If you're a health professional you should know that you can't implicitly trust medical news outlets. They may be manipulating you!
The Hateful Eight: Enemy Fats That Destroy Your Health
Table of Contents
- The Hateful 8 are the Bad Seed Oils We Need to Avoid
- Most Folks Don’t Know They’re Eating Seed Oils
- Seed Oil Weaken Your Immune System
- Your Immune System Needs You to Be Metabolically Fit
- Four Steps to Start Eliminating Seed Oils From Your Body Fat TODAY
- Links to Scientific References Page & Further Reading
- Related TWEETS
The Hateful 8 are the Bad Seed Oils We Need to Avoid
Every day you probably hear health and diet information delivered as gospel by doctors and scientists from the most respected institutions in the country. The rules of the media game typically require that the experts brought into the spotlight will be parroting the same information you’ve already heard thousand of times before. This is especially true when it comes to fats.
But Bill Maher isn’t afraid of rocking the boat. On Friday May 22, 2020, when one of the few in big media willing to talk about the relationship between diet and health like a grown-up, Bill Maher, invited me onto Real-Time to share some truth. (Short segment here, full audio here on stitcher, intro to my segment starts at 17:15)
To discover how seed oils and other nutritional issues may have affected your health and how to recover the fastest, please schedule a consultation.
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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!
Lauren Smith
I feel great
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
Here are some of the things we discussed.
Most Folks Don’t Know They’re Eating Seed Oils
The average American gets 80% of their fat calories from seed oils, which are high in unstable fatty acids that break down into toxins when you cook with them and when you eat them for years and years. This problem is pushed under the rug and nobody is talking about it. The American Heart Association wants to keep it that way.
Seed Oil Weaken Your Immune System
The virus is not what’s killing most of us under the age of 65. For the elderly, or for those who are otherwise immunocompromised, the sheer viral load can be too much for the body to deal with. But for the rest of us, the real threat is not the virus itself, but the way your body responds.
Most of the folks under 65 who have to be admitted to the ICU are there because their body fat is full of inflammation-promoting high-PUFA seed oils. In other words, if seed oils were removed from the equation, then there would be nobody under 65 in the ICU unless they’ve got a rare immune deficiency disorder or are in the middle of chemo for cancer or have something else very serious that’s going on.
What I’m talking about goes way beyond flattening the curve; the sheer volume of the curve would be reduced. If the Hateful 8 weren’t disrupting our metabolisms and forcing our immune system to produce dangerous levels of inflammation, kids are still at school, restaurants are still opened and people are still going to work.
During the interview with Bill Maher, I also made the point that everyone under 65 who had a serious case of corona also has an underlying metabolic condition–whether they know it or not. Even those thin people who’ve written articles about their experience, like Mara Gay, a reporter for the NY Times who looks glowingly healthy.
As fit and beautiful as she appears in the NY Times piece, it’s unlikely her metabolism is in good shape. Your metabolism has to be very damaged indeed for it to cause visible signs of poor health. But it doesn’t have to be particularly damaged for it to fail you when the time comes for your immune system to rise to the challenges involved in what may be the ultimate metabolic test: fending off potentially deadly infections.
I’m so sure that seed oils are the underlying cause of metabolic disruption that I’m calling for a challenge. Show me a single person under 65 without a serious underlying disease or immune deficiency who ended up in the ICU who had been categorically avoiding vegetable oils for the prior 5 years and you’ve proven me wrong.
Keep in mind, I’m not just talking about avoiding trans fats from hydrogenated oils, which a lot of people think are the only bad fats to pay attention to. I’m talking any of the Hateful 8, hydrogenated or not.
Your Immune System Needs You to Be Metabolically Fit
Doctors are so poorly trained in metabolic disease that most can’t begin to appreciate how powerful the wrong dietary advice they typically dish out is disrupting your health. We tell you to avoid saturated fat and when you do you’re going to end up eating unhealthy amounts of PUFA. And so most doctors unknowingly give out nutritional advice that only makes people sicker. When our dietary advice fails to help our patients, we sometimes avoid the subject altogether by ignoring abnormal lab results and telling you “all your tests came back normal.”
That’s my best explanation for why half the adults in this country with metabolic conditions like fatty liver and prediabetes aren’t told they have the condition, and therefore don’t have any reason to believe they’re at risk for additional complications of metabolic diseases or at risk of suffering from serious infections.
Many other common conditions are also metabolic. For example, if you’re a person who suffers from frequent migraines, seasonal allergies, occasional asthma, you almost certainly have an unhealthy metabolism. These seemingly minor underlying conditions are enough to make a viral pneumonia potentially life threatening.
It’s not that migraines or allergies disrupt your metabolism. It’s that the underlying condition that causes migraines, allergies, and many other seemingly unrelated metabolic illnesses, is too much PUFA in your body fat.
Most people in the ICU are not eating, and that’s when these seed oils are going to be released from your body fat–during fasting. When released into the bloodstream, these PUFAs interact with enzymes that are part of your virus-fighting, immune-response team. Their function is to promote inflammation, in fact, that’s one of the key reasons a healthy diet includes about 2-4% PUFA. But the problem is, on a modern diet with 10-20X the normal amount of PUFA, our body fat releases 10-20X more PUFA into the bloodstream, and we get 10-20X more inflammation than we normally would.
That insanely high level of inflammatory chemicals in our bloodstream, lungs and other tissues causes metabolic pandemonium. We start drowning in our own fluids and can’t oxygenate our blood. Inside our arteries and veins, the platelets that are supposed to form clots only in response to cuts instead start clotting randomly inside uninjured vessels, causing neurological problems, heart attacks and strokes. Our immune system starts mounting attacks on innocent bystander proteins, like those in our blood vessel walls, causing rashes that are the hallmark of the new Kawasaki-like, life-threatening COVID-19 complication in children and young adults.
Four Steps to Start Eliminating Seed Oils From Your Body Fat TODAY
- Make your own salad dressing. Even if you buy your organic, GMO-free dressing at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, chances are it’s made from one of the hateful eight oils. This applies even if the front of the bottle says made with olive oil. You always need to read the ingredients. So take a snapshot of this hateful 8 and keep it on your phone. Or better yet, use this one that gives a little more detail.
- Take a good look at the ingredients in what you eat. Scan anything with an ingredients list for one of the members of the Hateful 8 clan. If you want alternatives, here’s a shopping guide to finding vegetable oil free products available in some of the most common grocery stores in the USA.
- Support restaurants that refuse to use the Hateful 8. There are numerous excuses you will hear why a restaurant doesn’t use olive oil or another healthy, traditional fat. Canola is heart-healthy. We use soy instead of peanut because of peanut allergies. It’s a neutral taste that people prefer. It’s got a high smoke point. Those excuses are the best marker I know of for a chef who has lost his passion. Whenever we’ve found a chef that proudly tells you he only uses olive oil and butter, or any of the good fats, we’ve also found the food coming out of the kitchen to be absolutely the best.
- Find out how much vegetable oil is in your body fat. While there’s no direct test other than doing a subcutaneous fat biopsy and sending it to a lab for a full analysis, which you can’t do unless you’re part of a research study, you can get a decent idea of how your body fat is impacting your metabolism by finding out if you are insulin resistant. Ask your doctor for a HOMA-IR test. If he doesn’t know what it is, in most states in the USA, you can order a test yourself. Visit this website for more information and select the “Insulin sensitivity Test, HOMA-IR.” It only costs about $45. Or ask your doctor to order two tests at the same time: fasting glucose and fasting insulin level. Then plug your numbers into this calculator. And given the reality of no direct testing, I created a clinical questionnaire to aid in assessing your recovery from PUFA overload. It’s published in The FATBURN Fix, and you can download it for free by entering your email in the green form at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to discuss any of this with Dr. Cate, feel free to schedule a consultation.
Links to Scientific References Page & Further Reading
Are Products with Soy Lecithin Safe to Eat? (Like Chocolate & Ice Cream)
Hidden Metabolic Disorders Allow COVID-19 to Kill “Healthy” People
Other doctors to follow:
@CarnivoreMD
@DrAseemMalhotra
@BrianLenzkes
@DoctcorTro
Dr Cate on Bill Maher (short segment)
And a response to my friend the Great and Powerful Dr Oh’s question
Related Posts
piggybacking off of my last comment- ZINC RICINOLEATE
Is a natural ingredient made from the seeds of castor oil. Is this safe? I do not understand how to categorize when I see seed oil/ something made from seeds like the above ingredient, on a non-cooking oil label, and using it as something topical is it safe?
Only the hateful eight are bad 🙂
Hello, Dr. Cate. I am wondering if things like carrot seed, oil and coriander, oil, and other essential oils that are made from the seeds are safe to use topically or internally either or. We use a lot of essential oils in our home and I’m beginning to make my own lotions and selves, and I need to know if I can include these ingredients safely a skin care product specifically but we also use them with cooking at times.
Only the hateful eight are bad 🙂
Thank you for your reply Dr. Cate. Why is it that the other ones that are not part of the hateful eight are molecularly stable and/or are ok to use/ingest?
If this is already covered somewhere in your website, I apologize. I looked, but I did not find anything.
Dr. Cate,
I heard you on Dave Asprey’s podcast and was inspired to learn more. When I search “hateful 8 seed oils” I come across several articles (such as this one: https://www.consumerreports.org/health/healthy-eating/do-seed-oils-make-you-sick-a1363483895/ ) that reference research, including a meta-analysis I’m sure you’ve seen: “in a review of 30 studies published in 2019 in the journal Circulation, scientists found that linoleic and arachidonic acids levels didn’t raise the risk for heart disease. In fact, those with higher amounts of linoleic acid in their bloodstream were 7 percent less likely to develop it.
“Another study published in 2018 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that followed nearly 2,500 men for an average of 22 years found that those with the highest blood levels of linoleic acid had a 43 percent lower risk of dying from any disease during the study period than those with the lowest. Higher blood levels of arachidonic acid reduced the risk of dying by 20 percent.”
I would love to hear your responses to these articles. It might even be worth your time to post comments on some of the top results for such a search.
thanks for your work
Yes its on my to do list!
Oh no! I just discovered that my ‘go to’ whey protein powder has sunflower lecithen. Does anyone know of a whey protein powder without PUFA’s?
Had switched to peanut oil some time ago and was amazed at just how much more digestible it seemed. Have put oil on pasta forever only to discover the peanut oil was not “heavy”! In the stomach as corn or soy seemed to be. Likely consumed two or three gallons the first year and that has dropped by half in the second year as you feel better and want less somehow. Household consumption not personal. Btw.
Very interesting. I will check back and let you know how eliminating the hateful 8 is working for me.
I am a very young 63 year old. I am vegetarian and participate in just about any and all healthy nutrition regimes. Here is my pet peeve, why is it almost impossible to find any (and I mean any) product in a Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers or any other advertised food source market without every single ingredient list containing, Soy, Canola Oil and various seed Oils such as Sunflower seed. It is so frustrating!! 🙁 🙁 🙁
Hi Cate! Have you done any research into how these oils effect animal health? When all these warnings came out about grain-free dog food potentially causing heart health issues, veterinarian cardiologists suspected that it was due to the legumes that often replaced the grains in these suspected grain-free formulas. When you look at the ingredients of most manufactured dog food and dog treats, you’ll find that they include at least one of these seed oils though. Could this be the culprit behind the rise in dogs suffering from heart health problems?
Hi Dr. Cate, How do I rid my body of excessive bad oils that I have? I have been following your eating recommendations in Deep Nutrition. Would fasting help eliminate them?
Hi. Thanks for all the info. Confused about a few things. I’ve been making bread from baking golden linseed flour (done with vitamix) at 180 centigrade in oven with salt and water as an alternative to grain bread. Is this problematic? Also, what about making one’s own nut milk by blending nuts in vitamix then heating it in pan? And I would be extremely grateful for thoughts on nut butters and if the way they are made leads to dangerous oxididation. Many many thanks.
Would you say that skincare products that contain sunflower seed oil are still to pose a threat to the immune system? I know that our skin absorbs what we put on it, so I would assume so. However, I’ve also read that only oils that are heated at such a high temperature are when it really gets bad and releases all the toxins into your body.
Is olive oil considered a “bad” oil?
It’s not a lot of a dose, so if you can’t get it without those oils it’s not a deal-breaker. However, my supplements page lists D that has good oils. https://drcate.com/recommen…
You guys can eat nuts, unless anyone’s allergic.