Here’s Why These 6 Vegetable Oils Are Terrible for You

You’ve heard that eating too much sugar is bad.

And that you need to exercise and get enough sleep to live a healthy life.

But one thing that’s probably not on your radar but should be is vegetable oils.

Vegetable oils?

I know, it sounds crazy.

What could be wrong with vegetable oils?

As you’ll learn in this guide, these oils were cleverly marketed as healthy and they’re anything but.

I’ll share why that is first before showing you where they’re hiding and how to avoid them.

Here’s why you’ll want to do that:

The Problem with Vegetable Oils

The information I’m about to share is from a combination of two podcasts episodes — one with Jeff Nobbs and the other with Dr. Cate Shanahan— I came across at work.

I’ve heard veggie oils were a problem but didn’t know their true extent until now.

Here’s what I mean:

How did we get to this point?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of or used Crisco before.

This fake butter-like substance was popular back in the day for baking and frying foods.

What you may not have realized then is that Crisco is a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

It’s the first time these harmful oils hit the market, but it wouldn’t be the last.

See, back when farmers had excess cotton seeds, they figured out how they could process the crap out of it to turn it into a cheap oil.

So they did.

And Crisco was born.

But, even if you’ve since ditched this terrible fake food, you’re not free and clear of vegetable oils.

It turns out, “The average American is consuming 80% of their fat calories from vegetable oils,” according to Dr. Cate Shanahan.

Before I dive into how that’s possible, there’s more to the story here, especially when it comes to how these oils are made.

Have you thought about what it takes to make vegetable oils?

In the case of cotton seed or corn oil, for example, the only way to extract any oil out of a non-oily food is to use extreme heat.

This is why you won’t find any cold-pressed versions, according to Jeff Nobbs.

But, as Jeff continues, if you stop to think for a second about the “vegetables” being used in these oils, you’d quickly see that these are not oily foods.

For example, when you think of coconuts, olives, and avocado, it doesn’t take much to imagine squeezing oils out of these foods without having to manipulate them too much.

On the other hand, with corn, sunflower, or cottonseed, that’s not the case.

It takes chemical processing to achieve the end product for these oils.

So on top of high heat, harsh chemicals and stabilizers — many of which still linger in the oil and the foods cooked in it — are also added to keep the product somewhat edible and shelf stable for way too long.

Further more, it also requires an insane amount of the “vegetables” just to achieve even the tiniest amount of oil.

Imagine how many soybeans you’d have to squeeze to get a tablespoon of oil vs what you could extract from 2-3 avocados.

It would take 75 ears of corn to make just six tablespoons of corn oil, or the amount found in Thai dishes out to eat, according to Jeff.

Think about the impact of eating that much corn in one sitting and that’s basically what you’re doing every time you eat a traditional pad Thai dish out.

Aside from that, let’s talk about the health problems associated with vegetable oils.

Jeff shared two interesting studies in his podcast episode.

Two Studies Showing the Health Impact of Vegetable Oils

In the first one, the death rate was a whopping 364% higher in the group of study participants who used corn oil.

As for the second one, babies fed intravenously were given a formula made with soybean oil and had an average death rate of over 30% by age 4.

When doctors realized the oil could be to blame, they tried swapping it out with fish oil instead and found that the death rate number decreased from 37% to 9%.

How insane is that?

What’s worse, according to Dr. Cate Shanahan, veggie oils change how your cells function.

And it can take up to two years for those fats to stay in your brain.

Jeff adds to this by saying that even after you stop consuming them, it can take another two years to repair the damage that’s done.

He also goes on to say that veggie oils are like firecrackers in your body.

The True Effect of Vegetable Oils

As Dr. Anthony Gustin, founder of Perfect Keto, mentioned this point with regards to this, “This is like constantly putting out fires all over your house. Good luck trying to focus, lose weight, or proactively do anything. You can’t reach your health goals like this.”

Dr. Cate Shanahan added to this by saying these oils have an immediate inflammatory effect and they also hurt your long-term performance, despite the fact that you don’t taste or notice the changes happening as a result of consuming them.

And if that wasn’t enough, these veggie oils are also cooked at temperatures that make things far worse.

Most of Us Are Using the Wrong Oils When Cooking at Higher Temperatures

When you’re using a vegetable oil to fry foods, for example, you’re reaching a point in temperature that’s far greater than what the oil molecules can stand.

As a result, toxic aldehydes form and turn the oil rancid.

It’s a common practice unfortunately, according to Jeff, for restaurants to save money by not changing their frying oil each day.

So if you’re ordering fried food at your favorite restaurants, you’re literally consuming a compounded mess of rancid oils and toxic molecules.

Imagine for a second what that’s doing to your health, not just your waistline.

And if you’re the one frying foods at home, you should know, “Studies have shown that cooking with a lot of vegetable oils leads to incredibly high rates of lung cancer in women who don’t smoke,” according to information Jeff shared.

And it’s not just fried foods that you’ll find these harmful oils in, as you’ll see in the next section.

Before getting there though, there’s one last big point to discuss here.

Omega-6 vs Omega-3 Fatty Acids

In Jeff’s episode, he mentioned that most Americans get about 9% of their calories from inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids specifically.

The problem is, compared to omega-3 fatty acids, these increase mortality rates and your risks of developing cancer, cardiovascular problems, and mental health issues.

As you may have guessed, veggie oils are packed with omega-6 fatty acids, which means it’s just another reason to ditch them.

Eating foods with this crap is only going to make you feel worse. When this happens, you’ll have zero energy to do anything else, like eating healthy or working out.

But that’s also the other issue here.

You may not even realize how much of these harmful oils you’re exposed to.

How Most People Unknowingly Consume Vegetable Oils

Avoiding Crisco and fried foods are just the beginning.

Even healthy stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are guilty of carrying products with soybean oil and canola oil in them.

More than likely, soybean is lurking behind the label these days.

Don’t be fooled by this junk ingredient.

Jeff also mentions that soybean oil is “the silent killer of most restaurants.”

He continued on to say that Thai restaurants can use up to an entire cup of this crappy oil…yikes!

Dr. Cate Shanahan adds to this by saying salad dressings and creamy sauces also tend to have vegetable oils in them.

You’ll see this in restaurants and grocery store options alike.

She mentions that salad dressings alone can have a couple tablespoons in them.

And I’ve seen this firsthand.

It’s very difficult to find dressings without these, including options marketed as healthy.

Be wary of dips, sauces, and marinades too as these are also loaded with veggie oils unless they specify otherwise.

So the question becomes, how can you avoid these without losing your mind or social life?

How to Avoid Vegetable Oils and What to Do Instead

Both Jeff and Dr. Shanahan share that replacing these oils will show incredible results.

Dr. Shanahan’s patients have been able to transform their triglycerides in just a three month span.

So how do you do that?

Your first step is to avoid these oils as much as possible.

6 Vegetable Oils to Ditch Today

Dr. Shanahan calls them the 3 C’s and 3 S’:

Canola oil
Corn oil
Cotton seed oil
Soybean oil
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil

You can find Dr. Cate’s complete list of oils to avoid and ones to use by visiting this page.

If you have foods in your house with these, or even the oils themselves, get rid of them.

I know it can be tough to throw foods like these away since you paid good money for them, but trust me, you will pay a lot more in added health care costs if you continue to eat these until they run out.

From there, avoid fried foods and commercial salad dressings whenever you’re out at a restaurant or in the grocery store.

You can choose healthier alternatives — such as using olive or avocado oil for salad dressings and choosing non-fried food choices out — without sacrificing on the flavor.

In fact, ditching these crappy oils introduces you to a number of better tasting ones.

That brings us to the last point:

The Best Oils to Use

These are my go-to’s, in order of most used to least used:

Coconut oil
Ghee
Grass-fed butter
Olive oil
Avocado oil

The reason I prefer coconut and ghee over avocado and olive oil is for their high smoke point.

Most people don’t realize that olive oil was not built to withstand high heat and sauteing, even though most Italians, including me, do this (I don’t anymore obviously).

If you’re sauteeing on low to medium heats, these oils are a good choice.

Otherwise, they should be used at room temperature to drizzle on salads or as a base for homemade dressings and marinades — which take less than 5 minutes to make.

Final Thoughts on Vegetable Oils

While this may seem like another hassle, it’s really worth the effort since vegetable oils are so bad for your health.

You’ll find, as I did, that healthier oils taste so much better and, in return, will help you feel so much better.

And if you’re worried about how this will affect going out to eat, don’t overthink it.

Try to avoid fried foods and the dressings as much as possible, and, if you do want to enjoy them — such as while traveling or being social with friends — eat as little as you can and fill up on fresh options instead.

So have one small portion of the appetizer, for example, instead of splitting the entire thing.

This won’t be as much of a pain after a few weeks because once you go back to veggie oils, you’ll feel such a difference and won’t want to anymore.

To dive deeper into this topic, I encourage you to check out the two podcasts mentioned as well as this helpful article from a colleague of mine at Perfect Keto:

If you have any questions about today’s guide or want some extra advice, feel free to email me direct at devan@behappynothangry.com.

To avoiding these harmful oils at all costs and living longer as a result,

Devan