The secret ingredient poisoning you and your family

Our diets, once filled with natural fats and oils, have undergone a radical shift. Enter seed oils—enabling shelf-stable processed foods and used heavily in restaurant kitchens, historically touted as heart-healthy options. Yet, beneath their innocent facade, these oils may be silently poisoning our bodies.

Join me in taking steps to reducing your family’s consumption of seed oils. We can take quick steps at the grocery store, and over time build more skills for our favorite foods in the kitchen.

I grew up on vegetable oil. Then my parents switched to canola oil based on recommendations that it was healthier. Have you, like me, have grown skeptical of any ingredients that can’t be grown or raised on a farm and used straight from there? Our ancestors didn’t have refined oils. They didn’t have processed, shelf-stable food. And they didn’t suffer from the rampant heart disease and diabetes rates we have today. I’m not saying progress is bad (I love my dishwasher!), but I trust natural products much more.

History of seed oils

Seed oils are a relatively new addition to our plates. The history behind their creation is pretty informative. I would consider seed oils to be a waste product; rather than fill the landfills, companies found ways to make money from the waste at the expense of our health.

What are the “hateful eight”?

The “hateful eight” is a catch phrase for the list of polyunsaturated, refined, bleached and/or deodorized fats commonly used for cooking and in creating processed shelf-stable “food” we buy in our grocery stores:

• Soy oil
• Sunflower oil
• Safflower oil
• Canola oil
• Corn oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Hydrogenated oil
• Refined palm oil

Restaurants use two more oils that would also make the list, but you don’t typically see them on ingredient lists in the grocery store:

• Grapeseed oil
• Rice bran oil

Additionally, REFINED coconut, avocado and peanut oils should also be avoided.

How do seed oils affect you?

Seed oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids. We need a small amount of omega-6, but not the volume these seed oils contain. The ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is important (2:1 or 1:1 is ideal) – an imbalance results in inflammation. Over time, it leads to chronic inflammation. According to the Cleveland Clinic, chronic inflammation is linked to:

• Arthritis
• Heart disease
• Diabetes (type 2)
• Stroke
• Metabolic issues

You can get your omega-3 fatty acids from fish, seeds and nuts. An easy option is to take a cod liver oil supplement daily, just be sure to buy a high quality one (here is what I use). Eggs from pasture-raised chickens and grass-fed beef/dairy are also great omega-3 sources.

Have you been feeding your family seed oils?

Unless you’ve been living your whole life in isolation, growing all your own food, and growing all your own food’s food (what do you feed your livestock?), you most certainly have been consuming seed oils. They are everywhere.

It is possible to purchase prepared products at the grocery store without seed oils, but it is not easy. Potato chips? Seed oils. Bread? Seed oils. Pastries? Seed oils. Chicken nuggets? Seed oils. Salad dressing? Seed oils. Mayonnaise? Seed oils. And so on. Even some precooked grilled chicken breast lists vegetable oil in the ingredient list. Why???

It isn’t hopeless, but minimizing seed oils takes diligence.

What about restaurants?

Many restaurants operate on a very slim margin. Vegetable oil is inexpensive. So it isn’t surprisingly that nearly all restaurants use one of the hateful eight for their cooking oil of choice.

A handful of chain restaurants use peanut oil instead of one of the hateful eight. As of July 2024, that list includes Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Chick-fil-A. I’ve seen Jimmy Johns on some lists, but I couldn’t find official confirmation. Keep in mind, these restaurants are using highly refined peanut oil, not unrefined; highly refined peanut oil is still considered a seed oil. There are also rumors that Buffalo Wild Wings fries their wings in beef tallow (but use seed oils for the sauces).

You may have better luck with local restaurants. Call and ask what kind of cooking oil your favorites use. Or check the Seed Oil Scout phone app or blog.

The research and references

• Dr. Cate Shanahan: The Hateful Eight: Enemy Fats That Destroy Your Health
• Cleveland Clinic: Seed oils – are they actually toxic?
• Weston A. Price Foundation resources on fats

What to do now – The more you know…

Change starts with knowledge. Our ancestors didn’t need seed oils and neither do we. But avoiding them is not easy and requires paying close attention to your food. We can’t grab just anything of the center aisles of the grocery store shelves and trust that we have a good, healthy and safe product. Here are a few tips.

Make a few staples from scratch

Trying to avoid seed oils can be so overwhelming, making us feel like we literally have to cook every single thing completely from scratch. We can’t look at this as an all-or-nothing. Instead, we can focus on progress from making small changes over time. Pick one thing that you and your family eat often. How can you make that one thing without seed oils?

Start with your favorite snack!

For us, that first one thing was popcorn. Popcorn is the favorite snack at our house. Those easy microwave popcorn packs are easy for anyone to make, and let’s be honest – they taste great. But they’ve been linked to cancer due to chemicals used in the packaging – and they use seeds oils in all the brands I checked.

I knew if we could find an alternative that tasted great for popcorn, that would make a big difference for us. We tried several ways to make popcorn on the stove top, including using vegetable oil (before I knew better) and later coconut oil. I do like popcorn popped in coconut oil, but once we tried popping our corn in lard, we never looked back.

Popcorn popped in lard is AMAZING. I mean WAY better than any other popcorn I’ve ever tasted. My kids agree. None of us even want butter on it (and hey, I’m fine with adding grass-fed butter to popcorn, but this stuff doesn’t need any). We just shake on some real salt (not table salt – check that label and you’ll see dextrose listed – why do we want sugar in our salt?) and we are set. We make popcorn at least three times every week, and it is a simple, easy portable snack that I feel good about.

Looking for an easy all-natural snack?

Want a snack that is easy to take on the run?

Give my family’s popcorn recipe a try!

Transition one item at a time

Once you’ve mastered your first “one thing”, pick another item your family loves and find a seed-oil free option. My boys also love fruit roll-ups. But look at their label:

So another one for use was homemade fruit roll-ups are also super easy to make, and are a kid-pleaser (and a husband-pleaser!). Try out my recipe for mango-peach fruit leather (aka fruit roll-ups).

If you aren’t ready to make your own, read labels of the options at the store. I didn’t find a seed-oil free fruit snack option at my grocery, but Thrive Market (more about them below) sells a great one.

Learn to read ingredient labels and remember those hateful eight.

We are busy and realistically can any of us make everything from scratch? We can still buy from the store, if we exercise caution and are intentional. Memorize the list of seed oils (Soy, Sunflower, Safflower, Canola, Corn, Cottonseed, Hydrogenated, palm) and read the packaging. Even for products you’ve purchased before, double-check the ingredients occasionally because manufacturers make changes at times. You don’t have to wait until your grocery shopping trip for this – use your grocery store’s website or app to look at ingredient labels from home, and make a list of safe products before you go.

Let’s look at a couple of examples for a kid favorite – chips:

My sons love Lays Classic Potato Chips. The ingredient list is super short, but take a look at ingredient #2 – vegetable oil including three of the hateful eight.

We have found a few brands of tortilla chips made without seeds oils. Our favorite are these Maiz corn tortilla chips, and they are also organic.

Support sources of clean products

If you find a source that doesn’t use seed oils, support them! Ask your local restaurants and bakeries if they use seed oils, or if they can provide an option that doesn’t use them. Purchase fresh food locally when possible. We buy a quarter of grass-finished beef at least once a year from a farm, and we love the local farm stand for produce.

Buy from the local grocery store, checking labels. But don’t shy away from online sources for quality items you can’t find locally. I have an online source I love – Thrive Market carries the most seed-oil free products I’ve seen, including salad dressings and buffalo sauce.

Thrive Market is a great source!

Thrive Market is a membership-based online grocery store with an emphasis on high quality products, shipped straight to your door. I first found them when looking for cleaner shampoo options, but now I rely on them for so many of our grocery needs as well. Thrive promises that their products are 100% non-GMO, and many of them are organic. They have convenient auto-ship options, or you can make individual purchases. I’ve found some clean grocery and personal care items on Thrive Market for less than I can find anywhere else. They also have fantastic sales. If you’ve never purchased from Thrive, use this link for 40% off your first order.

Salad dressings are so hard to find without seed oils. I avoided salads for a long time until I found Primal Kitchen brand. I’ll even bring a little container of their dressing with me when we eat out so I can still order my favorite salads; just order without the dressing and add your own.

I just discovered Lesser Evil recently. We often have family or homeschool group gatherings where we bring a snack to share, and I keep Lesser Evil popcorn on hand to grab for the occasion. They use coconut oil on their Himalayan Gold Organic Butter Flavor Popcorn – and it is SO good! I’ve also occasionally found Lesser Evil at Aldi and Costco.

What you can do to avoid seed oils

1. Pick one thing to make from scratch without seed oils. Then pick another. Small change over time will add up.
2. Learn to read ingredients to find staples locally and online.
3. Vote with your dollars – support the companies that make and sell quality products.

You may also enjoy these posts:

• The secret (healthy) popcorn recipe my family begs for
• Simple mango peach fruit leather
• 5 best places to buy wheat berries

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