No, not Q-related, but this thread explains how the Pharma / Medical Cartel long ago gaslighted us into replacing healthy animal fats with [cheaper] seed oils that wreck our cardiovascular systems, promote cancer (and diabetes and obesity and Alzheimer's). Seed oils (safflower, canola, soybean, etc. etc.) are in EVERYTHING today including that Organic salad dressing you love so much. It's used by most restaurants, it's in baked goods. Read the labels at the grocery store: you'll be stunned. Thread is filled with charts, screen-caps, etc (but no direct links that I recall).
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1496497614325522438.html
Eating seed oils is like playing russian roulette with a fully loaded gun
A lot of talk recently about them being bad for you.
But here's the actual science for you to decide for yourself
A thread:
I don't cook with oil. I just don't see the need because it's not healthy and I'd prefer to use more nutritious ways to gain the calories I need from things like cheese, coconut milk and nuts.
Don't knock it until you try it. Whenever a recipe calls for fried onion, I just throw in half a teaspoon of onion powder and it turns out perfectly fine, especially with soups, stews and Indian curries.
Even lean meat contains enough fat contribute to the mouth feel of meals without the need of adding oil.
Sounds good to me! I haven't tried the fried onion hack but I'll use it next time I cook something that calls for fried onion. Plenty of things don't seem to need oil when cooked in a pan and I try to use low-temp methods in any case; high heat creates toxic chemicals in the food.
I'm all about eating quick and healthy and I calorie count and keep an eye on sodium levels too. I keep a massive folder of Notepad text files on my PC with all of my favorite recipes so I can adjust and perfect them over time.
One fun thing that I love doing is only eating meat three times a week. This allows me to justify the expense of eating very high quality, privately butchered meat from local farms that have healthy and natural environments for their livestock.
And cooking vegetarian is super quick. Meals like vegetarian chili con carne on rice or in hard or soft tacos, chickpea daal with feta cubes and garlic naan and sliced cucumber, fazool, Chinese broccoli and tofu, falafel salad wraps with hummus and garlic sauce, couscous and feta stuffed bell pepper with a side of oven fries and salad, spiced cream of cauliflower soup served with garlic bread, etc. All of those meals take less than five minutes to prepare and less than five minutes to cook, except for the pasta and the soup which simmer for 15 minutes.
My family can't get enough of these meals. Most of those meals have a "good" amount of protein from sources like cheese and legumes, but I do ensure the kids are getting extra protein from their breakfast and lunches on nights when we aren't eating meat.
I wish I'd done this years ago because cooking meals like that is delicious beyond measure and so quick they feel like cheating.
Thanks for the recipe ideas! -- I had to look up "fazool", looks worth a try.
It's a great, quick meal with a good amount of protein from the white beans and it all cooks in 20 minutes in one pot! I add chili powder to mine to give it a slight kick, fresh spinach leaves for some greens and LOTS of Parmesan cheese at the end after I've turned off the heat.
It's traditional Italian, vegetarian comfort food that is more of a stew than a soup.
I've PM'd you the recipe that I use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfk2IXlZdbI
Start at 0:48.
This is somewhat of a new topic for me, after seeing that documentary, which I expected to stop at the pressing the oil, I was completely grossed out that the most common oils need a chemical wash, bleaching and chemicals to remove the flavor. Nothing about this can possibly be healthy.
Which makes OP thread even more useful in how it tries to detail some of that harm in more concrete terms.
The recommended oils to use are:
beef tallow
duck fat
EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil
butter/ghee
avocado oil
coconut oil
When this becomes a realization, and then spotting the tricks of names that companies use to obfuscate what's in it, you start to recognize brands that are just not edible.
A caveat with avocado and olive oil. Make sure they are only extracting the oil from the fruit, not the pit. For avocado oil means reading the label, for olive oil it must be 'Extra Virgin' but also have to pay attention because many olive oils on the shelf might have other oils added to it.
Also, aim for oils that are in darker plastic or glass containers, helps keep them from oxidizing early.
Thanks; great comments!
On the olive oil: Many brands of olive oil are (so I've read) adulterated with cheaper oils. Apparently organized crime in Italy especially makes huge money from adulterating olive oil with cheaper oils.
Life Extension has an arrangement with an olive grower in CA to supply pure, organic virgin olive oil. I trust LEF (been shopping with them since they began in the 80s); they are very careful with their suppliers, often test ingredients, and are honest, responsive, and have been funding health and anti-aging research since the beginning. Also, they've sued the FDA repeatedly on behalf of health freedom. I don't have any financial ties to them (other than being a long-term customer) but I recommend them highly; they're also a good source for free information on many conditions and diseases: https://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/
There's a local shop that does similar, dealing directly with producers. They actually told me that all their oils are extra virgin, but once they add flavor to the oils they aren't allowed to keep the extra virgin label.
It was particularly jarring introduction to this topic, from a frame where the only considerations I made for oils was smoke point, flavor and price. Also, I make a point to try and avoid ingredients that are on the GRAS list. Only to find out that even doing that, are still introducing a lot more of those types of oils without knowing it, nor that there was a problem.
Apparently even removing these oils from the diet can make a person tan over burning to a greater degree.
There is a LOT of evidence for olive oil being healthy (unless used to cook with at anything beyond low temps; then it gets damaged).
The Mediterranean Diet is high in olive oil, and has DECADES of studies and other data proving its benefit (see Mediterranean Diet Can Lower Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death by 25%-26%, for instance).
I think you're very smart to stay away from Roundup. Don't even use it in your yard. I have cut almost all wheat out of my diet for several reasons, but that's one: unless it's Organic, it probably got sprayed with Roundup or some other poison. Even organic grains, veggies, and fruits often have some glyphosate content from older soil or from spraying at a neighboring farm or lawn. "If you don't want to eat poison, grow your own food." -- I suspect that's mostly true, although I'm a long way from following that advice.
On the olive oil:
I forgot to mention that MANY brands of olive oil are (so I've read) adulterated with cheaper oils. Apparently organized crime in Italy especially makes huge money from this.
Life Extension has an arrangement with an olive grower in CA to supply pure, organic virgin olive oil. I trust LEF (been shopping with them since they began in the 80s); they are very careful with their suppliers, often test ingredients, and are honest, responsive, and have been funding health and anti-aging research since the beginning. Also, they've sued the FDA repeatedly on behalf of health freedom. I don't have any financial ties to them (other than being a long-term customer) but I recommend them highly; they're also a good source for free information on many conditions and diseases: https://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/
Thanks for the Wonderlabs link.
LOL! Could be true. I have a family member who lives in Spain, it's not at all like the US. Life IS slower there (as I hear it, anyway; never been there myself).
Anyone truly interested in the subject of fats and oils should do some research on Dr. Udo Erasmus. He wrote a very good book named "Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill".