The Industrial lubricant
Until the early 1900s, humans cooked with animal fats (butter, lard, tallow) or fruit oils (olive, coconut). Then came Crisco and "Vegetable Oil." Originally developed as industrial lubricants for machinery, these seed oils were repurposed as food products because they were incredibly cheap to manufacture.
The Process: It's Not Natural
If you squeeze an olive, you get oil. If you squeeze a corn kernel or a soy bean, you get... nothing. To get oil out of these seeds, manufacturers use a harsh chemical process:
- Extraction: The seeds are washed in Hexane, a petroleum-based solvent, to dissolve the oil.
- Refining: The oil is heated to strip away gums and waxes.
- Bleaching: The oil is often gray or cloudy, so it is bleached white.
- Deodorizing: The chemical processing makes the oil smell rancid, so it is deodorized at high heat to make it neutral.
You are eating a chemically refined industrial product, not a food.
The Chemistry: Oxidation
The primary issue with seed oils (Canola, Corn, Soy, Sunflower) is that they are Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFAs). Chemical structure matters.
- Saturated Fats (Butter/Coconut): Have no double bonds. They are straight and sturdy. They resist heat.
- Polyunsaturated Fats (Seed Oils): Have multiple double bonds. They are "kinked" and unstable.
When you expose unstable PUFAs to Heat (cooking), Light, or Oxygen, they break down (Oxidize). This releases Free Radicals and toxic aldehydes like 4-HNE, which can damage DNA and proteins in your body. Cooking with "Vegetable Oil" is essentially creating inflammation in your pan.
The Omega-6 Overload
Seed oils are primarily Linoleic Acid (Omega-6). Humans evolved eating an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of roughly 1:1. Today, because seed oils are in everything (chips, dressings, restaurant food), the average ratio is 20:1. This imbalance is a key driver of chronic systemic inflammation.
The WellFact Protocol
- Purge: Throw away the Canola, Vegetable, Corn, and Soybean oil.
- Cook: Use Saturated or Monounsaturated fats.
- Ghee/Tallow: Best for high heat (searing).
- Avocado Oil: Good for high heat.
- Butter/Olive Oil: Good for low/medium heat.
- Dining Out: Be aware that almost all restaurant food is cooked in cheap soybean oil. You can't avoid it 100%, but you can banish it from your home kitchen.