Ditching Diet Myths: Embracing Real Food and Macronutrients for Women’s Health and Wellness

Are you tired of the endless cycle of diet myths that leave you confused about what to eat? Join host Heather Carey, a passionate nutritionist and chef, as she unpacks the essential nutrients our bodies crave, focusing on the often-misunderstood macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. In this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, Heather sheds light on why all three macronutrients are crucial for our health and should never be eliminated from our diets, despite the overwhelming noise of diet fads and trends that flood our social media feeds.

Heather dives deep into the world of fats, addressing the common fears surrounding seed oils like canola and soybean oil. These oils are frequently vilified, but Heather reveals that they are rich in essential omega-6 fatty acids that our bodies need. The real issue lies not in the oils themselves but in the processed foods they are often associated with. By debunking these diet myths, she empowers listeners to embrace a balanced intake of fats. You’ll discover why it’s important to include healthy sources of omega-3s while not fearing omega-6s, which are vital for hormone balance and overall health.

As a culinary nutritionist, Heather offers invaluable nutrition advice and healthy eating tips that resonate particularly with women navigating midlife and menopause. She encourages embracing real food and making informed choices, emphasizing that food should not be feared but celebrated for its nourishing benefits. Tune in as she shares personal food stories and insights into the seven pillars of abundance, guiding you toward a healthier lifestyle.

This episode is packed with knowledge that challenges common food beliefs and equips you with practical tools for sustainable eating. Whether you’re interested in weight loss stories, midlife nutrition, or simply looking to overcome the confusion surrounding diet culture, Heather’s expert insights will inspire you to take charge of your health journey. From cooking techniques to mindful eating practices, you’ll gain a wealth of information to navigate your personal food journey with confidence.

Join us for a conversation that celebrates food and culture, and discover how to nourish your body while empowering your menopause experience. Say goodbye to the cycle of dieting and hello to a joyful, sustainable approach to eating that embraces all the nutrients you need. Don’t let diet myths dictate your choices—tune in and reclaim your relationship with food today!

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hello everybody and welcome back. It’s nice to have you here today. So I’ve been on a mission to do my best to talk about the nutrients we require in our everyday eating, starting with our macronutrients. And in case you don’t know what that even is, that is carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. And the reason why I want to go into this Nutrition 101 is because there’s so much hype out on the internet and social media and fads and off-the-wall topics. And I really want to just set the record straight so you are educated and you know exactly how to eat. It should not be a mystery and it should not be full of fear. Now, like I’ve said in the last couple of episodes where I have broken down the details of these essential nutrients, we cannot, let me repeat, cannot live without any of these three. We have to get certain nutrients from each of these food groups in order to survive. So do yourself a favor right now and pledge to yourself that you will ignore all the diet talks and all the Instagram reels about eliminating one of these macros. It’s just not possible to live like that. We need all three of them. And they are all so good for you and have so many benefits. And if you have not heard my podcast on fats, carbs, and protein, simply rewind back a few episodes and tune in. I have to say, too, that while I was thinking about what to talk about with these nutrients, I realized the amount of information and confusion there is. My wish for anyone listening is that you can realize that food is not that complicated. We need our very best sources of carbs from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. We need our very best sources of proteins from animal as well as plant-based sources. And we need our very best sources of fats from plants and a little animal fat. What complicates things is mainly from people who try to sell you on the latest diet and supplement, and there are plenty of those people out there. Fear. cells. The promise of a quick result cells and making you feel that there is a miracle or secret cure definitely cells. It is entirely harmful when those people are doctors and other health professionals who we were taught to trust in the first place. Now I’m going off track a bit, but this does segue into what I was going to talk about today, which is the darker side. of fats. Last week, as I was talking about the best kind of fats to eat, I again realized how much nonsense is circulating around the topic of fat itself. So I’m going to discuss a couple of those today, and I wanted to start with the fear around seed oils. Now, I get it. There has been confusion, especially when it comes to the topic of fat. Just the word has negative connotations. We call people fat as if it is a sin. And back in the 80s, we were told to not eat fat because all fat was thought to be bad for us. We steamed rather than sauteed. We made our salad dressings, desserts, cheeses, and yogurts fat-free. Fat, we know now, has more calories than protein or carbohydrates combined. So it seems to make sense that if you were going to cut calories to lose weight, then fat will take the first hit. But is fat really that bad? I talked last week about the saturated fats from animal sources and trans fats. You definitely want to stay away from trans fats entirely or hydrogenated fats as you might know them as, and really focus on limiting fats from animal sources. And we definitely want to include fats that come from monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. And I talked about that last week in their sources. But let’s now talk about the latest trend on social media, and that is banning seed oils, which come from plants. Why and how has this become such a thing? And why do we need to do this? Or do we need to do this? Let’s talk about first what seed oils even are and why there is suddenly an alarm around them. Seed oils are fats that are pressed from seeds. And the top oils, which have been called the, quote, hateful eight in some circles, are canola oil, soybean oil, cotton seed oil, sunflower seed oil, grape seed oil, rice bran oil, corn oil, and safflower oil. Last week on the podcast, I talked about polyunsaturated fats containing two fats that our body absolutely requires and that we must get from food. And those are omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. I also talked about oils, all oils having a distribution of different types of fats. So for example, extra virgin olive oil, which I am a big fan of because it has been very well studied and I love it for its high amount of healthy monounsaturated fats also does contain a small amount of saturated fat, the one we want to stay away from, the fat we really want to limit in our diets. Same with avocados, which have a high amount of monounsaturated fat as well. a lesser amount of polyunsaturated fats, and a small amount of saturated fat. So there is a ratio in every oil that we use in cooking. The supposed problem with seed oils lies in the makeup of the polyunsaturated fats. I talked last week on the podcast about polyunsaturated fats, or PUFAs for short, being good for you. Omega-3 fatty acids are necessary for your heart, and brain health. They lower inflammation in your body. Omega-3s are found in polyunsaturated fatty acids and are abundant in foods like salmon, walnuts, and flax seeds. Omega-6 fatty acids are essential for cellular health, brain health, and reproductive health. Omega-6s are also responsible for lowering LDL cholesterol, that’s our bad cholesterol, and raising And HDL cholesterol, which is our good cholesterol. They keep blood sugar in check by improving insulin sensitivity. And they’re also blamed for the problem in seed oils. So side note, all seed oils have different ratios of fats in them, just like olive oil and avocado oil, like I said before. Corn oil, for example, one of those hateful eights that I had listed. has about 17% saturated fat, a 20% monounsaturated fat, and about 60% is polyunsaturated fat, with a high majority of that being omega-6 fatty acids compared to its omega-3 fatty acids. Now, when it comes to seed oils and the alarm bells that are going off about them, what you people are focusing on are the omega-6 fatty acids in these oils. Now, it’s not that these oils are inherently bad for you. Omega-6 oils are oils that we need for our health. We must get them from food. But here’s what the TikTok argument against seed oils are. The first one is that these Hateful Eight oils. are found mostly in highly processed refined foods, such as packaged snack foods, Doritos, old versions of margarine, any junk food that you would see in grocery store shelves are probably made with cottonseed oil or soybean oil or corn oil. Take a look at the labels. Start looking. You’ll see that a lot of these not good for you foods are probably made with these oils. Don’t we already know? that these highly processed snack foods are probably not the best for us. So is it the oils in the food or is it the snack foods themselves? Another argument is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in those hateful eight oils are out of proportion. Some like corn oil have many times more omega-6 fats than omega-3s. And we need both of these, right? Now again, okay, but does that mean that they are bad? Does that mean that omega-6 fats are crowding out omega-3 fats? Maybe. So be sure to add in foods that have a good amount of omega-3s. like extra virgin olive oil, avocados, flax seeds, walnuts, and salmon. We don’t need to eliminate the omega-6 fats, but add in more omega-3s. The big argument against omega-6 fatty acids is that it contains high levels of linoleic acid, which can get converted into arachidonic acid. An arachidonic acid is a building block for molecules that can promote inflammation, blood clotting, and the constriction of blood vessels. But credible research has shown that your body also converts arachidonic acid into molecules that calm inflammation and fight blood clots. Many studies showed that rates of heart disease went down as consumption of omega-6 fats went up. And a meta-analysis of six randomized trials found that replacing saturated fat with omega-6 fats reduced the risk of heart attacks and other coronary events by 24%. The takeaway here? Make your goal to cut back on saturated fats, add in more omega-3s, and leave the omega-6s alone. Now, some people also say that seed oils are impossible to avoid. They are everywhere in our food supply. At the same time, we have higher rates of obesity and heart disease. But again, I am going to argue this. Is it the oil or is it something else we are eating? Can we just blame omega-6 fats on all that ails us? Is it our stress levels, our lack of good sleep? or higher intake of sugar, which is out of control in this country, you know what else is impossible to avoid? Water, coffee, apples. They’re everywhere too. So again, I see this as a weak argument. I was looking around and on the web just for some really credible studies and some more information because honestly, you could go down a rabbit hole on this argument. And I found one website that said, quote, numerous in vitro cell studies, animal studies, human clinical trials, and observational studies have demonstrated the toxic effects of seed oils and their byproducts created during heating. Okay, let’s stop right there. First of all, what does it mean when this person says, quote, toxic effects? What does that mean? I don’t even know what they’re talking about. That can mean a million things, but it sure does sound scary. And created during heating, do they mean when you cook with these oils? Because in fact, the smoke points, which is when you heat the oil in a pan and it starts smoking, most of these oils and their smoke points are very high. So cooking with them is actually good. That’s not the problem. So are people just writing things just for the sake of… creating an alarm system. Also, seed oils do go through a process, sometimes heating them, sometimes using chemicals to clean them before we can even use them. But so does avocado oil. Olive oil is cold pressed. That’s another reason why I like it. It doesn’t go through a lot of refinement, but avocado oil does. And avocado oil is the latest and greatest healthy oil right now. And avocado oil is really high in monounsaturated fats and really other good fats. So is that a bad oil? Not sure. So adding to the confusion. When I was in graduate school, I remember having conversations with professors about this ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3s. The 3s were the stars, and the 6s were thought to have high levels of inflammation attached to them. But… This has been debunked by very credible people and researchers like the ones at Harvard. I have to tell you that my head… honestly, was spinning after researching this topic, just because a couple of people on TikTok who have no education whatsoever behind them decided to start a panic on social media. And then the quack doctors looking to make a dollar jump in. Dr. Mark Hyman, for example, if you thought seed oils were so bad for us now, why didn’t you say something 10, 20 years ago? He’s… not going to miss a marketing opportunity. And he probably wrote a book about it. Like I said before, fear sells. And when one food group is playing for literally everything, be cautious with going along with it. I hope that this sums up seed oils. I know that there is a lot that goes into this, but I feel very clear about saying that. using seed oils are really perfectly safe. I think where the argument first started coming in is that seed oils are found in a lot of processed refined junk food. I honestly am not eating a lot of highly refined processed junk food anyway, and I don’t advocate eating a lot of highly processed refined junk food. So right there, you’re probably not going to be eating a lot of these processed oils. Now here’s what I use when cooking. So taking out all of those myths and arguments about it, here is what I have always used when I do my everyday cooking. I always lean on extra virgin olive oil. I saute with it. I use it in salad dressings for dips. I even sometimes bake with it. Extra virgin olive oil has been very well researched, very well studied, and I love it. It’s high in monounsaturated fat. It’s cold pressed. It doesn’t go through any heating process to separate things. And I think it’s just your very best oil to use on a daily basis. When I want a neutral tasting oil that has no flavor, I use organic canola oil. Now, organic canola oil is one of those hateful eights, but I am telling you from all the research I have done from looking back from reviewing, it’s just fine. Canola oil has a lot of really healthy fats in it. Don’t worry about using that. It’s a neutral oil and it can also stand up to some more heat, a little more than olive oil. So if I am baking, I can also use canola oil. It just has no taste to it. And so that’s a good thing. When I’m making more Asian or ethnic dishes, I lean into sesame oil. I know it’s a seed oil. Don’t worry about that word seed oil anymore. I do not use avocado oil because it’s not only more refined, it has to go through that heating and chemical process, but it’s also much more expensive than any other oil out there. I don’t need to spend… extra money on oils, again, just because it’s the oil of the moment. I like extra virgin olive oil, and that is what I’m sticking with. Okay, so that is my talk on seed oils. I have a feeling, my best guess is that this argument about seed oils is going to go the way of a lot of other fads. And if for some reason it doesn’t, and some discovery is made, I will be sure to let you know. You’ll be the first to know about it. Last week, I talked some about coconut oil, and I think I’m going to just leave it at that. Please go back and just listen to my last episode. Coconut oil is not an oil I recommend using every day. It’s extremely high in saturated fat. Even though it comes from plants, it’s still very, very high in saturated fat. all saturated fat. It has a little bit of the other fats, but coconut, palm oil, you’ll see that sometimes in like creamy spreadable peanut butters, not healthy fats for you, not necessary. We don’t need them. I do use it sometimes. Sometimes coconut oil, the flavor of it enhances a dish and I do use it, but very rarely for my cooking. I will also use coconut milk. I’ll use that in. curries, ethnic dishes, but I don’t use this daily. So it tastes good. It’s perfectly fine to use every once in a while, but I wouldn’t use it as my main source of cooking oil. I also talked briefly last week about the carnivore diet, which is almost all meat and butter. Totally insane, I think. And the keto diet, which is almost all fat. That seems to be waning in popularity. I don’t hear people talking about being on the keto diet. It’s an almost impossible diet to follow long term. It’s not healthy for you. And I’m hoping that’s going to go. the wayside of other fad diets, and that would be a good thing. All right, we know now that we need a balance of all of our macronutrients, and the same goes with fats. Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and within the polyunsaturated group, there is a mix of omega-3s and omega-6s. We want to definitely emphasize both of these. We need both for our health. We have to get these two fats from food, period, the end. Next week, I am diving into the world of our essential micronutrients. Those are vitamins, minerals, and water. I know that there is so much controversy over supplements, and I’m going to highlight the best of the best with that. So stay tuned for that. Have a great day, everyone. And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.