AWW – Ask Wayne Wednesday – Week 3

Coach Wayne will be answering questions from the members of CrossFit CrownTown and posting the answers here in a blog post weekly. This is a great way to add value to your membership by asking any questions that you have that may be holding you back mentally, physically, accountability wise, motivational wise, or simply just curiosity. No such thing as a bad question. Anonymity will be kept on who asked the question from the private member group.

This week’s question:

“What are the best oils to cook with? I know you’ve mentioned PUFA oils, and synthetic oils are hazardous to our health. What do you mean exactly.”

Great question! More and more people are starting to become aware about the dangers of PUFA oils. Firstly, PUFA stands for poly unsaturated fatty acids. “They” say that Canola Oil is the healthiest oil, and they also say it is much healthier than saturated fats (animal fat). Watch this video, and tell me if you agree with them.

My thoughts were probably the same as yours. A genetically modified organism plant that has only been grown in North America for 30 years is processed, chemically washed, bleached, and stored in plastic bottles. The waste product is turned into vegetable shortening, animal feed, and soap. Basically, there is no waste in the process of making canola oil.

Canola oil is liquid at room temperature. All PUFA oils are liquid at room temperature. They are stable at 72 degrees. However, they have a very low smoke point, which means when they are heated up they quickly oxidize. Oxidize is another word for inflammation. What temperature is our body? A tropical 98.6, right?

What about when it gets even hotter? Frying french fries at fast food restaurants, potato chips, cereals, and virtually every food that is processed. Extremely oxidized! Imagine a step further, and I wonder how often the oxidized oil is changed out in the frying pans. It doesn’t matter to begin with because it is already oxidized, but imagine it being heated, and cooled over and over again? Gross!

These types of oils are much cheaper than animal fats, so do you think that food companies are going to use butter, ghee, coconut oil, avocado oil, beef tallow, all of which is much more expensive than synthetic man made oil? Of course they aren’t! That is, unless you pay extra for the food that is made with a higher quality oil.

“Founded in 1940, McDonald’s initially used 93% beef fat tallow for their French fries in an effort to save money, according to a piece on the origins of the favored fast food item published by Atlas Obscura”

I’ve gotten a lot of my information about PUFA oils and the damages it causes to your body from Dr. Ray Peat. If you have time, read this article. The TLDR is consumption of PUFA oils causes lipid peroxidation, which leads to:

• Increase estrogen
• Aging
• Slowing of metabolism
• Yellow Fat Disease (fatty liver disease)
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Retinal degeneration
• Cataracts
• Age spots (lipofuscin)
• Type II Diabetes
• Cancer
• Decreases thyroid
• and much more, but I think you get the point…

Our body was not designed to run off of PUFA overload. We are warm blooded mammals with a temperature of 98.6 degrees. We live on land, not in the cold water. Fish, for example, have a lot of PUFA because of the cold waters they need their fat to be fluid and able to swim. Imagine a saturated fat that is hardened at room temperature get even harder in the cold water? Have you seen a jar of coconut oil when it gets cold? Hard as a rock. The fish wouldn’t be able to move.

What about when you touch coconut oil? It dissolves on your skin because of the temperature. In the 80s and 90s “they” tried to make saturated fat the bad guy by saying it clogs your arteries. We believed it because we saw the fat from bacon grease get hard at room temperature, so we thought it did this inside of our bodies, too.

But, our bodies are not room temperature, are they? We are mammals, tropical, and thrive off eating the majority of our fats from animals (saturated). These types of fat are more stable when heated inside our bodies. They do not oxidize, which leads to inflammation, and in turn one of the diseases/health issues list above three paragraphs.

A small amount of PUFA from nuts, seeds, fish, and other sources are not the problem. The problem is the man made sludge that is used in almost every processed or fast food. It is so cheap for food companies to use, and since people keep eating and buying these foods there is no incentive for them to stop. This is why I always say vote with your money. Do not buy these foods, or support these companies. They will sooner than later find out that people are becoming smarter and more aware.

The majority of your fat should be from saturated like our ancestors who thrived on the animal based diet. The first step to detoxing your body from PUFA overload is to stop cooking or eating food with PUFAs. Start replacing with a saturated fat.

The second step to detoxing your body of PUFA is to take a Vitamin E supplement. Vitamin E is an antioxidant. Remember, that PUFA is a pro-oxidant. Vitamin E has been shown to mitigate the adverse effects of PUFA overload. The detox process can take years. How long have you been eating PUFAs? How frequently? How much quantity? The fact is you need to stop consuming new doses of PUFA, replace with saturated fats, and supplement Vitamin E.

The Vitamin E supplement that I take can be found here. CODE: WILLETTE. You like to read studies? Read this one.

If you found this article helpful in any way, please subscribe to our blog. Also, the only way to help spread the word about the dangers of PUFA is to share this with your friends and family. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

• Coach WW