8 Bad Seed Oils You Should Replace

Low energy? Brain fog? Mood swings? It might be the oils you’re eating.

- By Vera Tweed

Do you ever feel mentally exhausted during the day, even if you’ve had enough sleep? Do you get cranky or unable to function before lunch or mid-afternoon? Or maybe you’re having a hard time learning how to use a new electronic device and just chalking it up to “getting old.”

These are just a few of the symptoms of eating unhealthy seed oils (also known as vegetable oils), according to Catherine Shanahan, MD, best known as Dr. Cate and author of The Fatburn Fix and Deep Nutrition (drcate.com). Other side eff ects of such fats can include weight gain, anxiety, mood problems, migraines, and other types of headaches.

Seed oils are the most common fats found in packaged foods and on restaurant menus, and they make up the largest share of fat in the typical American diet. But this certainly doesn’t make them healthy. “Vegetable oils are the defi ning feature of junk food,” says Dr. Cate.

While many people eliminate gluten, sugar, or other problematic ingredients from their diets to improve their health, they’re missing a basic step. “Cutting out vegetable oils is the most powerful dietary change you can make,” says Dr. Cate. “If you don’t fi rst cut out all eight vegetable oils, it’s like taking an aspirin for a headache before deciding to stop hitting yourself on the head with a hammer.”

8 Harmful Seed Oils

These are the most widely used unhealthy fats, says Dr. Cate:

Canola oil