Oily Business

Hello and welcome to Tobias Talks

I'll keep this weeks entry short as unfortunately there aren't many positives to reflect on, although I did have a very enjoyable weekend with my Fiancée (where I took the photo above)

I keep hampering my progress by being inconsistent with my diet. I can eat healthily most of the time but sometimes I will just eat almost non-stop for 2 or 3 hours, these surplus calories will invariably lead to weight gain and lethargy. I haven't been to the gym this week, though I plan on going again very soon, but will focus on healthy exercises and mobility for long term health.

This week I am keeping my "no sweets" goal but I'm going to build upon it in that I will try to avoid all non-whole foods. For the purposes of this week I am considering a whole food as a food that looks exactly as it was when it was harvested. So this is vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs and I will also include dairy and bread in this on the proviso that it contains minimal additional products and zero seed oils.

This blog is my own thoughts and opinions, as opposed to the robust science found in our articles. And my opinion is that seed oils are one of the biggest issues in the modern diet, seed oils include sunflower oil, rapeseed oil (called canola oil in the US and Canada), sesame oil and a few others. These seed oils are also referred to as RBD (Refined, Bleached and Deodorised)

The following oils are typically refined or described as RBD;

• All Canola Oils
• All Soybean Oils
• Sunflower Oils
• Safflower Oils
• Grapeseed Oil
• Coconut Oil

For the longest time some seed oils main purpose was to lubricate engines and it wasn't a foodstuff. Only in the last century have this oils been added to the human diet and have rapidly increased in use since the 90's. If you are unsure why I am against seed oils, check out this youtube video on how rapeseed/canola oil is made;

Now i'm not a fool, I'm sure the process of making a sausage or some other products are equally as gross looking, but it's not just the visuals I am concerned by, it's the chemicals used for the processes, Solvents and Sodium Hydroxide or Lye. Now I can't say definitively that this is unhealthy, but there is no way you could convince me that this is "healthy".

Compare this to the video below of how olive oil is made, for consistency I have used the exact same source, the "How it's made" TV series.

See the difference? No chemicals, no separating, bleaching or solvents. Just mash it into small bits and then press it, with or without heat.

Now check the ingredients of almost any food product on the shelves today and you will likely find seed oils contained within. It's this unavoidable nature that bothers me. So from now on, I'll be making my own crisps at home, cooked in beef dripping (Tallow in the US). This ancient food has fallen out of favour since the 50's but is making a bit of a comeback lately. It's very useful as unlike olive oil, it has a high smoke point so can be used for high heat frying without creating harmful free radicals in the food.

Again, this is all my own opinion and I haven't sought studies to prove this, for this blog, as I am not trying to convince anyone, just merely to explain what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, but next time you are eating a processed food, whatever it may be, check the ingredients, I can almost guarantee a seed oil is in there.

Thanks for reading.

Your friend, Tobias.