Dark Calories

How Vegetable Oils Destroy Our Health and How We Can Get It Back

by Dr Cate Shanahan

“Dr. Shanahan offers a compelling and eye-opening exploration into the harmful impacts of vegetable oils on our health… this rigorous analysis is both brave and necessary.”
—David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain, Drop Acid, and more

DARK CALORIES
How Vegetable Oils Destroy Our Health and How We Can Get It Back

The New York Times bestselling author of Deep Nutrition explains how a group of eight little-known oils cause the cellular damage that underlies virtually all chronic disease, exposes the corruption that deceives doctors and consumers into eating them, and gives us a clear roadmap to recovery and rejuvenation.

Cornell-trained biochemist turned family physician Dr. Cate Shanahan introduces us to well-respected scientists who warn that vegetable oils are a public health disaster. They deplete antioxidants and promote free radical toxicity, wreaking havoc on our bodies’ cells.

Americans were enticed into buying these oils based on their cholesterol-lowering property, but the idea that cholesterol-lowering is beneficial was pushed on us without solid evidence to support it. In Dark Calories, Dr. Cate reveals the financial entanglements between industry and underhanded academics who created and sustained our 1950s-era, arbitrary dietary rules.

As a solution, she proposes a clear, no-nonsense plan that aligns with our genetic needs and nature’s laws. Thankfully, recovering our health is simplified because nutrients that treat one condition also tend to treat all the rest. As an added bonus, we also revive our sense of taste so that our cravings shift to wholesome, nourishing foods instead

About Dr. Cate

Cate Shanahan, MD is a Cornell-trained physician-scientist whose works have inspired entire movements involving bone broth, live-culture ferments, and seed oil-free business empires. Together with NBA legend Gary Vitti, she created the LA Lakers PRO Nutrition program, which has been emulated by elite championship teams worldwide. Dedicated to her field, she runs a telehealth practice and a health-education website, DrCate.com, and lives with her family on a peaceful lake in Florida.

You Will Learn:

Dr. Shanahan shares seven important major lessons:

Vegetable Oils Turn Healthy Ingredients into Junk Foods
How Vegetable Oils Bring On Disease and Death
Historical Dietary Misguidance Exposed
Go Behind the Closed Doors of Nutrition Politics
Scientific Voices Against Seed Oils
Practical Guidance for Health Independence
Why Root Cause Medicine is Stuck In the Dark Ages

What People Say About the Book

“Dr. Shanahan offers a compelling and eye-opening exploration into the harmful impacts of vegetable oils on our health, challenging widely held beliefs and shedding light on the root causes of many metabolic diseases. Her rigorous analysis and critique of the healthcare industry’s complicity in promoting these dangerous products, despite overwhelming evidence of their detrimental effects, is both brave and necessary. By empowering readers with knowledge and practical advice to reclaim their health through real food, this work stands as a beacon for those seeking to navigate the misinformation surrounding diet and nutrition, offering a clear path towards wellness and disease prevention.”
—David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain, Drop Acid, and more

“Nobody else is focusing on the fact that 30 percent of our calories are now coming from oils that didn’t exist before the industrial era. Instead, we hear about 77 thousand different things we need to avoid. Dr. Cate makes life easier by spotlighting the one action that is the most life changing: avoiding the Hateful Eight toxic seed oils.”
—Mark Sisson, New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet

“Optimal health doesn’t happen automatically. You have to lay the groundwork to invite the miracle. Start by getting toxins out of your life, beginning with those in your diet. In plain language, Dr. Cate spells out the science that documents the dangers of seed oils, and her sensible advice guides the reader through all the misinformation and conflicting dogmas about how to eat. Dark Calories is an invitation to join the growing community of people invested in creating true health.”
—Andrew Weil, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Spontaneous Healing, Healthy Aging, and more

“Listen up sports dietitians: you need to read this book to understand inflammation because what most of you guys were telling me didn’t work. I had the best health of my athletic career with the L.A. Lakers thanks to Dr. Cate.”
—Chris Kaman, retired NBA player

“Dr. Cate Shanahan has been at the forefront of challenging the dogma around the purported benefits of polyunsaturated fats. As a heart surgeon I have seen the carnage produced by the misguided promotion of ‘heart healthy’ seed oils. Dark Calories provides the evidence that everyone, and especially doctors, need to know regarding the true, negative consequences of consuming vegetable oils. I hope that this book makes me a lot less busier surgeon.”
—Philip Ovadia, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and author of Stay Off My Operating Table