Brian (1s):
Hello and welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author, and this podcast is for middle aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple actionable items to get long term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show.
Brian (25s):
Alright, Welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn. I hope you had a great weekend and happy Tuesday if you're listen to us on Tuesday, hopefully a chance to listen to my interview with Dasha. Anik. We touched on all about the importance of fiber, how to heal your gut problems with undereating. We went through ASHA's 4, 3, 2, 1 rule and much, much more. So really inter interesting interview with Dasha. She's a nutrition researcher, competitive bodybuilder. If you haven't already, definitely check out episode 410. My interview with Dasha Nik. Now on today's micro podcast, we are gonna get into seed oils, which we've talked about before.
Brian (1m 6s):
I wanted to give you a sort of a complete list of them and then some foods you should use when you are cooking or using as dressings and things like this. I think it's important nowadays to just be mindful of seed oils because pretty much they're in every food you can possibly imagine. Even the health foods and baby formula, granola bars, you name it. So we're gonna get into, you know, first of all what are seed oils and how we can hopefully avoid them as much as possible. Seed oils also known as vegetable oils. They're extracted from vegetable crops like soybeans, cotton seed and corn. And it's this intensive processing, you can actually just Google it, it's pretty crazy.
Brian (1m 47s):
Typically involved in high heat, chemical solvents and this deodorization, which doesn't look like you should consume it and yet they're in most foods. They were originally byproducts of manufacturing during the industrial age. They weren't initially intended for the dinner table, let's just say that. But by like the mid 19 hundreds, seed oils have become a STA ingredient in packaged foods. Cheap and easy to use by the food industry and it sort of, I think, reshaped the western diet. In short, it's probably one of the single biggest changes in the US diet in the last 150 years. I had Dr. Chris Kenobi on, we talked all about this. I'll leave a link for that interview if you wanna dive even more into seed oils.
Brian (2m 30s):
And he sort of talks about, you know, the ancestral diet revolution, which is his book. But anyways, we all know that there is some toxicity to these seed oils. Now what can they potentially cause over time and why? Well, I'm gonna give you a list of 'em here. One of 'em is what's called fat cell expansion and consuming too much linoleic acid causes fat cells to grow beyond their healthy size. Number two is release of fatty acids and these oversized fat cells are released into the bloodstream. And this could cause an upstream of health issues. One of 'em is triggering inflammation and something that obviously inflammation. There's good and there's bad and this is bad inflammation, which is a natural response to like cellular stress.
Brian (3m 13s):
Next is what's called metabolic disruption, where there's chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation can signal insulin resistance, making it difficult for cells to absorb glucose, making it difficult for cells to absorb glucose and raising blood sugar. Next is increased risk of chronic disease. Prolonged insulin resistance can lead to chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. So the bottom line is, over the past century or so, seed oil consumption has skyrocketed along with rates of chronic disease. Now you can obviously point to other lifestyle factors, but there's actually sort of like this common theme where seed oils have just been so prevalent in our diet over the last 50 to a hundred years that chronic disease and the prevalence in America has gone up from like in the forties it was seven and a half percent of individuals.
Brian (4m 2s):
The percentage of population, now it's up to almost 60% of the population has some type of chronic disease. So Now, I'm gonna give the comprehensive list of oils to avoid. Now, like I mentioned before, there are commonly found in processed foods. Even some health food products may be like granola bars like I mentioned to you before, salad dressings, things that you might think are healthy but they're really not. So you wanna sort of recognize the names of these seed oils. And let me just run through, you can probably make a song of it if you really want to. Canola oil, corn oil, cotton seed oil, flaxseed oil, grape seed oil, hemp seed oil, rice, brand oil, safflower, sesame, soybean, sunflower.
Brian (4m 44s):
So there's your list. Pretty comprehensive. Some of the most common sources of seed oils are in processed foods, obviously. Chips, cookies, cereal, granola bars like I mentioned to you, salad dressings, condiments, even infant formula breads and tortillas. You can find 'em in peanut butter, margarine and butter alternatives. A lot of these dairy alternatives like the oat milks, the almond milks, and on the other hand, meat alternatives like beyond burger and the all these different meat alternatives have come out claiming they're healthy but they're just packed with seed oils. So keep an eye on to that. you know one of the questions that comes up a lot is, is olive oil a seed oil And? what about avocado oil?
Brian (5m 24s):
They're not seed oils. They come from fruit and are definitely less processed and they con contain significantly lower marks of lin like acid. I would just say with regarding olive oil and avocado oils, you just wanna make sure of be mindful of the sourcing of these oils because a lot of times these brands will say that sort of a mixed oil or even if it says olive oil and avocado oil, 75% of it is soybean or canola or other oils mixed in there. So just make sure you know the sourcing of your oil, olive oil, you wanna look for cold pressed extra virgin and make sure it's in a dark glass bottle for optimal freshness.
Brian (6m 6s):
Now, palm oil, this could come under some confusion and isn't, palm oil is not a seed oil. It's sourced from a fruit of a palm tree and contains about 10% linoleic acid. You just want to be aware of refined palm oil and the refining process because it's some factories that produce this may produce some harmful toxins within it. So I would say it's best to avoid palm oil, but palm oil is not a seed oil. And then coconut oil, I think coconut is a great sort of option 'cause it's composed primarily of saturated fats. Very little ole acid, probably one to 2%, particularly what's called mc MCTs. I'm making it stable at high temperatures and definitely can support metabolic health.
Brian (6m 47s):
So I'm a big fan of using coconut oil and cooking it. With that, I would look for the raw unrefined options. Fried foods would be a great place to start avoiding because any restaurant or any place where you buy fried foods, they are using seed oils to fry them in. And cooking and frying at those high temperatures probably the worst thing you can do for your body. Now I know we all like fried foods from time to time and it's not about being perfect, but if you could, and there are some brands and and there are some brands who are starting to fry these foods in healthier fats, whether it's tallow or ghee. But essentially if you are gonna fry or cook at higher temperatures, here's a list of healthy fats that are ranked from highest to lowest as far as smoke point.
Brian (7m 32s):
Now the highest is gh, I love using gh. And next is Talo, which is about 400 degrees for the smoke point, avocado oil, unrefined olive oil, and then coconut oil and butter. All great choices for high heater for high heat. But you'll seeing this from time to time, even sweet potatoes and plantains where they're using GH or tallow because this is a much healthier, stable cooking option. And obviously, like I mentioned to you before, animal fats are the best way to go when it comes to cooking one to 2% linoleic acid. The rest are stable and mainly saturated in some monos saturated fats as well, which are definitely less prone to oxidation. Also, they contain something called steric acid, which is a fat acid that's found in Seit and that can help actually signal fat cells to actually shrink.
Brian (8m 18s):
The bottom line is that our western diet has become inundated with these seeds and if we can just make a shift to avoid it 80 90% of the time, eliminating them altogether would be great for optimal health and wellbeing. The best way to support your metabolic health right off the bat is by choosing nutrient dense animal fats rich in saturated fats. So these small changes can make a big difference and just start reading labels and choosing unprocessed foods. And you're not only gonna protect your health but your family's health. I think each step to reduce these seed oils is a step toward a healthier, happier life. So if you have any questions, feel free to email me, Brian at Brian Gryn dot com. And if you'd like to get a health reminder every week with my newsletter, it is growing quick.
Brian (9m 1s):
We are 15,000 plus and growing. I will leave a link in the show notes. We discuss topics like seed oils and and much, much more. So definitely take a look. Take a look at that if you haven't already. And I will talk to you on Friday with another great interview. Have a great week.
Brian (9m 17s):
Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian Gryn dot com for everything that was mentioned In, this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
