I love butter. Know how butter is made? Milk cow. Let cream separate. Skim off cream. Shake until it becomes butter.
Let’s compare this to how another popular fat, canola oil, is made:
Prebleach? Postbleach? Deodorization? Not sure how anyone would think that something that has to undergo a process like this to make it palatable could be an ok thing to injest.
But wait- doesn’t butter cause heart disease? Isn’t saturated fat bad for you? Before I get into the details, check these out:
Why is this important? Here’s a pretty good reason:
All one has to do is look at the statistics to know that it isn’t true. Butter consumption at the turn of the century was eighteen pounds per person per year, and the use of vegetable oils almost nonexistent. Yet cancer and heart disease were rare. Today butter consumption hovers just above four pounds per person per year while vegetable oil consumption has soared–and cancer and heart disease are endemic.
Let’s back up and talk about the reasons why we should never consume vegetable oils:
Our bodies are not meant to consume them.
Our bodies are made up of saturated and monounsaturated fats, and we needs these fats for optimal health. Vegetable oils are comprised almost entirely of polyunsaturated fats.
One problem with polyunsaturated fats is that they are highly unstable and oxidize easily in the body. Many polyunsaturated fats will be oxidized before we even consume them, as a result of processing or from being exposed to light on the supermarket shelf. Oxidized fats cause inflammation and mutation in cells:
– when these fats are incorporated into arterial cells, these mutations cause inflammation that clog arteries
– when these fats are incorporated into skin cells, their mutation causes skin cancer (this is why people often get the most dangerous forms of skin cancer in places that haven’t been exposed to the sun)
– when these oils are incorporated into cells in reproductive tissue, some evidence suggests that this can spur problems like endometriosis and PCOS.
Vegetable oils contain chemicals and additives that are poisonous.
If you look back towards the top of this post at the diagram of how canola is made, you won’t be surprised at the fact that vegetable oils contain harmful chemicals, since so many chemicals are used in their productions.
Butylated Hydroxyanisole and Butylated Hydroxytoluen are added to help prevent rapid oxidation and spoilage. They have been linked to the body’s production of cancer causing compounds, liver and kidney damage, immune and infertility problems, increased cholesterol, and behavioral issues in children.
Vegetable oils contain pesticide and chemical residues since they most often come from genetically modified crops.
Vegetable oils are extremely damaging to the reproductive system and the developing bodies of unborn babies and children:
Because the reproductive system in both men and women is constantly producing and dividing new cells, there is potential for mutation and problems when these cells are made of the wrong kind of fats and are oxidized. The cells of unborn babies and children divide at high rates, which increases the potential for mutation:
What the scientific literature does tell us is that low fat diets for children, or diets in which vegetable oils have been substituted for animal fats, result in failure to thrive–failure to grow tall and strong–as well as learning disabilities, susceptibility to infection and behavioral problems. Teenage girls who adhere to such a diet risk reproductive problems. If they do manage to conceive, their chances of giving birth to a low birth weight baby, or a baby with birth defects, are high.
Vegetable oil consumption also interfered with hormone production, as hormones are dependent on certain fats for their creation.
Vegetable oils contain dangerously high levels of omega-6 fatty acids.
Read all about why this is so dangerous in this pigforkr post.
The Bottom Line:
What to avoid:
Vegetable and Seed Oils:
– corn, canola, soybean, peanut, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, grapeseed, and “vegetable” oils
– margarine, shortening, butter “spreads”
Products made with vegetable and seed oils:
– store bought salad dressings, condiments, sauces, mayo (make your own!)
– chips, snacks, crakers, cookies, snack foods
What to eat instead:
– coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil
– full fat cream, butter, and ghee from pastured cows
– avocados, fish, eggs
References and additional reading:
How Too Much Omega-6 and Not Enough Omega-3 Is Making Us Sick
http://wellnessmama.com/2193/never-eat-vegetable-oil/
http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/the-great-con-ola/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/healthy-oils/#axzz3Ne66dTpu
http://healingnaturallybybee.com/the-dangers-of-polyunsaturated-vegetable-oils/