




  1. Most people are conditioned throughout their entire life by family and society to consume, use, and accept edible oil(s) as a normal and even essential part of the diet.

  2. There is an overwhelming amount of misleading studies and news headlines that come out regularly claiming that this or that oil has been associated with some health benefit.

  3. Perceptions about oil, for both health professionals and the general public, are greatly shaped by the marketing and power of the cooking oil industry, which is huge, and worth about 100 billion US dollars. Similar to animal food, processed food, and pharmaceutical industries, the oil industry is able to influence everything from national health policies to individual culinary practices.

  4. Humans have an innate preference and craving for fat-rich foods, just like sugar-rich foods. These make food very addictive, and modern food preparation methods exploit this weakness via the various fried, fatty, and oil-containing foods that are widely offered in our society.

  5. Social and cultural practices, as well as peer pressure, make many bad habits or unnatural habits seem completely normal (i.e., if everyone is doing it, then it must be okay). In this sense, we have been taught to cook and bake with oil, even though we absolutely do not need it.

Given all this, it is challenging to hear at first that avoiding all oils is the best thing for our health.

Oil is Not a Whole Food



  • Eat olives instead of olive oil
  • Eat avocados instead of avocado oil
  • Eat coconuts instead of coconut oil
  • Eat hemp seeds instead of hemp seed oil
  • Eat flax seeds instead of flax seed oil

If, on the other hand, a person does not care about their health and only wants oil to cook with because that is how they got accustomed to preparing and eating their food, then they can choose to use whatever they want. However, any health-conscious person can easily learn how to cook without oil. In the end, it all comes down to one’s personal and health priorities.

It is essential to understand that while we do need fat in our diet, this fat needs to be a healthy fat, meaning from whole plant foods, to be of most value and benefit, and least harm to us.

Oil Has Negative Health Impacts


Oxidation, Inflammation & Cancer

Health risks are already present if one consumes virgin oils that have not been refined and only in their raw forms - not cooked or subjected to any heat. However, health risks increase significantly when any refined oils are consumed and when any oil is subjected to heat. Heat, especially high or prolonged heat, denatures many nutrients, degrades the oil, and creates harmful substances that can cause all kinds of oxidative damage, inflammation, and have carcinogenic properties.



There is also another group of risk factors from heating oils and cooking foods in them. Frying food in oils and heating oils on high or for a prolonged time emits harmful particles into the air. The fumes of cooking oils contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic aromatic amines, benzene, and formaldehyde, which cause oxidative damages. These toxic particles irritate respiratory membranes, cause coughing and throat burning, increase the risks of respiratory infections, are carcinogenic, and increase the risk of lung cancer.

Artery Damage & Heart Disease

When we look at what science that is not biased or funded by the oil industry says, we learn that all oils slow blood flow and cause artery stress within hours of being ingested, and over time can result in artery stiffening. This has been most prominently documented by the Center for Nutrition Studies, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Michael Greger, Nathan Pritikin, Dr. John McDougall, and most extensively researched by Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

There is now science both in animal and human studies that indicate how oils promote vascular injury.

Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD ~ International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention

Impeded blood flow and artery damage via inflammation and hardening of the arteries raise risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Furthermore, these symptoms increase the risk of heart attack and stroke and negatively impact other functions and areas of the body.

Impaired Digestion

There are also digestion concerns associated with the consumption of oil. As Dr. Agatha M. Thrash shares:

“Oil interferes with digestion by slowing down the stomach emptying time, making digestion less efficient and allowing undigested particles to pass over from the small bowel into the colon. There, the gas-forming germs ferment the undigested food particles, and cause the accumulation of products of fermentation.” This is one of the reasons why many people suffer from bloating and indigestion after oil-rich meals and why recommendations for people with IBS, Crohn’s Disease, and Ulcerative Colitis often advise them to minimize or avoid the use of most oils and oil-rich meals.

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D. — Uchee Pines Lifestyle Center

Weight Gain & Obesity

Finally, oil increases the risk of weight problems, excess body fat, and obesity, and is the worst possible food for trying to maintain a healthy weight or to lose weight. Every tablespoon of oil provides about 120 calories and 13.5 grams of fat, which can quickly add up and easily lead to us eating more calories than we need. Yet these same calories have some of the worst nutrient density, and are the least filling, making it easy to overeat oil and foods made with oil.



Oil-Free Eating Means No Olive Oil Too

Many people are religiously committed to using olive oil under the assumption that they are doing something “healthy,” specifically “heart-healthy.” However, everything that was shared above also applies to olive oil — olive oil is not a health food. One of the biggest reasons why olive oil is made to seem like a superstar is based on how studies that report on its benefits are designed and how invested the olive oil industry is in promoting its product. Anytime you compare something worse to something better, the better item will seem like a good idea even though it may not be good, to begin with. In the end, even though olive oil is better than refined vegetable oils and most other oils, olive oil has many problems, like all oils, and is not recommended in the diet for optimal health and weight and disease prevention and healing.

The following short presentation by Dr. Michael Klaper thoroughly explains the pitfalls and problems with olive oil:

Oil Recommendations


Here are my top 5 oil-related tips:



  3. If you choose to use any oils, they should be used in the tiniest amounts necessary, as infrequently as possible, be of the highest quality (i.e., organic, pure, virgin, cold-pressed), and added to meals in its raw form, after the meal has finished cooking.

  4. If any pan cooking must be done with oils, then a more heat-stable oil, like virgin coconut oil may be the safest choice, if saturated fat is otherwise kept low and infrequent in the diet. Saturated fats are heat-stable, up to a point, whereas unsaturated fats are not, regardless of any smoke-point. Olive oil is not a heat-stable cooking oil.

  5. At the very least, avoid all fried food and oil-roasted food, which is most detrimental to your health. These culinary practices and meals subject oil to the highest and most prolonged heat, carrying the most health risks.


Further Reading and Resources

For more information about all this, you can refer to my book Healing & Prevention Through Nutrition or any of the following resources: