Please forgive the attention-grabbing title, but I needed to grab your attention. This is important. It’s no secret that Americans are getting fatter, we’re dying of heart problems in droves, and despite the unprecedented leaps forward in medical technology, we’re still suffering in droves from various types of cancer.

I don’t have a magical cure, but I’m aware of one simple ingredient found in foods all across the world that contributes to these problems. In fact, several nutritionists I’ve spoken with (as well as a couple of nifty YouTube videos and one short, free e-book) say that this is the greatest health crisis facing America.

Okay, enough build up. I’ll cut to the chase: plant-based cooking oils totally suck, and we should all stop eating them.

What? But Plants Are Healthy!

Plant-based oils aren’t a vegetable; they’re a byproduct of highly processed starch vegetables. Plant-based cooking oils are not good for you! They’re practically a poison!

To be clear, I’m not talking about olive oil or other raw, non-cooking oils that are used more like a fresh ingredient. Rather, I’m talking about the peanut oil, canola oil, or generically titled “vegetable oil” that we use to grease our pans, fry our chicken, and deep fry our fries. We buy and use them by the gallon at home, and restaurants and fast food chains all across the country cook with them all day.

What Makes Plant-Based Cooking Oils Unhealthy?

On the molecular level, plant-based oils are generally composed of unsaturated fats that have a loose molecular structure. This loose structure is actually what makes them liquid while their counterparts, saturated fats, tend to be solid at room temperature. However, this loose molecular structure also makes plant-based oils highly reactive to heat. When you expose these oils to a heat source, their molecular structure starts breaking down and they form chemical compounds called “free radicals.” Free radicals are highly inflammatory, hyperallergenic, and are known carcinogens (aka they cause cancer).

Why Do We Even Have Plant-Based Oils if They’re So Unhealthy?

Simple: they’re cheap. They’re cheap for manufacturers to peddle, and advertising did quite a number on convincing us they’re healthier than animal-based fats (which, turns out, is largely untrue). They’re also cheap for you in the short run when you want to save a buck at the grocery store. But they’re not cheap for you in the future when you have to fork over all that saved money to the doctor because you’re suffering from a whole array of preventable health issues.

Dude, Chill Out. They Can’t Be That Bad

Yes and no. It would be a mistake for me to say that all plant-based oils are bad and dangerous no matter the case. However, the way they’re commonly used, yes, plant-based oils can be very very bad. The worst offenders are soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil. Actually, I take that back. The worst offender is any oil being used by a fast food joint, because they have that stuff running all day, which makes the oil worse and worse by the end of the day.

So What Should We Do?

I’m not here just to preach that the end is nigh. It’s actually very simple to reduce (or even entirely eliminate) these oils in your diet. I have two tips:

Skip the french fries. If you’ve set a New Year’s resolution to take better care of your health, then a really simple option is next time you go to a restaurant, tell yourself you can get whatever you want as long as it isn’t deep fried. Just do it once. Then do it three times. It’s shockingly easy to eliminate a lot of cheap fried foods from our diet once we realize that the real pleasure of a meal is the burger, not the fries.

Buy beef tallow. This is my favorite cooking oil. It’s my go-to oil for almost every occasion unless I’m using butter, lard, schmaltz, or olive oil. All in all, when I’m cooking with high heat, I almost always use animal fat. If I’m doing low-heat or no-heat cooking, then I’ll revert to olive oil. Why is tallow so great? Well…

• Tallow is allergen free. It’s almost as if we lived off of animal fats for thousands of years and have bodies specially adapted to them.
• Tallow is non-inflammatory. Inflammation leads to a myriad of other health problems like IBS, auto-immune disorders, and endocrine disorders. I was first introduced to tallow by someone who had cured their chronic fatigue by switching to tallow.
• Tallow has a high smoke point. Because tallow is a saturated fat with no sugars, it has a high smoke point that makes it perfect for searing a perfect crust onto your foods.
• Tallow is nutrient dense. Animal fats are high in calories. One reason for that is they’re also high in nutrients! While they should be enjoyed in moderation, you certainly shouldn’t frown on them. They’re good for you!
• Tallow is high in Omega 3’s. People say this is healthy.
• Tallow has a long shelf life. It’ll last for a year on the shelf, and for decades in the freezer. In that time, your sunflower oil will have oxidized.

I hope this article excites you to try something new. While I try to keep my weight under control and have a balanced diet, my biggest health resolution is to avoid harmful cooking oils in my home and in restaurants. Drop me a comment if there are any particular recipes you’d like to look into when cooking with beef tallow.

    Matthew Christensen
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2023
    Email the author! matthew@dvo.com