The secret to weight loss is pretty simple: Burn more body fat than you build. It’s not a super secret these days, since so many folks are talking about how to burn your body fat. But what they don’t tell you is that there’s very likely something in your diet (the Hateful 8 seed oils) that disrupts your metabolism so severely, that your body can’t burn its own fat as easily as nature intended.
If your goal is sustainable weight loss, then I recommend focusing first and foremost on making it easy for your metabolism to burn that body fat. And getting the Hateful 8 seed oils out of your life is the best initial step to take to get to that goal.
Seed Oils Are Empty Calories At Best
Firstly, these oils are empty calories, at best. And, when you eat foods cooked in these oils–what you cook for yourself, and what restaurants and frozen meal companies have cooked for you–they’ve degraded into toxins. So by eliminating them you eliminate empty calories and toxins. This makes space in your calorie budget for all the healthy, metabolism-healing fats and other nutritious foods your body is dying for you to eat.
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It helped. I feel great.
"It’s helped. I feel great."
Kobe Bryant
NBA baskeball player
This has been life changing
"Let me tell you this has been life-changing. I have all of her books, in audible and ebooks! I have gotten rid of all the hateful 8 oils. I have trained my body to eat its own previously toxic body fat. Download that pod it's a game changer!"
I would like to thank you for literally saving my life. Back in February, I had to be hospitalized while on vacation in Phoenix with an A1C of 11% and had to start taking 2 types of insulin and 2 other meds. I read the Fatburn Fix in April, and followed the program to a tee, and I’m down by 15 pounds, 6.8 A1C, and only one once weekly diabetes medicine. Prior to reading the book, it was almost impossible for me to lose weight as a diabetic.
Leontyne Tompkins
I feel free
For the last month, I have really been reading all labels on everything. I have completely remove those 8 oils you talk about. I must tell you, I feel great! I have more energy and I am now 197 lbs (have always been around 205 to 210lbs). I eat potatoes with real butter, grass fed steak, pasta with the right toppings. I eat everything! I seem to crave less sugar. I love it!
Robert Kirkendall
I feel so much better
I had terrible aches and pains everywhere in my body, my hands, shoulders and knees. I feel so much better and the way I feel is motivating me every day! Thank you
Mike Deb Wootan Burcin
Better than ever
I am an anesthesiologist in Orlando and a huge fan of both of your books! I have been incorporating your principles for the last 10 months and feel that my health is better than ever.
Marnie Robinson, MD
My allergies disappeared
The biggest difference for me (and a surprising one) is that my allergies have almost completely disappeared! This is a big deal for me, because I’ve had allergies most of my life and they have often affected what I do which is a teaching music in [a public school district]. In general, I feel much better and have more consistent energy throughout the day.
Erica Turrell
Heart Palpitations have Stopped
I’ve lost 20+ pounds (also fasting 16-24 hours daily) and haven’t had palpitations except for one occasion — I had a mini bag of Fritos for the first time in July. And, I feel better now on a daily basis than I ever did all through college.
Mike Wright
Deep Nutrition and Fatburn Fix reader
I’ve lost over 50 pounds
I’ve lost over 50 pounds. I’m 56 years old. Cutting processed food and unhealthy fats from my diet was one of the first things I did on my health recovery journey...I went cold turkey off the bad oils. Emptied my pantry into the trash and just started eating real food
Mitzi Wilkinson Champion
Knowledge I didn’t know I needed
Your Fatburn Fix book is amazing, my friend. Thank you! I’m an Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and I know my stuff. This is the extra layer of knowledge I didn’t know I needed. Well done!
Jennifer Dillman
Fatburn Fix reader
Lost a solid 20 lbs and my bloodwork is great
I have lost a solid 20 lbs and my bloodwork (after 3 months of eating your way) was even better! I was metabolically healthy (per your book) before I read your book, but barely. Lowering my weight, sealed the deal! I have been talking about you and your book to anyone who will listen...Thank you for all you’ve done and what you continue to do! You are changing lives for the better!
Missy Cramer
FatBurn Fix reader
Lost 20 lbs I could never shed
I love your Fatburn Fix! Has helped me so so much! I have had the dreaded weight all my life - 20 or so pounds I could never shed. I have lost that now. I only eat 2 meals a day lunch and dinner with a glass of milk or cappuccino around 4 to hold me over. No snacking and not bad oils. It has been the key to unlocking my fatburn. I work out in the am and believe I am burning fat for energy not from food!
My waist is four inches smaller. I feel great and many of the minor aches and pains that I had (knees and lower back) are gone. Also, my muscle tone is amazing, even though I have not increased my workout routine.
Richard Janelle
Completed Dr Cate's online course
The go-to for strength and conditioning coaches
Whenever I advise my clients about eating to perform I go straight to what I have learned from Dr. Cate. Her book Deep Nutrition has become the go-to for strength and conditioning coaches across the country.
Kent Matthes
Major League Baseball Agent with WME Sports
Dismantles the lie
Dr. Cate dismantles the lie that seed oils are healthy, which may the biggest lie about nutrition and health because it’s so insidious.
Ken D Berry, MD
Author of Lies My Doctor Told Me
She knows the chemistry
Dr. Cate alerts us to the harms of seed oils and she’s convincing because she knows the chemistry better than anyone.
Dr. Drew Pinskey, MD
Globally recognized internal medicine and addiction medicine specialist, media personality, LoveLine Host, and New York Times bestselling author
No one is better at communicating nutritional truth
Dr. Cate has had the single greatest impact on how we talk to people about fueling for both performance or durability. While we all are a little unique, the foundational principles of human nutrition are immutable. If you are looking to create a more durable, resilient body, no one is better at communicating nutritional truth than Dr. Cate.
Dr. Kelly Starrett
Physiotherapist coach and New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author
Highly recommend The Fatburn Fix
Dr. Shanahan has had a significant impact on my practice of medicine. I am known as a Low Carb Doctor, but I never really appreciated the negative effects of processed seed oils on the health of my patients. I highly recommend The Fatburn Fix to my patients and have a loaner copy in my waiting room. It is amazing how quickly blood sugars and overall health improves with cutting seed oils. It is not just about the carbs!
Dr. Brian Lenkzes, MD
CEO of LowCarbMD San Diego, co-host of Low Carb MD Podcast and host of Life's Best Medicine Podcast
Respected in the sports world
Dr. Cate reordered my diet when I was with the L.A. Lakers, and the benefits, for me personally, were felt immediately and have served me to this day. I’ve come to take real food so seriously I started a small family farm. I know of no M.D./nutritionist more respected in the sports world than Dr. Cate Shanahan.
Chris Kaman
NBA Player
Brought seed oil issue front and center
Cate brought the seed oil issue front and center. Healthy fats matter. So much so that I created an entire product line to swap out bad fats with good.
Mark Sisson
Founding Father of the Primal/Paleo Movement
Optimal health starts with food
If you want to understand how optimal health starts with food, start with Dr. Cate. Her book Deep Nutrition leaves you with an appreciation of the profound relationship between our genes and the planet, inspiring us to be good shepherds of both.
Dallas Hartwig
Attribution author of The Whole 30
Helped me with endurance
Deep Nutrition really helped me with endurance. I started to feel better as a player. I was able to run more, I was able to be more active …and I just decided to keep going with it to this day.
Dwight Howard
NBA Player
Silver bullet for me
Dr Cate’s teachings helped me lose 60 pounds like it was nothing. It was like a silver bullet for me.
Paul Grewal, MD
Dr Grewal Internal Medicine, MD, author of Genius Foods
Radically improve your health…
Dr. Shanahan has provided a solid reference that deserves a place in the library of anyone who is seriously interested in nutrition. Her perspective on the vital role that healthy fat has in our diet is novel and, if implemented, can radically improve your health.
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Author of Fat for Fuel and Founder of Mercola.com
Pull up a chair…
I have based my work on the idea that getting the right kinds of healthy fats into your body and avoiding the worst fats is essential to optimal health. I've interviewed dozens of the world's top experts about this, and I know of no one who speaks more eloquently on this topic than Dr Cate. If she’s talking fats, pull up a chair. Take notes.
Dave Asprey
Author of the Bulletproof Diet
The key to unlocking my fatburn
I love your Fatburn Fix! Has helped me so so much! I have had the dreaded weight all my life - 20 or so pounds I could never shed. I have lost that now. I only eat 2 meals a day lunch and dinner with a glass of milk or cappuccino around 4 to hold me over. No snacking and not bad oils. It has been the key to unlocking my fatburn.
Lauren Smith
Saved my life
I would like to thank you for literally saving my life. Back in February, I had to be hospitalized while on vacation in Phoenix with an A1C of 11% and had to start taking 2 types of insulin and 2 other meds. I read the Fatburn Fix in April, and followed the program to a tee, and I’m down by 15 pounds, 6.8 A1C, and only one once weekly diabetes medicine.
Leontyne Tompkins
> Tears of joy
I'm crying tears of joy and appreciation for all you've done for me and my health! Without Deep Nutrition and Fatburn Fix, I would literally still be in the vicious cycle I'd been fighting all my life! In a nutshell - I am no longer a compulsive overeating addict suffering under the crushing 'thumb' of all food and alcohol.
Penni Wicks
I’ll get to the second reason avoiding seed oils is key to losing weight next, but first, I want to dive into a key concept that helps you focus on the right metabolic health goal. It’s not speeding up your metabolism by eating this or that superfood or trying this or that ‘hack.’ The metabolic goal that has actual science behind it is called “Metabolic Flexibility.”
Metabolic Flexibility Makes Weight Loss Easier
The term metabolic flexibility has been around for a long time. The original definition goes something like this: Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand. That’s pretty vague. So other folks have tried to make it a little more specific by refining the definition in various ways. As a result, you will find “Metabolic flexibility” variously defined by various people of varying expertise. Some of the better ones include:
“Being able to switch back and forth between using carbohydrates and fat.”
“A metabolically flexible state exists when there is a rapid switch between glucose and fatty acids during the transition between the fed and fasting state.”
The ability of “muscles to switch from predominantly fat oxidation to carbohydrate oxidation under insulin-stimulated conditions after overnight fasting.”
Among others.
Here’s how I think the term “metabolic flexibility” should be defined:
Metabolic flexibility is the ability to easily burn your body fat between meals, during exercise, and while you sleep.
Defining it this way helps to understand what you need to do to burn off unwanted body fat. Regain metabolic flexibility.
When you can’t burn your body fat easily, that’s metabolic inflexibility. Metabolic inflexibility makes you horribly hungry and prone to craving sweets, starches, and junk food that raises your blood sugar fast.
And there’s another weight-loss-related concept that gets thrown around a lot that I want to refine further, that is the idea of burning fat. This is especially true for anyone interested in trying a low carb, keto, or fasting approach to weight loss. Eating fat helps you burn fat, sure. But it does not necessarily mean you’re burning your body fat. In fact, if you’re burning the fat you just ate, you are by definition NOT burning your body fat. You can’t do both at once.
When you want to lose weight, you must burn your body fat, not your dietary fat. But we don’t have a term specifically referring to burning your body fat, believe it or not. So I coined a term for that. I call it FATBURN. (The fact that we don’t have a term for the main goal of weight loss reflects a serious limitation of our currently accepted weight loss science.)
Fatburn is related to Metabolic Flexibility
FatBurn reflects metabolic flexibility by anyone’s definition. But it most precisely reflects the definition I think we should focus on, namely the ability to easily burn your body fat between meals, during exercise, and while you sleep. So I will use the two terms interchangeably. Just know that when I use the term “metabolic flexibility” I’m also referring to FatBurn.
One of the tools you can use to measure your metabolic flexibility AKA FatBURN is my PDF, which you can download for free when you click the Free Resources button and subscribe to my newsletter.
The FATBURN Factor Worksheet helps you measure your ability to burn your body fat, which is a reflection of metabolic flexibility. This worksheet is included when sign up to get an email with my full basket of free resources that help you adapt to a seed oil-free lifestyle. This screenshot is from the PDF called The FatBurn Factor worksheet.
Seed Oils Make Your Body’s Cells Use More Sugar than Nature Intended
The second reason why eliminating vegetable oils is the first and most important thing to do when you’re trying to lose weight has to do with the molecular makeup of these oils. They are chock full of nature’s most unstable kind of fatty acid, called polyunsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats poison your cells’ energy-generating mitochondria, causing them to shut down unless they can get another fuel. That fuel is sugar.
So polyunsaturated fatty acids can make your cells crave sugar. When your cells crave sugar, so do you. That’s why eliminating seed oils also empowers you to control your sweet tooth. Take it from a former sugar-holic who once drove halfway across North Dakota just to get my Starbuck fix. I never imagined I would lose that monkey on my back.
But Corn oil is Heart-Healthy, Right?
Corn, soy, canola, and the other Hateful 8 vegetable oils are all low in saturated fat. For that reason, the American Heart Association tells you seed oils are so healthy you need to eat more of them.
But the American Heart Association is not telling you the truth about these oils.
For more information on the American Heart Association’s dirty dealings, watch this video I presented recently at a conference on seed oils and/or read this article I wrote about the history of the AHA and its connections to the seed oil industry.
Watch Mark Sisson and Dr. Cate on The Megyn Kelly Show
Back in May of this year, Megyn Kelly invited Mark Sisson and me on to the Megyn Kelly Show to discuss the best way to lose weight Right after that conversation, Megyn decided to eliminate these toxic oils. She felt so much better that she even bragged on it (in a good way) to another guest! Check this video clip.
Watch Megyn Kelly Burst Out During Another Interview With How Good She Feels After Avoiding the Hateful 8
My Apologies for The Delay in Supporting Megyn Fans!
I am not the best on Twitter so I just found out that back in June Megyn launched this amazing Hateful 8 challenge. Check it out on Twitter! Lots of great comments and encouragement.
My friends, yesterday was the one year anniversary of my NO FRENCH FRIES pledge and … I did it!! Didn’t cheat once! Next up: the so-called “hateful 8” vegetable oils. Join me if you like. WE CAN DO THIS!! 12 months…
When I read the comments I saw there were mostly on two ends of the seed oil-avoidance spectrum.
One: “there’s no way I can do this, these oils are in everything.” That’s one on the avoidance spectrum.
And…
Two “I eliminated seed oils years ago, and now it’s just automatic to avoid them. I feel so much more energetic and healthy, I will never go back.” That’s a ten.
So I realized I could do something to support the ones and twos to help them get started making progress towards becoming 9s and 10s.
That’s why I added a new PDF to my downloadable resources, it’s called
DOWNLOAD PDF: Your Jump Start Guide to Avoid Toxic Oil! The Hateful 8 Challenge.
With over two decades of clinical experience and expertise in genetic and biochemical research, Dr. Cate can help you to reverse metabolic disease and reshape your body.
Is fasting more effective for weight loss than regular dieting and calorie counting? Dr. Cate reviews the most important studies and wraps with her recommendations based on 20 years of experience.
If you struggle to lose weight you may feel like your metabolism is “slowing down.” But what’s really going on is your metabolism is breaking down. This is not normal aging, and it’s fixable. But you have to understand what’s broken if you want to fix it
Sarah Kleiner interviews Dr. Cate Shanahan to discuss how seed oils are slowing down your metabolism and ruining your health by contributing to rapid aging, insulin resistance, and mental health disorders. Dr. Cate also shares how we can fix what's broken about our metabolism.
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I read Dr. Cate’s work and have been re-evaluating nutrition for some time. I hit this topic, from a very different angle, on my own personal blog. Feel free to read the article at https://littlenuggets.substack.com/p/ultra-exposed
I read Dr. Cate’s work and have been re-evaluating nutrition for some time. I hit this topic, from a very different angle, on my own personal blog. Feel free to read the article at https://littlenuggets.substack.com/p/ultra-exposed
I hope you like it!
Nice comparison of US v Euro McD ingredients in your article!
Thank you! Keep up the great work.