Here’s what’s on the healthspan menu today:
- 5 Reasons to Avoid Industrial Seed Oils
- 6 Fats You Should Cook With
- Laird Hamilton Fitness
5 Reasons to Avoid Industrial Seed Oils
Did you know that seed oils or vegetable oils might not be good for your health?
Oils like soybean, corn, or sunflower oils are touted as healthy alternatives to animal derived oils like butter.
However, I’m not convinced. Here are 5 reasons why, Chris Kresser, says you should avoid these types of oils.
- They’re an evolutionary mismatch. Up until the 1900’s humans didn’t eat industrial seed oils.
- They have an imbalanced Omega-6-to-Omega-3 ratio. This imbalance produces chronic inflammation that contributes to many chronic disease processes.
- They’re highly unstable. To make these oils they use high heat. This creates trans fats which contribute to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
- They’re full of harmful additives. Because these oils are unstable, synthetic antioxidants are added. These have been shown to be carcinogenic and disrupt immune systems.
- They’re often repeatedly heated. A common use is to fry food in these oils. Restaurants are known to reuse already fried oil repeatedly which results in even more toxic byproducts being created
6 Fats You Should Cook With
Above we talked about 6 reasons you should avoid industrial seed oils like canola or soybean oil. Below, we share 6 fats you can use to replace those oils in your cooking and use at home.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Coconut oil.
- Butter and ghee. Not recommended if you are lactose intolerant. Make sure it’s derived from grass-fed animals.
- Pastured lard. Lard is fat rendered from pigs. A good replacement if you can’t tolerate dairy.
- Pastured tallow. Tallow is fat rendered from meat other than pigs, like beef or bison. It has a high smoke point which is great for searing, frying or other high-heat cooking. Tallow is also what McDonald’s used to fry their french fries in.
- Duck fat. Another fat with a high smoke point, so great for high-heat cooking. It also has a delicate flavor and similar fatty acid profile to olive oil.
Laird Hamilton Fitness
The USDA recommends medium steaks and roast beef cooked to 145°F and then rested for at least 3 minutes.
Laird Hamilton cooks himself in a sauna at 220 degrees
This sounds intense, but that’s not all, he often adds the use of an Assault Bike while in the sauna. Of course he also wears oven mitts when he does this because he’s essentially in an oven.
On top of this he freezes himself before in an ice bath. Is he a glutton for punishment?
He could be, but this protocol is part of Laird Hamilton and Gabby’s Reece’s training program, known as Laird XPT.
This might sound extreme to many people, but the benefits of contrast temperatures on your core body are well documented.
Both ice baths and saunas have been studied for decades and yield positive physical benefits in recovery, and your cardiovascular system.
Training this way also builds your mental fortitude and grit.
When was the last time you jumped in an ice bath or cooked yourself in a sauna?
