Half of getting your eating on track is simply avoiding harmful foods. Easier said than done. Here is the rundown of the 2 most important things to eliminate and avoid.

#1 Seeds Oils aka Vegetable Oil aka PUFAS

The #1 thing you can do for your health is ruthlessly eliminate PUFAS = polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Dr Cate Shanahan calls them "The hateful eight".

3 S's: Sunflower, Soy, Safflower
​3 C's: Canola, Corn, Cottonseed
​R&G: Ricebran, Grapeseed
​(also vegetable oil and soybean oil)

PUFAs are a major culprit in the rise of chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and more. The very short story on why these are bad: they are prone to a chemical process called oxidation in the body which causes inflammation. One result is that too many PUFAs in the body can make your fat cells toxic, so your body won't use fat as energy to burn.

The origin story of seed oils:

In 1829 machinery was invented to make cotton; the waste from the machine was cottonseed. Not wanting to waste the cottonseed, they extracted the oil from the cotton seeds and used it as fuel for lamps or lubricant for machinery.

Fast forward to 1880s - Thomas Hudnut invented a mechanical way to extract oil from corn germ (waste that corn farmers threw away). By 1898 it was being sold as commercial cooking oil.

In 1911, Proctor and Gamble came out with a new product, crystallized cottonseed oil, called Crisco. Before then, everyone used animal fat (tallow and lard) to cook. Important to note: animal fats are saturated fatty acids and are vital to our health. The "fat free" movement and demonization of natural fat foods has paved the way for PUFAs.

Proctor and Gamble ran a major marketing campaign ($5 million) to replace natural fats with their new invention. By 1916, they had sold 16 million pounds of Crisco.

Today, 80% of Americans fat consumption comes through seed oils. They are pervasive in our packaged foods, kitchens and restaurants.

If you want more in depth: The world needs an oil change article.

ACTION ITEM:

• Step 1: Go into your kitchen and throw away any cooking oils that are seed oils. Today.
• Step 2: Purchase avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil (avocado is best for high heat cooking).
• Step 3: Go through your pantry (start with salad dressing and packaged foods), where you see any of the hateful eight, make a note to find a replacement.

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#2 Stop eating foods with chemical additives

You were made to eat real, whole foods that bring nourishment to your body. 80%+ of grocery stores are stocked with processed food, meaning, chemical ingredients were added that our bodies were not designed to consume.

To illustrate the point further, here are a few chemical additives in our processed foods that are banned/illegal in other countries:

• Potassium Bromate and Azodicarbonamide (ADA)
• Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)
• Titanium Dioxide
• Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40 (food dyes)

ACTION ITEM:

• start reading food labels and ask yourself "is this real food"? Could I find these ingredients in a kitchen and make it myself? *rule of thumb: if you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be putting it in your body.

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These action items are about valuing your body enough to stop eating things that you KNOW are harmful. If this is new information, it may be overwhelming as you notice how pervasive seeds oils and chemical additives are in your daily eating. But that's also good news - if you simply replace the bad oils for good and start to eat less processed foods, you will see a dramatic improvement in your health.

You'll be set up to get out of the negative and into the positive (eating delicious food that nourishes your body). We'll get into that in future newsletters.

As always, hit reply with any thoughts or questions.

See you next week.

To your body's wealth,
​TOMMY

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​001 // Step 1 to a Healthy Life​
​002 // Your Body Runs on Clocks [Circadian Health]​
​003 // Sleep's Connection to Eating Healthy​
​004 // Make Movement A Movement​
​005 // What Mice Taught Us About Eating Healthy​
​006 // The story of a 61-yr-old Farmer Ultra Marathoner​
​007 // Redefining Health for a Meaningful Life​
​008 // A Guide To Cardio Training​​
​009 // What's the Best Form of Exercise?​
​010 // Take Care of Yourself to Take Care of Others​
​011 // Why Your Thoughts Matter for Health ​
​012 // Sustainable Health Framework​
​013 // The Path to Joyful Health​
​014 // Getting to the Land of Vitality​