So my cherished little M&S salad pots are killing me too, now!

[StrangeAntics]

Just stumbled upon the whole seed oil fiasco, went down a few rabbit holes, came back up feeling somewhat dizzy!

Geez, is there anything left that faddy diets and pseudo scientific book hawkers haven't told us will destroy our hearts, gut biomes and brain tissue? It's like no one appeals to credited sources any more, and even the most intelligent people are listening to some really odd shit on youtube and substituting it for fact.

According to most health authorities, seed oils are ok. Don't go overboard, like with other fats, but chill out about it.
Wiki also states that the anti seed oil sentiment is an alt right political obsession, started by someone called Rogan and taken up by various members of the Trump campaign.

So now we have politics spilling over into food science, it's truly bonkers.
We live in a world ripe for criticism since we have a fairly messed up food industry, and we are aware that a lot of what sells isn't great. But this seems to have opened up endless opportunities for someone to capitalise on our fears and paranoia, creating a barely navigable web of tangled misinformation and potentially harmful trends.

I often buy little grain/salad pots from M&S, so since they contain a bit of seed oil, they're going to destroy me. Well heck, what to do about that?
Every month someone will come up with a new, fresh (and lucrative) food to demonise and blame for the obesity epidemic, and it seems the crowds lap it up and don't care much about credible sources.
No one hardly ever mentions what a correlation is - or else they use it to stiffen their own bias.

There's always someone who will claim an absolute, such as "I quit meat/dairy/whatever and my entire life improved and it cured my cancer!"

There are likely many factors that have led to an obesity crisis, from vehicle dependence, poverty, sedentary work, cheap fast foods, excess portions, to depression, loss and loneliness.
To try to single out a new food group every few months as the cure all for this is surely bonkers.

Salt used to be the big food enemy, before they turned their attention to sugar.
I was happy when the focus shifted - I like my salt, but can happily forego sugar! 😂

We’re all looking for answers on the ‘why are we so fat and sick’ question, which makes us easy pickings for Big Whatever, bad science, cranks, PR and conspiracists. Maybe it’s partly on us to accept the answer to the question is that on a population level, we eat too much and don’t move enough. There’s no magic seed oil bullet for that.

@SailingYachty I don’t think that’s necessarily true I just think modern media has made it that we know about more of these cases other than just ‘people you knew’ - I had 2 under 30s I knew plus 2 sons of teachers who were in their 20s die of cancer in the late 60s/early 70s - but the only ones people would have known about other than your immediate network were the film stars/athletes that got reported on and in many cases of people you did know- many kept quiet on it too - they were not out there doing ‘just givings ‘ etc- it’s almost like it was some kind of shame.

Just remembered another thing that stood out to me - this seemingly global idea that all carbs are nasty.

"why put that nutrition-less poison in your body?"
"Uugh, that's just stodge"
"All of my problems dissolved overnight when I quit those nasty carbs"

Said no Japanese person ever, as they use their sesame oil liberally.

This idea that something really awesome was happening before agriculture. Carbs being associated with poverty and 'stupid' people (ie, less educated working class), as the biggest contributor to obesity (because no one ever gained weight eating meat or fat), and carbs not being a staple of the Mediterranean diet (oh no??).

Same rhetoric every time, identical to seed oil paranoia, as if it has been taken from a bible, learned by heart and spewed out without thought or context every damn time. I wonder at this point how many of these peole manage to navigate their weekly shop.

There's a UPF sub on Reddit, it's ok, and there's some good tips for reducing additives and crap, but some of the people on there are fucking terrified of eating.

some of the people on there are fucking terrified of eating

Yes indeed. Eating disorders and orthorexia. (Autocorrect wanted to say orthopedic there. Tsk.)

Not when that Internet is accessed via 5G, though.

I can say with all sincerity that I would rather die than give up my sesame oil.

So the 'news' doesn't bother me 😁

I am already on a ridiculously strict diet at the moment for a condition (hidradentis suppurativa - Ive found that cutting dairy, yeast and red meat stops the symptoms ) but if I followed every piece of health advice I've read so far I'd just have water and some vegetables left.

Went to M&S today and they had no salad pots left, you all went out and bought them up didn't you?

No, that wasn’t the NHS. You’re mixing it up with the Boer War at the turn of the century. So few men were in good physical condition that the Government subsequently introduced free school meals, milk and medical examinations, followed by further health reform. Just in time to send the beneficiaries into WW1.

The NHS was a socialist concept by the first majority Labour government and was opposed every step of the way by the Conservatives and doctors, particularly GPs. It was definitely not waved through.

I avoid seed oils when I cook but if I’m getting a quick lunch I don’t stress myself about it

Not waved through by all MPs, I'm sure, but the fact that the Attlee government was elected by a landslide at the end of WW2 is testament to the overwhelming desire of the UK electorate for change on a very large scale, and that included the NHS.

If you think it's rubbish, why are you even posting about it?

Just leaving this here... sound on.
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Funny, isn't it how long arguments about food, and what is the best diet.

It goes all the way back to the New Testament and St. Paul, writing about the arguments going on in the early church with the early Christians about whether meat eaters are better than vegetarians, and he said more or less what your say in your last sentence.

A bit like King Canut trying to hold back the waves: early climate change?

Whatever you eat is bad for you apparently, I tried to eat a carrot the other day and my friend was horrified and told me I shouldn't be eating it because it has too much sugar.

If you followed everyone's advice you wouldn't eat anything at all because someone would say it's bad for you, or that it was harmful to animals, the land, the ethics of the wiccan community etc. Even if you miraculously did find something, you'd have to eat it whole on account of how you can't use plastic chopping boards because of microplastic, you can't use wooden or bamboo chopping boards because of bacteria, you can't use glass chopping boards because they ruin your knives etc.

I agree, the Labour government had a landslide because people wanted change and the war was deeply unpopular, but the NHS wasn’t established and voted for by Labour MPs because they were concerned about men’s fitness for another war. It’s because they were a left wing government and that’s their ideology.

If you think it's rubbish, why are you even posting about it?

To enable you to strut your IQ like a predictable, lobotomised chat bot

Sounds like we are fast becoming a fairly neurotic culture. I'd laugh but it sort of isn't funny. I wonder if there was so much handwringing and so many odd 'rules' to live by before the internet. I certainly can't recall anything this vast.

I would never recommend that someone ate an unbalanced diet of fast foods, but life really is too short for this stuff.

I plan to live on a steady diet of jam and cream scones, quiche, wine and cheese if I reach 80 in good health. Every single day! What could possibly go wrong!?

To be fair the Victorians were obsessed with their health, and all the quack cures and treatments and waggy fingers at people falling for scams.

I think the French are quite pro medicine and laxitives and suppositories too?

Hate to be pedantic but sesame oil is lower in PUFA (polyunsaturated fats) than other seed derived oils. PUFA is the allegedly problematic bit. The Mediterranean and Japanese diet contain very low PUFA.

There is the science made in universities, and then the science made on YouTube. Real science is boring, doesn't attract clicks, so seed oil, low carb and the lot have strong attraction on YouTube especially when they exonerate your behaviours as the cause of weight gain.
It is rubbish, full stop.

I find my stress levels are better if I don’t read stuff like that and surely lowering my stress levels is good for my long term health? I eat well most of the time so the occasional bacon sandwich (on white bread!!) or ready meal won’t kill me.

Typically, reading about food and cooking is relaxing for me, even when I find something a bit crazytown out there. Best keep away from it if it raises your BP tho!

They were quite dedicated to mapping bowel activity.
Definitely the era of all things 'nether regions'!

I think the majority of the info on rapeseed/canola oil is based on the fact that consuming the type that's used as an industrial lubricant or for making lipstick would be bad for you - well no s*$#!

Unrefined, cold-pressed is not going to be the same thing. Particularly if it's British (so no GM). Particularly if it's organic. This product does exist.

Heating any oil beyond its smoke point is generally not recommended for cooking. Matching the oil you use to the temperature you'll cook at is not a bad idea, and animal fats generally come out better on that score for roasting hot roasties.