04/29/2025
What’s the deal with seed oils?
Honestly, I didn’t know where all the flack was coming from with seed oils, so I did some research of my own and came up with some solid information for you. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t some health fad and that there was a real reason as to why we should be avoiding it.
Seed oils are oils like canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, flaxseed oil, grape seed oil, h**p seed oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. They are extracted from vegetable crops through a very intense process that involves high heat, chemicals, and deodorization. They are in many pre-packaged foods, salad dressings, condiments, bread products, baby formula, meat alternatives, dairy alternatives, peanut butter, and margarine spreads.
They are considered “bad” for a few reasons, the largest reasons being the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio, and their oxidation when heated. There is substantial research that shows that seed oils increase inflammation in the body.
My conclusion, everything is OK in moderation. It’s “best practice” to avoid seed oils when you can, but don’t freak out if your favorite things have seed oils. Instead, limit your consumption of those products, come up with a homemade version of it, or find a good alternative for it!
A great way to switch out seeds oils for healthy oils is cooking with extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil-which is pretty much all that we use in our home except I’m sure we do have some salad dressings and whatnot with seed oils.
A little bit of anything is OK. If you are super strict about avoiding seed oils but drink alcohol regularly, you’re causing inflammation in your body. There is no ONE food that is going to make you sick or harm you. So, just do your best to eat a balanced diet with real whole foods every chance you can and save the not-so-good stuff for limited occasions. That’s all!
