I decided to remove soybean and vegetable oil from my diet at the beginning of June. So far I can say I've been very impressed by the results--lost 7lbs after having been quite stubbornly stuck at about 215lbs since after the first few months of the pandemic. I'm not sure how much it directly has to do with oils vs how much it is just the fact that pretty much all junkfood/restaurant food has such oil in it (and the fact I cut alcohol out of my diet entirely for the month of June--"dry June" too, though I have don't that before during this time and didn't see these results), but I think it is working well and I encourage anyone else out there to give it a try. Going to try and post my progress monthly.
Probably going to try and permanently cut alcohol out, it just doesn't do it for me anymore and a friend turned me on to Kratom which seems to give me a much better result--better sleep, not sloppy and impulsive, no hangover, it's cheaper, no calories.
I would love to have the willpower to give up oil like that. I don't cook in it, or use it for anything on its own, but as you say, it's in almost every processed and fried food, even shit like salad dressing. It's hard to keep a clean kitchen when the person you live with insists on buying every bread and processed product in the world -___- Also, I will admit to finally becoming depressed in the last few months. Not something that I easily admit to, makes me feel weak as hell. And that makes me have a lot less ability to resist garbage food.
tacosalad wrote:
I would love to have the willpower to give up oil like that. I don't cook in it, or use it for anything on its own, but as you say, it's in almost every processed and fried food, even shit like salad dressing. It's hard to keep a clean kitchen when the person you live with insists on buying every bread and processed product in the world -___- Also, I will admit to finally becoming depressed in the last few months. Not something that I easily admit to, makes me feel weak as hell. And that makes me have a lot less ability to resist garbage food.
Yeah, I've had to make my own salad dressing (brown mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dry italian seasonging, evoo) which is fine but super inconvenient. The fact it's in all bread that doesn't go stale in a day has basically forced that out of my rotation entirely, which sucks. I have found it kind of like when I stop drinking--the first week to week-and-a-half is fucking terrible, but if I can make it through that, I get a lot of inertia that even makes it easier to come right back even if I slip.
For me at least, the bad food/depression cycle can be a beast to break out of, so I understand where you're coming from there.
That sounds like a good recipe for dressing, I will try that. It is a huge problem that I don't buy all the food for the house, but it is what it is. Glad it's been working for you. Here's to us all being as healthy as we can be.
I went through a few month period where I cut out all oil, lost about 10 lbs, and then started being less strict on myself. I’ve tried to avoid canola oil for the last couple years. The Thai restaurant I frequent will make my drunken noodles dish without oil. Nowadays I still make my baked fries without oil and just try to limit my exposure to it. If we go to another restaurant where they have to use the oil, it’s no big deal. I can say I haven’t gained the weight back I’m still around 157. If you think about it, oil can add an additional 120 calories or so per tablespoon. That’s a lot when you think about how much is needed for salads, hashbrowns, etc.
Still going strong-- lost another 3 lbs--but I reintroduced alcohol into my diet and have not been exercising as much (too hot here!). Probably going to keep the booze down as much as possible, doesn't really hit the same as before anyway
jh1517 wrote:
Still going strong-- lost another 3 lbs--but I reintroduced alcohol into my diet and have not been exercising as much (too hot here!). Probably going to keep the booze down as much as possible, doesn't really hit the same as before anyway
I quit drinking in 2014. It was one of the easier things to quit for me. Great job on the weight loss! I’m sure you already know, but you can sauté veggies in water instead of oil. Easy to cook oil-free in the instant pot too
jh1517 wrote:
I've had to make my own salad dressing (brown mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dry italian seasonging, evoo) which is fine but super inconvenient.
LOL. most of unlearning a societal diet & starting to make shit for yourself is indeed inconvenient.
And I'm not chastising here at all! just commiserating.
In lieu of empty bread, ive started grinding my own oats into a mix i use to make scottish oat cakes. super simple & variable, I can buy and make in bulk, and it's one less thing to go to the store for. it also probably strikes a chord with my Scottish ancestors!
We just gotta find a personal way to take our food back! And it ain't easy.
Edit:
Congrats to all on cutting out the booze and junk too! We gotta clean up our systems as much as we can and kick out the invaders.
Here's a great video outlining the role of cholesterol in the body, the dangers of PUFA's, the body's need for saturated fats and avoiding seed oils like the plague.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUY_SDhxf4k
Nina is also a phenomenal investigative journalist that does a great job at explaining the history and impact of seed oils
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UnOryQiIY
melomike wrote:
Nina is also a phenomenal investigative journalist that does a great job at explaining the history and impact of seed oils
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UnOryQiIY
That was an interesting talk but I feel like it is missing some nuance.
I've made sunflower oil and pumpkin seed oil at home and both were visually attractive (sunflower a rich golden yellow and pumpkin seed a deep forest green) as well as super aromatic. I've seen the same thing with fresh olive oil. And they didn't seem to change markedly in the space of a few months.
I do avoid corn, soybean, canola, and really any inorganic oils and generally try to avoid any processed food. And we eat and cook with a ton of butter and ghee and sometimes lard. But I suspect there's more to the seed oils when you get out of the super industrial scale
personman wrote:
That was an interesting talk but I feel like it is missing some nuance.I've made sunflower oil and pumpkin seed oil at home and both were visually attractive (sunflower a rich golden yellow and pumpkin seed a deep forest green) as well as super aromatic. I've seen the same thing with fresh olive oil. And they didn't seem to change markedly in the space of a few months.
I do avoid corn, soybean, canola, and really any inorganic oils and generally try to avoid any processed food. And we eat and cook with a ton of butter and ghee and sometimes lard. But I suspect there's more to the seed oils when you get out of the super industrial scale
Sunflower oil is very high in polyunsaturated fats. Very bad for your health.
melomike wrote:
Sunflower oil is very high in polyunsaturated fats. Very bad for your health.
Industrial seed oils being sold rancid is a completely separate issue to their fat content
melomike wrote:
Sunflower oil is very high in polyunsaturated fats. Very bad for your health.
That may well be, especially at extremely high levels. But when the person making that assertion is also asserting the oils are "grey and smell bad" when they are produced, which is definitively untrue in my first hand experience, it indicates to me that we might be looking at the same kind of science that declares red meat unhealthy.
Red meat, raised in confinement on a diet of gmo corn and soy meal and phatmaceuticals is surely an unhealthy food stuff. Pasture raised red meat is an entirely different story. Is there a similar dynamic with seed oils? If your baseline is oils made through maximum yield, high heat, heavily treated industrial processes does that translate to oils made with minimal heat, no additional processing, and consumed fresh?
I definitely understand the point, and agree, that the modern consumption rate of hydrogenated and highly heated pufa rich oils (especially primarily as a deep frier oil or as one ingredient in a highly processed diet) is a recipe for ill health. But people have been consuming seed oils for a lot longer than the 1940s as part of their diet.
