I saw a very touching commercial
on TV today, where they were asking mothers to protect themselves against heart
disease, by consuming Margarine, so that they can live longer to see their
child grow up and get graduated and get married. If you ask 100 people on the street on
whether margarine or butter is better for their health, a vast majority would
choose margarine every time. One of margarine’s supposed virtues is that it can
help reduce cholesterol levels in the bloodstream, and thereby afford some
protection from ‘cardiovascular’ conditions such as heart disease and stroke.
A major principle of my work
regarding nutrition is that a healthy diet is one which is, as far as possible,
made natural, unprocessed foods (preferably those that we have been eating a
very long time in terms of our evolution). Margarine is made from chemically
processed vegetables oils which have generally been bleached, coloured,
deodorised and flavoured to make them ‘edible’. Does that sound like a healthy
food to you?
Vegetable oils (and margarine,
made from these oils) are oils extracted from seeds like the rapeseed (canola
oil) soybean (soybean oil), corn, sunflower, safflower, etc. They were
practically non-existent in our diets until the early 1900s when new chemical
processes allowed them to be extracted.
Unlike butter or coconut oil,
these vegetable oils can’t be extracted just by pressing or separating
naturally. They must be chemically removed, deodorised and altered. These are
some of the most chemically altered foods in our diets, yet they get promoted
as healthy.
Vegetable oils are found in
practically every processed food, from salad dressing to mayo to conventional
nuts and seeds. These oils are some of the most harmful substances you can put
into your body!
Vegetable oils are manufactured
in a factory, usually from genetically modified crops that have been heavily
treated with pesticides. If the vegetable oil is going to be made into
shortening or margarine, is undergoes an additional process called hydrogenation
to make it solid at cold temperatures. Unlike saturated fats (butter, coconut
oil, etc) vegetable oils are not naturally solid at these temperatures and must
be hydrogenated to accomplish this. During this process of hydrogenation,
trans-fats that you have heard so much about are created.
The fat content of the human body
is about 97% saturated and monounsaturated fat, with only 3 % Polyunsaturated
fats. Half of that three percent is Omega-3 fats, and that balance needs to be
there. Vegetable oils contain very high levels of polyunsaturated fats, and
these oils have replaced many of the saturated fats in our diets.
The body needs fats for
rebuilding cells and hormone production, but it has to use the building blocks
we give it. When we give it a high concentration of polyunsaturated fats
instead of the ratios it needs, it has no choice but to incorporate these fats
into our cells during cell repair and creation.
The problem is that
polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and oxidize easily in the body (if
they haven’t already oxidized during processing or by light exposure while
sitting on the grocery store shelf). These oxidized fats cause inflammation and
mutation in cells.
In arterial cells, these
mutations cause inflammation that can clog arteries. When these fats are
incorporated into skin cells, their mutation causes skin cancer. This is why
people often get the most dangerous forms of skin cancer in places where they
are never exposed to the sun.
When these oils are incorporated
into cells in reproductive tissue, some evidence suggests that this can
offshoot problems like endometriosis.
As you probably know by now, our
bodies need Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats in balance, preferably a 1:1 ratio. Most
people consume a much higher ratio of Omega-6 fats, which can lead to problems.
Vegetable oils contain a very
high concentration of Omega 6 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats, which cause
an imbalance of these oils in the body. Omega 6 fats are easily oxidized with
heat or light exposure. This is another reason that when these types of
fats/oils are incorporated into tissue like skin cells, the heat and light from
sun exposure can increase skin cancer risk.
Now, since vegetable oils are
chemically produced, it’s not really surprising that they contain chemicals.
Most vegetable oils and their products contain BHA and BHT (Butylated
Hydroxyanisole and Butylated Hydroxytoluene) which are artificial antioxidants
that help prevent food from oxidizing or spoiling too quickly. These oils are
extremely damaging to the reproductive system and the developing bodies of
unborn babies and children. Because the reproductive system in both men and
women is constantly producing and dividing new cells, there is potential for
mutation and problems when these cells are made of the wrong kind of fats and
are oxidized.
Because vegetable oils oxidize
easily, they deplete the body of antioxidants since the body must use these to
attempt to neutralize the oxidation. People with high consumption of vegetable
oils are at risk for Vitamin E deficiency aside from many others.
So, even though Margarine is so
highly advertised and marketed, think twice before consuming it. Butter, Coconut oil, Grape-seed oil and Olive
oil are far more beneficial.
Live in Light!
EL
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