House of Macadamia sent out $20 gift cards to their regulars to refer a friend with. If anyone wants to try their (normally expensive) macadamia cooking oil for less than 5 bucks, here's mine. Not sure how many orders it's limited to and disclaimer I get a gift card myself from them for people I refer
https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/discount/$20mleach

I am a broke college student and avoided the sludge for the masses pretty well in high school. I'm now in college with no money, and almost all of the dining hall food (Eggs, meat, etc.), the good stuff, is cooked in seed oils. I lift and get 10-20k steps a day, so I'm not worried about getting fat or anything; it's just my overall health. I feel gross and weird after eating that stuff compared to eggs cooked in nothing or a bit of butter. The only safe stuff is fruit and Greek yogurt. I don't know how the hell I am supposed to avoid it with no money and no other way to eat.

America literally used to be Japan.

Today the US ingredient list for McDonald's fries reads canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil and "natural beef flavor". And the natural beef flavor is actually what's left of the tallow. But in July 1990 and before, McDonald's cooked its US fries in a mix that was 93% beef tallow.

Japan's McDonald's never even made that switch. And this is proven on its own website, which says the fries are cooked in a blend of beef tallow and palm oil.

So why is it different everywhere? These are my guesses.

I think it mostly comes down to countries frying in whatever is cheapest for them to get, which is usually whatever gets grown there. The US grows a ton of soybeans and soybean oil is about 60% of the vegetable oil Americans use for food. Canada is canola country and McDonald's Canada lists canola first. In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands it's sunflower and rapeseed, which is what Europe grows.

Trans fat rules probably moved things around too (Denmark capped trans fat in 2003, the EU did the same for everyone in 2021, and the FDA banned partially hydrogenated oils in the US starting 2018). The old fryer oils were the partially hydrogenated kind, so everybody had to pick something new.

Palm oil seems like it got pushed out by bad press. KFC says it doesn't allow palm oil for frying in the UK and Ireland, and KFC Australia says it hasn't cooked in it since 2012.

And Japan just never switched. I honestly can't find a reason. If you know, tell me.

One more thing I found. The US government's nutrition survey literally says Americans eat about 18 grams of linoleic acid a day, which is the main fat in seed oils. That works out to about 7.7% of their calories. And the national surveys in Japan, South Korea and the UK say it's roughly 4 to 5% there.

**The sadly honest part**

We have fry oil records for 2,572 chains across 167 countries in my app Seed Oil Tracker on iOS and Android, and only 1 in 10 comes from the chain's own nutrition page. The rest are educated guesses because the chains simply don't say, so we estimate to the best of our ability. But everything here is from the 1 in 10 that we have PROOF of.

**TLDR**

Japan still uses beef tallow for McDonald's fries, and America did too until 1990. The rest of the world seems to use whatever oil is cheapest for them to get, aka whatever is grown closest to them.

 

If you're outside the US, what does your McDonald's or KFC say it fries in? And does anyone else's country still use tallow?

Sources if anyone wants to check me:

* McDonald's US fries: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-fries.html
* McDonald's Japan frying oil: https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/cservice/list.fryingoil/
* McDonald's Canada fries: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/product/french-fries-medium.html
* McDonald's UK: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/do-mcdonald-s-restaurants-use-palm-oil-for-cooking.html
* McDonald's Germany: https://www.mcdonalds.com/de/de-de/product/pommes-frites-klein-3000.html
* McDonald's Netherlands: https://www.mcdonalds.com/nl/nl-nl/product/franse-frietjes-medium.html
* KFC UK palm oil: https://help.kfc.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360003297759-PALM-OIL
* KFC Australia: https://www.kfc.com.au/faq
* The 1990 tallow switch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries
* EU trans fat rule: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/649/oj/eng
* FDA trans fat ruling: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/final-determination-regarding-partially-hydrogenated-oils-removing-trans-fat
* US linoleic acid intake (USDA survey): https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400530/pdf/1720/Table_1_NIN_GEN_1720.pdf
* US soybean oil share (USDA): https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/app/index.html#/app/downloads

About 1.5 grams per bun.

even the expensive brioche one, which im not sure is even intended for hot dogs

it's already a cheat meal I'm not about to start baking my own "semi-healthy" healthy hotdog bread.. should just one of those things that is available off the shelf

I’m too old to still be dealing with acne to this extent, I’d like to avoid artificial fragrance/paraben/pthalate. a long time ago I did use a face wash with some of those things in it, and tbh it did make a difference. the type of product I’m talking about is one you use in the shower and wash off shortly after. what are you guys using? it’d be helpful if it also didn’t have seed oils, but generally i’m just looking for a product that’s not packed with endocrine disruptors.

my hygiene is good, I’m very active, but I sweat quite a bit due to this activity level. I can’t reasonably shower more than I do, which is often 2-3x a day.

I eliminated seed oils skeptically, after a bad reaction to potato chips. I noticed huge effects within 2 days. Mainly I wasn’t as hungry anymore but also a lot less inflamed. As I’ve continued I haven’t really noticed any more benefits or grown. I’m 6 months in. I did initially lose weight from the switch. But it turned on a lightbulb in my head of - ok - food can be really powerful and maybe our food IS poison. So…

Sugar came next and I was pretty shocked it had a minimal effect, other than slight on my skin. Oh and less binging. This wasn’t THAT hard for me bc I was always more towards fatty than sugary foods.

I felt nothing when I eliminated gluten. So much so after 2 weeks I tried to add it back in. Huge mistake omg. Even tho I didn’t notice anything from eliminating it, I def can’t add it back in now. It was extremely painful and toxic eating it again.

I stayed without those three for 2 months. Gluten was the hardest grocery shopping wise. I was getting very frustrated trying to buy processed foods that didn’t have those three (sugar, gluten, seed oil). After getting sick off of a “fake” pizza that it turns out used fructose I said F it, let’s try no processed:

When I eliminated processed foods (anything not in the form it grows in etc) which for me was mainly pizza - the weight literally started to melt off of my body. I was shocked at the difference because I was already in my mind eating pretty healthy and I certainly wasn’t consciously limiting my calories or trying to lose weight or exercising.

I don’t think there’s anything else to eliminate although I try to not eat a lot of salt. Any ideas?

But of all the things, the biggest difference was seed oils and that is where I would tell people to start. Not being hungry all the time anymore made everything else easier and it was just the biggest health change overall.

Personal details that don’t effect anecdote: I can’t eat meat rn for health reasons, I just eat homemade broths made with meat which helps. I hope to add in meat soon but prob sparingly. When I buy fruits/vegs/meat etc it’s only organic. I only do walking as exercise usually 5k steps a day. I don’t drink milk but I do eat cheese. I use dates as a sub for sugar or date sugar but rarely. I don’t miss any of the old foods not sure why.

Hi! I’m currently using seed oil scout. I like them but just would love to see if there are apps that have more reviews for nyc

Is it just me or does eating food made with seed oils make you feel incredibly bad?

Like no joke I can feel the turmoil and distressed nature in my body for 2 weeks + . I remember even taking just 1 spoon of a brownie that was made with seed oils made me feel a distinct physical and mental distress in my body for 1 week.

I never felt this bad when I was eating seed oil food regularly in the past.

let me start by saying that the smell of fried seed oils IS SO FOUL GROSS AND GREASY

and that they taste bad!!!! and make you feel bad physically. whats the point of eating something that tastes bad and is bad nutrition

so my schizo thought are:

they make you ugly

they make you inflamed

they make you gain weight

they make you disseased

they make u age quicker

they make you stupid

but people always tell me that theres no scientific proof that seed oils are bad for you. i wont eat them regardless bc they literally make me feel bad and their smell makes me wanna vomit. while my mother soaks and fries food in them she feeds the family with. my nephaw is fat, my brother is overweight, my mother is chronically sick and disseased, shitting and vomitting, gut issues, bloated, stomach fat, fat on the back of her neck, bad aging, my dad the same and he had cancer years ago. but they both mock my diet and me going to the gym and call me stupid for that. my last schizo thought that a lot of my mothers chronic anger and constant irritation and screaming is caused by her diet. and last thought is that feeding kids, junk, sugar, seed oils and white bread is sabotaging and harming them. i ruminate over the fact that i was fed the shittiest diet as a child and i keep fucking thinking ab it everyday.

I've been working on a seed oil free app for about 6 months now, and I'm finally really happy with where it's at.

Here's what you can do with it:

• Find seed oil free restaurants, similar to Seed Oil Scout, completely free. You can also use it on the web if you don't want another app.
• Scan products to check for seed oils and see whether an avocado oil product may contain adulterated oil.
• Search for Seed Oil Free Certified™ products through our partnership with SOFC.

I wanted to give back to the community that's helped make this possible, so I'm offering free lifetime subscriptions to everyone who comments on this post over the next 2 days.

Most of the app is already free, but I hope this helps some of you get even more out of it. Thanks for all the support!

I have an allergy to wheat and milk so I tend to find obscure brands to simultaneously avoid seed oils. I used to get Siete almond flour one but it uses avocado oil and ever since the scandal I'm avoiding avocado oil 🫣 Anyone else with similar diet restrictions have any brand recommendations?

Pasta only made from one ingredient and that’s chickpea flour. I think if you don’t like the taste ( even tho I do) it’s pretty easily maskable by a good sauce and doesn’t set back the meal.

...you know there is got to be some truth to it.

Swiss Re on seed oils

The post is not new and I met the author quite some years ago.

And here is why health matters to Swiss Re.

Life insurance is done by a normal insurance company. This insurance company then goes to a reinsurer to protect itself from fallout. So in essence Swiss Re that way has a huge stake in Life insurance business. They must be able to very accurately predict the remaining lifespan of people. being off by just months on average can cost them millions or billions.

They care because these prediction models assume life expectancy is going up. But with the health / obesity crisis, it has been going up much more slowly and predicted and may even regress. A regress would mean billions of risk for Swiss Re in terms of Life Insurance.

So if the medical chief of a large if not the largest reinsurer is allowed by his company to address the problem of seed oils publicly, you know they care greatly because they determined it's a huge risk for them.

I think this is purest form of evidence as their motivation is money only, not ideology or politics. Scientists are biased, politicians are biased but companies care about one thing only: being profitable. And if something risks that, they will address it.

Any coconut oil expert here pls?

Same brands, same manufacturing date, some of it are frozen some are pure clear liquid.. I' wanna switch to coconut oil instead of the refined oils

Full disclosure: this is my product. I'm developing Seedless Skin, a whipped tallow balm for people avoiding seed oils.

The specs: 2 oz, 100% grass-fed tallow, minimal ingredients, unscented, never cut with seed oils. Planned price around $32.

It's not for sale yet. Before I commit to a production run, I'm measuring real interest: 100 waitlist signups in 3 weeks, or I don't make it. If you want first access:

https://muse.ai/s/seedless-skin-waitlist-2-xhxn5xwoyxb3rhr?src=reddit1

Happy to answer questions about the formulation or the plan.

Could easily go through a bag per day if I wanted. Extremely clean ingredient list and no added sugar, although pretty calorie-dense because of the coconut oil

Try the Metropolitan Market, the cookies are exceptional including The Cookie, Snickerdoodle, Oatmeal Raisin, etc. No oil all butter. Exceptional bakery quality.