Are Vegetable Oils a Health Hazard?

The previous Great NEWS post asked Is Homogenized and Pasteurized Dairy a Health Hazard and today we ask Are Vegetable Oils Health Hazards? With so many vegetable oils to choose from how do you know which ones are healthy and which ones are unhealthy? Oils have been used for a very long time so most people no longer give vegetable oils a second thought. Are vegetable oils a health hazard or are they healthy for us? As with all food choices they key is to check the processing, refining, quality and source to determine which are right for you. Today we will reveal some simple steps to decide Are Vegetable Oils a Health Hazard?

The Great NEWS Coach Health Hazard series is designed to help health conscious people be more aware of common health hazards which may cause harm. There are many vegetable oils to choose from so how do we know the healthy ones from the unhealthy ones. Most people do not read the ingredient list and research the processing methods before purchasing them. We must act like Sherlock Holmes and ask quality questions to investigate ingredients and manufacturing methods that produce vegetable oils in order to make informed choices.

Are Vegetable Oils a Health Hazard?

Vegetable oils are used in almost every baked food, desert, dressing, fake, fast and junk food product, meal, recipe, sauce and snack you can think of.

Are vegetable oils a health hazard or are they healthy for us?  The commercial oil industry, chefs, doctors and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) say vegetable oils are healthy while butter, coconut oil and lard are not. Many other doctors, health educators, nutritionists and researchers say the exact opposite. How do we know whom to believe?

While vegetable oils are widely promoted for helping foods to be delicious, healthy and nutritious it is prudent to invest the energy and time to determine if they meet your criteria for being healthy. We deserve to know how a product is grown and what processing takes so we can determine if the end product is harmful or healthy. Since there is some deep wisdom in the saying “you are what you eat” it is essential to only choose oils that will help maintain, nourish and sustain us.

There are several important factors to consider when deciding on which oils to buy and use. Carefully consider the ingredients, processing, refining, source and uses regarding any oil. There is a significant difference between commercially grown GMO canola, corn, cottonseed and soy oil and organic coconut, palm oil and extra virgin olive oil. Canola, corn, cottonseed, peanut, safflower, soy, sunflower are the most common commercial vegetable oils sold.

This post will help with ideas, information and insights in order to help you make better choices and decisions regarding vegetable oils and other oils. We must be determined and diligent to read the labels and research the oils carefully to make intelligent choices that enhance versus endanger our health.

Vegetable oils are used in almost every baked food, desert, dressing, fake, fast and junk food product, meal, recipe, sauce and snack you can think of. Unfortunately most products contain the cheap vegetable oils which contribute to the many health issues resulting from the unhealthy fertilizers, GMO seeds, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides and processing methods used to create them.

People enjoy oils in their foods for a wide variety of reasons including:   calorie source, cooking ease, creamy taste, fat cravings, good taste, health benefits (perception), nutritious, required in recipes, rich taste, sautéing, taste enhancer and wide variety of flavors. While oil is a key ingredient there are a wide variety of oils to choose from.

Why Avoid Vegetable Oils?

When you start with a plant and seed that originated from Genetically Engineering (GE) and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) you are starting with an unnatural “Frankenfood” created in a laboratory.

One of the biggest issues with most commercial vegetable oil is the source. GMO canola, corn, cottonseed and corn are the main sources for the majority of vegetable oils sold today. When you start with a plant and seed that originated from Genetically Engineering (GE) and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) you are starting with an unnatural “Frankenfood” created in a laboratory. These GE and GMO seeds grow plants using large amounts of fertilizers and fossil fuels in addition to chemical herbicides, insecticides and pesticides which are very harmful to the land and microorganisms. Corn, cotton and soy require large amounts of water to grow and the soil and ground water become contaminated from the use of the toxic chemicals.

Additionally a complex commercial chemical refinery is used to extract and treat the oil. This includes cleaning, chemical extraction (solvent), bleaching, deodorizing, highly heating and treating the extracted product to make it into a vegetable oil with no smell and long shelf life so it will not go rancid.

Another reason is the use of chemical solvents like benzene to extract the oil.  This is a common practice with industrial oils from corn and soy beans because it is faster, less expensive and produces higher yields.

The resulting vegetable oil is unhealthy for several reasons. The chemically altered and highly heated oil results in something more like a liquid plastic product than healthy food oil.  In fact by adding a little coloring agents and stabilizing chemicals it can be made into paint.  Also the contaminating chemicals and oil molecules penetrate the intestine wall and cause inflammation and problems with our digestion, endocrine, immune and nervous system. This contributes to disease and health problems.

There are also defensive anti nutrients in seeds (corn, grains, soy) that are nature’s way of protecting plant seeds. They need fermentation or similar transformation processes to de-activate these defensive enzymes so the seeds can produce foods fit for human consumption.

The high temperature pasteurization of the vegetable oils kill bacteria (a good thing) but also destabilizes and destroys the important natural enzymes and nutrients in food products (not a good thing). After all this processing the oil is more like a commercial synthetic oil rather than natural food oil.

Commercial vegetable oils still contain residues of the chemicals used to grow the crops as well as the manufacturing and refining process so they are not healthy for us to consume. The majority of the world’s population is now using canola, corn, cottonseed and soy oil which may be a major contributor to health problems.

What Oils are Healthy?

Natural organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, palm oil and sesame oil have been used for thousands of years and may in fact be the healthiest and safest oils to use.

Natural organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, palm oil and sesame oil have been used for thousands of years and may in fact be the healthiest and safest oils to use. (Butter, ghee and lard are fats and may be included as healthy choices.) While we have been told for decades to avoid these saturated fats and oils they were the first choice for thousands of years.  Because they are saturated fats they are stable and have a long shelf life naturally without the chemicals and processing.  They also remain stable when cooking foods. Our body and brain (60%) consist of saturated fats so it is natural for us to eat saturated fats that are similar to our own natural fat. Saturated fats help maintain and support many health functions.

My goal for sharing valuable life lessons learned with vegetable oils and healthy alternatives is to help people avoid the unhealthy ones and chose the healthy ones. Commercial vegetable oils are very likely contributing to many of the modern health issues that people are dealing with more frequently such as:  acne, allergies, Alzheimer’s, digestion issues, hormone issues, inflammation, oily skin, skin issues and weight gain.  Consuming commercial vegetable oils for many years contributed to my suffering with several conditions without realizing the connection.  Once the commercial vegetable oils were eliminated from my diet the allergies, body odor, constipation, digestion, sinus problems and weight gain went away.   You are now aware there may be a strong connection between the consumption of commercial vegetable oils and many health problems so it is up to you to take action to protect your health.

When we learn about the hidden harmful ingredients in commercial vegetable oils we have reasons to avoid them totally.  Contamination from: chemical fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, GE and GMO seeds, other toxic compounds used to produce vegetable oils is not worth the risk. All those harmful ingredients and processing techniques result in an inferior product compared to organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and palm oil.

More people are now learning about the issues with vegetable oils and choosing healthier alternatives instead.  Delicious and nutritious nut and seed oils have been consumed for centuries.

When we think about consuming commercial foods or vegetable oils we must first consider will it harm or help our health. When we do not invest the time to ask some basic questions and read the ingredients  we are opening our self up to harm and health problems.  The recommendations of the Corn Refiners Association, National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), USDA and vegetable oil industry are determined to convert you from healthy oil consumers into vegetable oils consumers in spite of the health hazards.  Their biased information and vested interests towards making more money has long and short term consequences to our health.  Common sense tells us the growers, producers and USDA are only interested in agriculture profits and not our happiness and health.

With this information on vegetable oils the ball is in your court to determine if it is healthy or unhealthy and make decisions accordingly.  While education is a powerful first step it is ultimately the actions and behaviors of the consumer that direct the market through their opinions and purchases.  Considering vegetable oils are a daily staple, the quality of our existence, future and survival is at stake so choose wisely.

Why Vegetable Oils Are a Health Hazard

The evidence concerning vegetable oil containing harmful chemicals and compounds is well established.  Any food with known health risks which can affect our happiness, health and well being must be avoided.  The unhealthy ingredients in vegetable oils have been linked to: endocrine, immune, neurological, respiratory and reproductive damage and cancer.  That is all the evidence a reasonable person would need to avoid them and choose healthy oils.

Today we uncovered some serious concerns regarding vegetable oils being health hazards.  Avoiding vegetable oils is not easy since they appear in so many foods and sources.  Being diligent to eliminate vegetable oils from our shelf’s is a great first step to help reduce our exposure to harmful chemicals and compounds.  Buying only nutritious organic oils like coconut, flax, extra virgin olive oil and palm oil sends a clear message to the producers what consumers want.   Sharing this important information with family and friends will help more people stop using vegetable oils and start using healthy oils instead.

This Great NEWS post regarding “Are commercial Vegetable Oils a Health Hazard?“ offers simple suggestions to chose healthy natural organic oils versus unhealthy vegetable oils.   As more people discover the truth about vegetable oils being health hazards more people will stop supporting the vegetable oil industries and start supporting organic oil producers instead.  Collectively we can shift the consciousness of people to use healthy organic oils in order to stop the production of harmful vegetable oils.  The world will be a happier and healthier place without the harmful chemicals and compounds in vegetable oils.   “Are Vegetable Oils a Health Hazard” is offered to alert people to the dangers of vegetable oils.

What is your current Gap?

Are you consuming vegetable oils and thinking they are healthy? How much and how often do you consume unhealthy vegetable oils?  Is your health and wealth important enough for you to research this topic further?

Mastery Action Plan (MAP)

What mastery action plans will help you stop eating vegetable oils and start choosing raw organic oils instead?  What else will it take to convince you to choose raw organic oils for health and vitality? For great information on fats and oils please read these outstanding books written by Udo Erasmus: Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill: The Complete Guide to Fats, Oils, Cholesterol and Human Health and Choosing the Right Fats – Natural Health Guide .

Call to Action

What comments, commitments or concerns come to mind regarding vegetable oils?  What else can we do to stop eating vegetable oils and start choosing raw organic oils instead?

Next week the Great NEWS blog will share:

Is Stress a Health Hazard?

PS:  Comment, like, plus and share this blog on the social media page links because family, fans, followers and friends will also benefit from The Great NEWS Coach and Transformation Life Coaching (TLC)..  Thanks for your continued support.