resent paying more for false representation of better health when it's not.
Yes, it is really, really difficult to find quality food and ingredients unless you know the farmer or grow it yourself. For cooking, I’ve been using avocado oil, grass fed butter or tallow (that I rendered). I’m crossing my fingers on the avocado oil but I did research the brand a bit. I’ve kind of settled on doing the best I can in as many areas as I can and just keep improving when I find better info. I do use evoo that tastes like quality real olive oil on my salads. Crossing fingers.
Organic is still important, when it comes to non-GMO and pesticides, but I'm mostly interested in "cold-pressed." I think, it was canola in my case; it didn't bother my digestion (I can't use most of the oils on the list) and it was good for pizza dough. :)
Just food for thought. My understanding is that canola oil has negative effects on cognitive function. When I was looking into the issue of canola oil, I could only find one rat study and the rats suffered from dementia-like symptoms after consuming it. Sorry, don’t have a link. I was hoping to find human studies but couldn’t. To me, if there are not good human studies, there’s probably a reason why. I specify “good human studies” because many studies use proxy endpoints, don’t use good design, and they don’t test things for any significant length of time. Not only could I not find good studies, I couldn’t really find any human studies. To me, I would assume that they did studies but probably didn’t have results they wanted to share with the public. My assumption could be wrong.
I just don’t think any seed oils were meant to be consumed by humans at significant quantities. Even if it’s cold pressed, it may not have been oxidized during processing but it may still be likely to oxidize in the body due to it being an unstable oil.
You should look into Dr. Chris Knobbe, author of "The Ancestral Diet Revolution: How Vegetable Oils and Processed Foods Destroy Our Health – and How to Recover!” and “Ancestral Dietary Strategy to Prevent and Treat Macular Degeneration” . I think some of his work discusses the affects of vegetable oil on the human brain.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll check them out. My overall favorite health book is The Good Gut by the Sonnenburgs. It’s more about the microbiome but excellent either way.
We do. Animal fats, extra virgin organic olive oil (Costco brand, which is supposed to be unadulterated), and coconut oil is all we use. My digression to cold-pressed organic canola oil was restricted to pizza dough. For that purpose, it worked better than anything else I tried.
Things can still be GMO and organic, and I think we will have many GMO foods labelled as organic in the upcoming years as the reason to make them GMO is they need less pesticides from my understanding.
Sorry to hear that you have problems with some oils on digestion. Cold press might be the solution.
It is my understanding that one of the biggest reasons for genetically modifying a crop is so that it can be made to withstand pesticides. I have not heard that gmos are to make crops more organic.
I think you are right that they are better able to 'withstand pesticides' but they also may be modified so that they have some sort of disease resistant chemical inside of them so they need less, from my understanding but I'm not an expert. Just passing on what I read for others to research.
I wouldn't rule out Vitamin D supplementation purely on the basis of its being used in rat poison. Theobromine in chocolate is poisonous to dogs and can be fatal for them but no one's suggesting humans shouldn't eat chocolate for that reason and we're even told that chocolate contains ingredients good for us.
I haven't really started reading on the vitamin scam but I accept at the outset there probably is one. Nevertheless my approach is to treat ourselves as our own laboratory and if a supplement is suggested there's no harm in trying it and seeing what effect it has, informing ourselves as much as possible on the exact ingredients and how it was made. I definitely find magnesium works for me from time to time.
As I say, dpl, I haven't looked at the vitamin scam, I'm just saying that because something is used to poison an animal isn't necessarily a reason for humans not to consume it, eg, chocolate is ok for humans but not for dogs so I wouldn't use the fact that Vitamin D is used to poison rats as a reason not to take it - use other reasons which I'm sure you have, right?
I will look at the vitamin scam in time and even hearing about it has kind of turned me off any inclination to take them ... so much to read not enough time.
I don't see how it's outlandish, dpl. The essential point is that what's poisonous to one species isn't necessarily poisonous to another so the fact of something being poisonous to another species isn't automatically a reason for humans not to consume it. I don't see what's wrong with the dog/chocolate analogy to rat/Vitamin D. Sure, if Vitamin D tablets have got something wrong with them that is bad for humans then that is why we shouldn't take them not because Vitamin D is poisonous to rats.
The reason vegetable oils are called vegetable oils isn't because they come from vegetables, eg, sunflowers aren't vegetables. They're called vegetable to differentiate from animal. My feeling though is it's not the source so much as the processing that's the problem.
Before harvesting sunflowers and rape, farmers spray the crops with herbicide to ensure that the plants mature at the same time. This process is also called desiccation. One of the most common sprays is glyphosate. For this reason, the oil obtained from plants that have been forced to mature and then harvested and processed has a high glyphosate content. This high glyphosate content is devastating to our health. Amongst other things, it inhibits the production of lactase enzyme in the base of the intestinal epithelial cells. So many people are lactose intolerant.
It’s so insane that crops are routinely sprayed with glyphosate prior to harvest. We need more awareness on that so people stop eating poison! Thanks for your post.
☠️☠️BAN GLYPHOSATE!!!! ☠️☠️
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Thanks for this explanation. I've seen this word, desiccation, on coconut oils - do you know how it's connected?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer that. I live in Hungary, not traditionally a coconut producing country. :)
A desiccant is a drying agent, or substance, or thing. My guess is that the “desication” you read on coconut oil is describing some aspect of the process. Can you specify how the word is used? No coco oil in my house has the word desiccation on label, and so I’m curious about yours. What brand?
My mistake it was with dried coconut flakes not oil. The term that I was confused by was fractioned when it came to oil. Appreciate the guidance.
As an example:
Organic Fine Shredded Coconut Flakes - 2 lb, Unsweetened, Desiccated, Coconut Shreds for Baking, Smoothies and Cereals | Fine, Raw and Dried Coconut, Non-GMO, Vegan, Gluten Free - Ava Farms https://a.co/d/at83k2I
" Ranger Pro with 41% Glyphosate (same active ingredient as Roundup) is a complete broad spectrum non-selective post-emergent professional herbicide. " They will do whatever it takes to ge a harvest in. These are our great American Harvesters. You sprinkle your crops with herbicide. Gee, what a great idea. So --- what does "herbicide" do? Kill herbs? Before harvesting : kill them a little. Oh yeah? I don't think so. See my surresalistic post: Billionaire Vignette for a complete story of the the (alleged) secrets of the billionaires. Or ---some of em!!!!#
Thanks!
When I have recovered after my cancer surgery, a doctor (whom I should have met earlier and I am sure I could have avoided the operation) told me that basically I could eat anything in moderation, but should stay away from 3 types of food:
- these oils
- MSG
- artificial sweeteners.
That was 15 years ago, and so I am keeping this advice as best as I can. And I am looking and feeling great for my age (except for two chronic conditions that were caused by the surgery 🙁)
However, a question: grapeseed oil???
Here in Hungary we have it cold-pressed and it is said to have great health benefits.
What's wrong with it?
Hey there! so grapeseed oil has the following fat ingredients:
Saturated: 10%
Monounsaturated: 16%
Polyunsaturated: 70%
The problem with it is that the polyunsaturated (PUFAs) are unstable with double bonds that easily break down in your body and create free radicals. So they cause chronic inflammation which contributes to all kinds of metabolic disorders. Cold pressed is of course better than other extraction, but are you sure they don't process it with hexane after pressing?
It can be processed without hexane - if you want to pay AUD 43 for 4oz :)
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cold-pressed-Unrefined-Hexane-free-Rejuvenates-Moisturizer/dp/B07B7GCHJT?th=1
That’s a good point, but I don’t think you can buy it very cheap on the shelf here in North America either
This video explains how canola oil is made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfk2IXlZdbI
Because nothing says this is fit for human consumption like:
- a 70 minute wash with "a solvent"
- a 20 minute wash with sodium hydroxide
- a further bleaching process
However, we're not quite done yet because the product smells so bad they have to use a "steam injection process" to remove the stench from the final product.
I've known guys who worked in the canola plant. All of them have sworn off eating anything with that stuff in it FOREVER>
What about cold milled flax seed oil?
You don't mention it.
Isn't olive oil "vegetable oil" as well though?
Genuine question. Please help me understand.
I'm reminded that a friend of mine knew of a girl working in a lab, doing cancer research: the best way to have the cancer cells reproduce in vitro was vegetable oils and sugar. 'nough said.
Yes, Mercola has warned of this too. Only use good quality olive oil in moderation, butter, beef dripping and other animal fats.
There are so much information, all different and which one do you choose. Personally do not eat any of them and use only olive oil and peanut oil sometimes, all are organic. The olive oil I get from Amazon is from small farms in Italy, the wild olive oil is excellent and light. The problem if you enjoy french fries, restaurants use Canola oil. I enjoy french fries but avoid them but sneak in an order once in a while. Canola oil really puts on the weight when one eats in restaurants, etc. With all the different information remember we live in a realm of duality, everything has it opposites. Be just like Frances, know and listen to your body, if you feel off, or your body tries to eliminate it quickly, just do not go there no matter what you read. Much love to everyone.
If you're after getting the right balance of Omega 3 to Omega 6, you'll have your work cut out for you. Most of the cuts of pork and chicken that are enjoyable (the fattier portions) are very high in Omega 6 because of the diet these monogastric animals consume. Forget ever eating bacon. It's a significant source of Omega 6 even though it doesn't have to be that way if a pig were on an ancestral diet.
But I think the tide is turning, and the Ray Peat, Bio Energetic people are seeing vindication about the dangers of both Omega 3 and Omega 6 as a source of PUFA. I'm with them. Just avoid PUFA altogether. Not just seed oils, but cold fish oil and any animals fed a high grain / soy meal diet.
https://www.jayfeldmanwellness.com/omega-3s-are-not-the-healthy-fats/
Okay, so which specific oils can I use?
You can use animal fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil. I wrote about it on my substack if you need more info, in the post about vegetable oil.
Okay thank you.
As a rule of thumb the oil that my grandma used for cooking. Got it
So what about black curmin oil?
In addition to olive and coconut oils, what are “good” oils?
You can use animal fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
I use good quality avocado oil, and it has a high heat point (better than olive oil)!
What about sesame oil or avocado? I am trying to avoid those listed here. Thanks
olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil are good. Sesame oil is about a third PUFAs (Omega 6) so it isn't as bad as some but still questionable.
Yeah I’d like to know on both of those oils as well!
I have seen some of these oils "organic" and/or "cold pressed."
Were these lies on the labels?
No matter how you extract it, that isn't the whole story. The problem with it is that the polyunsaturated (PUFAs) are unstable with double bonds that easily break down in your body and create free radicals. So they cause chronic inflammation which contributes to all kinds of metabolic disorders. Cold pressed is of course better than other extraction but it is still an unstable oil. I wrote an article about this problem today.
Being organic wouldn't make a difference to the level of heat to extract the oil, which this article implies is the man problem. Cold press would and is a more expensive way to press olives traditionally.
I'm trying to find more info on sunflower and avocado oils as I've seen a lot of propaganda but nothing that really educates me to make a decision.
I’m not an expert but just sharing my personal research. I think sunflower might be high in omega 6 and is probably not a very stable oil, in or outside of the body. I think avocado oil is fine but the trick is finding a brand that is not adulterated. Avocado oil and olive oil are both more along the lines of a high fat fruit juice because they come from the flesh and not the seed of the plant. But, they are both commonly diluted because it’s a good (profitable) way to mark a product cheaper in order to outperform sales of higher quality more expensive brands.
I think your information is right on the money! Sunflower oil is one of the worst out there, basically all seed oils. Avocados and olives are fruit, so they are safe, and of course there's always coconut oil too.
I know that Chosen Foods Avocado Oil and Primal Kitchens Avocado Oil have both tested pure as of last year.
That’s what I had read too. Hopefully whoever tested acted in good faith. It’s hard to know for sure these days but my Chosen Foods avocado oil tasted like avocado oil in a good way. I just opened a bottle from a generic brand and it’s not as good.
It's finding out that they dilute olive oil which has led me to look for alternatives.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
We have a specialty shop in our small town with very high quality EVOO. Estate grown, not mixed from different countries. The cost reflects this. Maybe there is a shop near you that has some also. Another option is dr Mercola’s website. He has an excellent brand. But, I don’t cook with it because I believe it looses the valuable nutrients when heated significantly. Anyway, good luck!
We have a shop that buys it buy the barrel and let's people mix it. I don't trust that it's not bulk bought. Before the pandemic I used to run food and drink tastings. I worked with The Oil Merchant who is the middle man of the estate grown oil industry who sells to places like Harrods and all the boutique shops shops that sell estate produced foods. We did lots of oil tastings over the years teaching people the art of drizzling and dipping olive oil. You are correct that it shouldn't be heated.
I'm looking for something healthy I can cook with.
I'm in America now where authentic food seems rare in comparison to England.
But worse, you can't trust the information. When I googled avocado oil, it seemed like the propaganda machine was spinning out the same article on avocado oil, which is why I bought sunflower. But I've since heard all seed oils are bad. However it can't be as bad as crisco that my mother cooks with, so it's a step in the right direction.
I don't mind paying more for quality, but I resent paying more for false representation of better health when it's not.
The search continues!
Yes, it is really, really difficult to find quality food and ingredients unless you know the farmer or grow it yourself. For cooking, I’ve been using avocado oil, grass fed butter or tallow (that I rendered). I’m crossing my fingers on the avocado oil but I did research the brand a bit. I’ve kind of settled on doing the best I can in as many areas as I can and just keep improving when I find better info. I do use evoo that tastes like quality real olive oil on my salads. Crossing fingers.
Organic is still important, when it comes to non-GMO and pesticides, but I'm mostly interested in "cold-pressed." I think, it was canola in my case; it didn't bother my digestion (I can't use most of the oils on the list) and it was good for pizza dough. :)
Other than that, I'm sharing your curiosity.
Just food for thought. My understanding is that canola oil has negative effects on cognitive function. When I was looking into the issue of canola oil, I could only find one rat study and the rats suffered from dementia-like symptoms after consuming it. Sorry, don’t have a link. I was hoping to find human studies but couldn’t. To me, if there are not good human studies, there’s probably a reason why. I specify “good human studies” because many studies use proxy endpoints, don’t use good design, and they don’t test things for any significant length of time. Not only could I not find good studies, I couldn’t really find any human studies. To me, I would assume that they did studies but probably didn’t have results they wanted to share with the public. My assumption could be wrong.
I just don’t think any seed oils were meant to be consumed by humans at significant quantities. Even if it’s cold pressed, it may not have been oxidized during processing but it may still be likely to oxidize in the body due to it being an unstable oil.
You should look into Dr. Chris Knobbe, author of "The Ancestral Diet Revolution: How Vegetable Oils and Processed Foods Destroy Our Health – and How to Recover!” and “Ancestral Dietary Strategy to Prevent and Treat Macular Degeneration” . I think some of his work discusses the affects of vegetable oil on the human brain.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll check them out. My overall favorite health book is The Good Gut by the Sonnenburgs. It’s more about the microbiome but excellent either way.
I haven’t read that one, I’ll look into it!
Avoid canola oil
We do. Animal fats, extra virgin organic olive oil (Costco brand, which is supposed to be unadulterated), and coconut oil is all we use. My digression to cold-pressed organic canola oil was restricted to pizza dough. For that purpose, it worked better than anything else I tried.
Things can still be GMO and organic, and I think we will have many GMO foods labelled as organic in the upcoming years as the reason to make them GMO is they need less pesticides from my understanding.
Sorry to hear that you have problems with some oils on digestion. Cold press might be the solution.
It is my understanding that one of the biggest reasons for genetically modifying a crop is so that it can be made to withstand pesticides. I have not heard that gmos are to make crops more organic.
I think you are right that they are better able to 'withstand pesticides' but they also may be modified so that they have some sort of disease resistant chemical inside of them so they need less, from my understanding but I'm not an expert. Just passing on what I read for others to research.
I wouldn't rule out Vitamin D supplementation purely on the basis of its being used in rat poison. Theobromine in chocolate is poisonous to dogs and can be fatal for them but no one's suggesting humans shouldn't eat chocolate for that reason and we're even told that chocolate contains ingredients good for us.
I haven't really started reading on the vitamin scam but I accept at the outset there probably is one. Nevertheless my approach is to treat ourselves as our own laboratory and if a supplement is suggested there's no harm in trying it and seeing what effect it has, informing ourselves as much as possible on the exact ingredients and how it was made. I definitely find magnesium works for me from time to time.
As I say, dpl, I haven't looked at the vitamin scam, I'm just saying that because something is used to poison an animal isn't necessarily a reason for humans not to consume it, eg, chocolate is ok for humans but not for dogs so I wouldn't use the fact that Vitamin D is used to poison rats as a reason not to take it - use other reasons which I'm sure you have, right?
I will look at the vitamin scam in time and even hearing about it has kind of turned me off any inclination to take them ... so much to read not enough time.
I don't see how it's outlandish, dpl. The essential point is that what's poisonous to one species isn't necessarily poisonous to another so the fact of something being poisonous to another species isn't automatically a reason for humans not to consume it. I don't see what's wrong with the dog/chocolate analogy to rat/Vitamin D. Sure, if Vitamin D tablets have got something wrong with them that is bad for humans then that is why we shouldn't take them not because Vitamin D is poisonous to rats.
So the good news is that olives are a fruit, and olive oil is not vegetable oil. It is mostly monounsaturated fat so it's stable and healthy!
The reason vegetable oils are called vegetable oils isn't because they come from vegetables, eg, sunflowers aren't vegetables. They're called vegetable to differentiate from animal. My feeling though is it's not the source so much as the processing that's the problem.
I feel the real reason is so that we will feel warm and fuzzy and want to use them because “vegetables are good for you!”. It’s a marketing trick.
Oh yes, that seems the more likely answer.