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Which oils to avoid?


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2023 Jan 21, 7:13pm   33,346 views  289 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (60)   💰tip   ignore  

I'm increasingly frustrated at the rapeseed oil (euphemistically called "Canola" oil by Canadian producers) and palm kernel oil that seems to be in almost all food. Pretty much everything at Trader Joe's seems to have one or the other. I was even at a Russian shop in Palo Alto today (Samovar, fun place) and found the poppyseed cake my grandmother used to make - except it was with margarine instead of butter, ugh.

Which of them are worth avoiding entirely?

Here are the fats and oils I think are bad:

- margarine (which is just canola and other crap oils hardened to make them stick in your arteries better)
- canola oil
- cottonseed oil (especially bad)
- palm kernel oil

I'm undecided about these:

- soybean oil
- sunflower seed oil
- avocado oil
- coconut oil
- peanut oil

I'm sure these are pretty good for you:

- olive oil
- butter
- lard (yes, I think lard is OK to eat)


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251   mell   2025 Feb 6, 8:31am  

Let's come back to Canola. We don't cook with it since it has a low smoke point at around 400. We have a bottle from TJs, labeled expelled pressed and solvent free. Say you bake a banana bread or similar with it at 350. What exactly is harmful about Canola.

Yes it has some omega 6 (linoleic) fatty acid (which is esssential for life but also can be inflammatory in excess), but by far not as much as some other oils (or walnuts which are very healthy), it also has omega 3 fatty acids to balance, I read not readily well absorbed though I couldn't find any evidence to back up this claim.

In summary I don't think there's anything wrong with it in moderation as long as you don't heat it past its (lowish) smoke point and avoid solvents.
252   Patrick   2025 Feb 6, 9:46am  

https://empoweredsustenance.com/canola-oil-excuses/

We could go on about the details, but my problem with it is that it's utterly unnatural. People did not evolve to eat rapeseed oil, and the only way it's made sort of non-toxic is through an extremely toxic refining process. It's also genetically modified up the wazoo.

It's essentially plastic as food. Very cheap for manufacturers, kind of like the margarine scam. I was thoroughly creeped out when I noticed it's in pretty much every food now, like Google spyware is on pretty much every website.

Canola oil is often at the bottom of the list of ingredients in simple products like bread because it is a preservative.

I was just reading somewhere that there is an inverse to the French Paradox, where the French live longer than predicted in spite of a diet very high in butter and lard. In Israel, the primary oil seems to be Canola, and they have a higher than predicted rate of heart disease.
253   mell   2025 Feb 6, 10:07am  

Thanks I'm aware of its history, and I'm not a fan of it. However I don't think there is any evidence whatsoever that moderate intake of canola oil, e.g. occasionally on baked or fried goods, is unhealthy.

If somebody can show any study proving the health scare claims, I'd like to see it. After all we have linked plenty of studies about the covid toxxine jab, so why can't we find any about Canola?

I totally believe it's in everywhere because it's among the cheapest, but doesn't make it the worst, just suboptimal.
254   mell   2025 Feb 6, 10:10am  

Also I wouldn't cook with it, maybe low heat sauteeing is fine, due to its low smoke point, but that is the same issue for other oils and why avocado and coconut oil or fats such as lard are superior to olive oil for high heat cooking
255   Patrick   2025 Feb 6, 10:42am  

mell says

If somebody can show any study proving the health scare claims, I'd like to see it.


Here's one:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3


At this time point we found that chronic exposure to the canola-rich diet resulted in a significant increase in body weight and impairments in their working memory together with decrease levels of post-synaptic density protein-95, a marker of synaptic integrity, and an increase in the ratio of insoluble Aβ 42/40.
256   mell   2025 Feb 6, 11:56am  

Patrick says

mell says


If somebody can show any study proving the health scare claims, I'd like to see it.


Here's one:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3



At this time point we found that chronic exposure to the canola-rich diet resulted in a significant increase in body weight and impairments in their working memory together with decrease levels of post-synaptic density protein-95, a marker of synaptic integrity, and an increase in the ratio of insoluble Aβ 42/40.


Ok thanks this is a mouse model and they were fed a canola rich diet. Hence cooking canola oil free is prob a good idea, not just because of the low smoke point. Israel does have one of the lower incidences of Alzheimers though for example, at the bottom of per 100k capita incidence, suggesting other factors being more important.
258   HeadSet   2025 Feb 11, 8:08am  

The_Deplorable says





Don't all serious cooks already have cast iron cookware? Every cook has their own method of seasoning a cast iron skillet and many a husband gas a knot on his head because he ignorantly deep cleaned a skillet his wife spent years perfecting the surface.
259   Patrick   2025 Feb 11, 10:03am  

We have a cast iron skillet but don't use it much because it does not distribute heat well. We use an anodized aluminum one which is much better that way.
262   DeportLibtards   2025 Feb 15, 6:23pm  

This good? Seems so. I use it for cooking.






263   Patrick   2025 Feb 15, 7:38pm  

I don't trust any seed oils at all, first because plants generally evolved to poison animals that crush their seeds. Fruit is the bait to get you to swallow the seed whole. If the seed doesn't make it through you, then the plant loses.

Secondly, the extraction process is usually very toxic itself.

https://www.zeroacre.com/blog/are-seed-oils-toxic


Canola (rapeseed) oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil are the eight worst seed oils you may want to avoid. Average consumption has increased 20 times in the past hundred years, which correlates to increased rates of obesity, cancer, and heart disease
264   HeadSet   2025 Feb 15, 8:49pm  

Patrick says

I don't trust any seed oils at all

I presume that olive oil comes from the olive itself and not the pit?
265   Patrick   2025 Feb 15, 9:14pm  

Correct. Olive oil is pressed from the flesh of the olive.
270   Misc   2025 Mar 11, 10:33pm  

Locals in Mumbai have a hissy screaming fit as the cow worshippers go on a rampage.
271   HeadSet   2025 Mar 12, 11:40am  

Have you seen Food and Drug report on cinnamon? Consumer Reports did a test on about 40 brands and found that all but about 6 had unacceptable levels of lead. About 11 were too high in lead content to be safe at all, while 18 would be dangerous above 1/4 teaspoon per day. The Whole Foods 365 Organic brand was the best, and it was safe up to 16 teaspoons per day. How does lead get into cinnamon anyway? I want cinnamon to be like my gasoline - lead free.
272   Patrick   2025 Mar 12, 1:29pm  

Ginger and turmeric are also sometimes contaminated with lead, sometimes from the soil in which they are grown.
273   Patrick   2025 Mar 12, 1:29pm  

There are home tests for lead. I wonder what they would show for these spices.
276   stereotomy   2025 Mar 24, 3:57pm  

Everyone is allergic to gluten because there's 100X more gluten in factory bread.
277   stereotomy   2025 Mar 24, 4:04pm  

5000 years killed enough children via the "failure to thrive" route. It's an established fact (Oh, so sorry, let me get my references in order) that peoples in regions where grains were historically the primary nourishment are more tolerant of gluten. Northern Europeans, on the other hand, are more prone to gluten intolerance.

It all depends on how many generations of infants needed to die to "cull the herd" so that gluten was largely tolerated in the population at large.

Gluten intolerance is real, and it is exacerbated by industrial baking processes.
278   mell   2025 Mar 24, 4:37pm  

Gluten content has mostly remained steady, but the composition shifted towards glutenin. You can always eat rye and sourdough if you think you're intolerant, both very healthy.
279   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Mar 24, 9:17pm  

HeadSet says


up to 16 teaspoons per day. How does lead get into cinnamon anyway? I want cinnamon to be like my gasoline - lead free.


I have this Wagu roast going in the slow cooker right now with some beef stock I made over a year ago I had in the deep freeze. This is gonna be some beefy fatty shiite!

The stock I made for Ramen so no vegis or anything, pure beef stuff. Lots of gelatin. I didn't thin it out much at all. Perhaps after it's done cooking in an about an hour and a half. Ten hours total. I was busy in the morning but at least had time after lunch to give it a good all around sear before the cook:



That was a text message to a pal or I would have framed it better for Patnet.

edit: I don't know why my quotes are usually wrong, perhaps the brave browser doesn't work with patnet very well. But I was quoting Pat's bab-bee post with this link:

https://babylonbee.com/news/locals-in-galilee-rejoice-as-jesus-turns-seed-oil-into-beef-tallow

Not headset...
280   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Mar 24, 9:28pm  

stereotomy says

5000 years killed enough children via the "failure to thrive" route. It's an established fact (Oh, so sorry, let me get my references in order) that peoples in regions where grains were historically the primary nourishment are more tolerant of gluten. Northern Europeans, on the other hand, are more prone to gluten intolerance.

It all depends on how many generations of infants needed to die to "cull the herd" so that gluten was largely tolerated in the population at large.

Gluten intolerance is real, and it is exacerbated by industrial baking processes.


The switch to cereals is thought to have a correlation to European's skin whitening to combat lack of vitamin-D. Lots of people apparently died in that bottleneck as well. (also kids I think?)

Michael Jackson figured out how to do it by other means but I really don't know much about that.
281   Patrick   2025 Mar 24, 9:37pm  

Maga_Chaos_Monkey says

The switch to cereals is thought to have a correlation to European's skin whitening to combat lack of vitamin-D.


That's interesting. The Irish have the whitest skin of any ethnic group, and the highest rate of gluten intolerance.

Irish soda bread is so crumbly because Irish wheat has so little gluten to hold it together, because of the weak sun up there.
282   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Mar 24, 9:41pm  

Patrick says

Maga_Chaos_Monkey says


The switch to cereals is thought to have a correlation to European's skin whitening to combat lack of vitamin-D.


That's interesting. The Irish have the whitest skin of any ethnic group, and the highest rate of gluten intolerance.

Irish soda bread is so crumbly because Irish wheat has so little gluten to hold it together, because of the weak sun up there.


Did not know that. Now I want to try it.
283   Patrick   2025 Mar 24, 9:42pm  

Very tasty stuff imho. I like the kind with caraway seeds, but some people don't.
284   PeopleUnited   2025 Mar 26, 8:17pm  

Patrick says


I don't trust any seed oils at all, first because plants generally evolved to poison animals that crush their seeds. Fruit is the bait to get you to swallow the seed whole. If the seed doesn't make it through you, then the plant loses.

Secondly, the extraction process is usually very toxic itself.

I agree with you on the extraction process, however there are ways to extract oils from seeds safely.

But with regards to plants evolving to poison animals that crush their seeds, well that is just plain stupid. Sure some plant seeds are poisonous. But get real! Some plant seeds are also medicinal and in fact if we don’t eat plants we basically cannot be healthy!!!

Peas, beans, rice, corn, wheat, oats, barley, peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, these are all seeds. Sure unnaturally extracting oils, or eating excessive amounts of these foods may be unhealthy, but don’t think for one minute that seeds are inherently poison.

Everything is a poison if taken in a large enough dose. Even drinking too much water can cause intoxication and death. So no, plants did not evolve to poison animals that crush their seeds.

From the Legend of Baggar Vance movie....

Bagger Vance: That's a sad story, Mr. Junuh.

Junuh: Yes, it is.

Bagger Vance: And that's just about the dumbest thing ... I heard any fool say ... ever.”

285   mell   2025 Mar 26, 8:22pm  

^^ agreed. Just don't use highly refined / processed seed oils.
286   HeadSet   2025 Mar 27, 10:19am  

PeopleUnited says

almonds, cashews, walnuts, these are all seeds. Sure unnaturally extracting oils, or eating excessive amounts of these foods may be unhealthy, but don’t think for one minute that seeds are inherently poison.

Bitter almonds and cashews are poison if eaten raw. They are inherently poison unless processed.
287   Patrick   2025 Mar 27, 11:29am  

PeopleUnited says

Peas, beans, rice, corn, wheat, oats, barley, peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, these are all seeds.


Most of those do not have fruits.

My point about seeds is that if there is a fruit, the seed is generally poisonous.
288   HeadSet   2025 Mar 27, 12:24pm  

Patrick says

My point about seeds is that if there is a fruit, the seed is generally poisonous.

Yes, like peaches and apples.
289   mell   2025 Mar 27, 2:44pm  

HeadSet says

Patrick says


My point about seeds is that if there is a fruit, the seed is generally poisonous.

Yes, like peaches and apples.

But they also have medicinal properties, there are similar issues with raw beans etc. And not all seeds are poisonous. I generally eat fruits with seeds unless they are too big such as peach, avocado etc. Also the rhine is generally beneficial such as lemon or watermelon rhine and more

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