The "Worst Food" For You
Something I get asked a lot is, “What is the worst food for me?” And relax, I’m not going to say pizza.
Full disclosure: I am a pizza lover! I just make it at home with high quality ingredients.
Please know that every time I say “worst food”, I’m using air quotes. Because I don’t believe that food has morality. There is nothing good or bad about food. However, there are foods that can either move us closer to our goals or farther away from them.
For example, one of my goals last year was to heal my gut. Even though I had already cut out a lot of foods that didn’t work for me, there were still some foods I was eating that weren’t moving me closer to my goal. Foods that we would consider “healthy” (tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, etc.), were actually causing issues for me.
I say all this to tell you, there is not one food that’s the WORST. Everyone is unique and has different reactions to different foods. However, there is a great deal of evidence that shows this certain group of foods to be more harmful than helpful for just about everyone.
And this is what I tell my clients, family, friends, and anyone who will listen:
If you are only going to change one thing about your diet, eliminate VEGETABLE/SEED OILS.
Including, but not limited to, canola, soybean, sunflower, corn, peanut, cottonseed, and of course, the ever so vague “vegetable” oil we use in every baking recipe. Also under this umbrella, I’m going to include shortening (ex: Crisco) and margarine (or any fake butter).
The catch is, if you’re going to eliminate these oils, you’re also going to eliminate pretty much all processed food and eating out at restaurants. So eliminate may be a strong word in those circumstances. You can, however, eliminate your use of them in your everyday cooking and baking.
I know many people are already aware of the issues with these oils/fats, but there is still so much propaganda going around that it’s hard to know what to believe. And I don’t want you to just take my word for it. Go do your own research and decide what you think is best. Here’s a great article by Chris Kresser where he includes links to the scientific literature over 20 times if you want to learn more about the topic.
But if you want the Reader’s Digest version, here are the top 3 things you need to know:
Know how your food is made.
If you want to be scarred for life, watch how canola oil is made here. Fast forward to 3:22 for a quick glimpse at where America’s beloved Crisco comes from. And please ignore the outdated and debunked propaganda about how saturated fat is bad and canola oil is good. And if you don’t watch it, just know that the words “solvent”, “chemicals”, and “bleach” are used more times than I’d ever like to hear in reference to my food. This doesn’t even begin to get into the hydrogenation process and trans fats present in shortening and margarine. Watch this video if you want to learn more about that (at least watch from minute 3-4).
Know what happens when you cook your food.
So now that I horrified you with how its made, let’s learn about the even scarier things that happen when you use that oil (canola or otherwise) to cook or bake. Since most vegetable oil is already rancid before you even take it off the shelf at the grocery store, you’re starting with less-than-ideal circumstances in the first place. These rancid oils contain something called Omega-6 fatty acids (which are not inherently bad). But when these oils are heated, the fats are oxidized, wreaking havoc in the body. REPEATEDLY heated oils (pretty much anytime you eat out) may lead to heart disease, increased blood pressure, increased oxidized LDL cholesterol (different from total cholesterol), and atherosclerosis. Not to mention, you’ll probably just feel like junk in general.
Know the other options.
This is the happy part of the story. There are several options that are so much healthier and more delicious, that you won’t even miss using vegetable oil in your brownies. I can’t speak for every recipe, but I will say that I’ve substituted these oils for the yucky ones in dozens of recipes, and everything turned out wonderfully.
Coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, palm shortening, lard, tallow, duck fat, ghee, and my personal favorite, BUTTER. There are others, but these are the main ones we use in the Gray household.
I truly believe that just by eliminating this one part of your diet, you can see HUGE gains in your health goals. And please know that this is NOT an all-encompassing article on the subject, and I encourage you to read the article and watch the video mentioned above for more information.
So now that you know about the “worst food”, what questions do you have? What do YOU think is the “worst food”?