Seed Oils Aren’t Killing You. The Real Reason We're Struggling With Our Health

Seed Oils Aren’t Killing You

There’s a lot of noise out there right now. And I mean a lot. Scroll through social media for ten seconds and you’ll see someone shouting that seed oils are poison, artificial colors are toxic, and Big Food is out to get you. And while they’re yelling about soybean oil, they’re sitting on their couch, halfway through a family-size bag of “clean” organic potato chips because the packaging said “no seed oils.” This is where we are. We’ve entered an era where nuance is dead, headlines win over health habits, and fear-mongering gets more views than facts.

But the truth is this: seed oils aren't killing you and you don’t need to be afraid of seed oils or food dyes. You need to be a hell of a lot more concerned about eating 600 extra calories a day without even realizing it. You need to worry about the fact that you can’t remember the last time you hit 8,000 steps. You need to understand that your body doesn’t care if your tortilla chips are avocado-oil fried or canola-oil fried when you’re eating the whole bag in one sitting.

The food fear wave sweeping across social media right now is not helping people get healthier. It’s not helping them build muscle, lose fat, improve longevity, or move better. It’s just giving them one more thing to stress about while continuing to ignore the actual reasons they’re not seeing progress.

You know what matters more than what oil is in your food? Whether you’re even eating enough protein in the first place. Whether you’ve had a single vegetable today. Whether you’ve done any intentional movement that didn’t involve scrolling with your thumb. That’s where the real work lives. That’s where the dial actually moves.

But instead of doing that work, people are majoring in the minors. As Aram Grigorian said, “Do us all a favor and shut up about seed oils and food dyes if you don’t even know your individual protein goal.” That hits like a brick wall, but it’s true. You’ve got folks obsessing over the inflammatory potential of canola oil while eating like an unsupervised child at a birthday party. They're worried about whether the cheese puffs they’re inhaling have Red 40, not the fact that they’ve eaten six servings without blinking. They're hunting for toxins in ingredient labels instead of in their own behaviors.

And let’s be honest, it's not that people don't care. It's that accountability is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It means looking in the mirror and realizing that the biggest problem isn’t the food industry. It’s our own habits, patterns, and refusal to take responsibility for them. Dr. Layne Norton nailed this when he said, “People hate accountability. They always want to find a scapegoat.” And the scapegoats are easy targets: seed oils, sugar, artificial colors, processed foods, big pharma, government conspiracies. It all sounds so sinister. And it lets people off the hook.

Because blaming a bottle of vegetable oil feels way better than acknowledging that your health problems might have more to do with your lifestyle than what’s in your salad dressing. But here’s what the actual science says because that still matters, no matter how many flashy graphics and angry rants people post on social media. When you substitute seed oils calorie-for-calorie with saturated fats, the research consistently shows either neutral or even positive outcomes for things like inflammation, insulin sensitivity, metabolic health, liver fat, and cardiovascular risk. There are multiple peer-reviewed studies supporting this, including PMIDs: 40048719, 31369090, 16357064, 27434027, and 16904539. That’s real data—not opinions or Instagram comments.

Seed oils aren’t the enemy. The enemy is overconsumption. Too many people are eating too much food, too often, and moving too little. That’s it. That’s the issue. That’s what’s driving obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions, not the tablespoon of soybean oil in your stir-fry.

And if you’re panicking about sugar, the same principle applies. Yes, high sugar diets are associated with increased mortality, by about 30%, according to a study with PMID: 30590448. But that risk is explained entirely by calories. When researchers looked at isocaloric swaps, replacing sugar with other carbs while keeping total calories the same they found no difference in health outcomes (PMID: 30787473). The sugar itself isn’t the villain. It’s the excess. It’s the 300-calorie latte, the oversized smoothie, the handful of “natural” granola bars all piling up. All pushing you past your energy needs. And that’s what your body responds to: the total load, not the ingredient list.

Even being just a little overweight increases the risk of mortality by 30%. And obesity? It boosts that risk by 300% (PMID: 29490333, 36756765). Those are the real numbers that deserve your attention, not whether your mustard has yellow #5 in it.

But this is what makes the current fear-mongering trend so dangerous. Not only is it inaccurate, it’s distracting. It gives people a false sense of control. It creates this illusion that if you just “cut out the toxins,” your problems will go away. That’s not how health works. That’s not how your metabolism works. And it’s not how longevity works.

Let’s take a step back. Think about it this way: You’ve got a leaky roof, your plumbing’s shot, and your foundation is cracked, but you’re worried about the color of the front door. That’s what obsessing over food dyes while ignoring the quality and quantity of your overall diet looks like.

Jordan Syatt captured it perfectly. He said removing artificial colors from ice cream doesn’t make it healthier, it’s still ice cream. And trying to make ice cream “clean” by removing the dye is like being on the Titanic and thinking rearranging the deck furniture is a major safety upgrade. Meanwhile, the ship’s sinking. People are overfat, under-muscled, metabolically unhealthy, and the health advice that gets the most engagement is, “Avoid sunflower oil at all costs.” It’s insanity.

We need to stop giving people the illusion that health is about purity. That clean eating is about dodging artificial ingredients. That seed oils are worse than chronic under-exercising. Because that belief system? It’s not just wrong. It's harmful. It shifts attention away from the fundamentals: movement, muscle, recovery, consistency, and yes—caloric control.

J.newtrition, a registered dietitian and strength coach, put it plainly: “Seed oils aren’t the enemy. Sedentary lifestyles, junk food, and 24/7 social media science, those might be.” And again, the science supports that. Polyunsaturated fats like those found in seed oils (especially soybean oil, rich in linoleic acid) have actually been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and improve heart health. And yet, because they’re “processed,” people assume they’re automatically harmful.

But here’s a wild idea: processed and ultra-processed are not the same thing. A single-ingredient, refined oil is processed, sure, but so is olive oil. So is yogurt. So is whey protein. “Processed” doesn’t mean “toxic.” It just means the food has been altered in some way to make it usable.

That’s not a red flag. That’s modern food science.

So where does that leave us?

It leaves us with a choice. We can keep obsessing over whether our mustard has artificial coloring, or we can focus on what actually improves health: eating enough protein, hitting your step count, lifting heavy things a few times per week, getting real sleep, managing your stress, and building consistency around meals that match your goals.

You don’t need to go on a crusade against seed oils. You need to go on a mission to get your habits in line. Because no ingredient will ever matter more than your behavior.

There’s no magic to this. There’s no villain to defeat. There’s just work to do. And that work isn’t glamorous. It’s not trendy. It won’t go viral. But it’s what makes the difference between the person who lives strong and pain-free into their 70s and the one who falls apart at 55.

So eat your damn salad, even if it has a little store-bought dressing. Eat ice cream with your spouse and stop worrying about whether it’s dyed pink or beet-red. Focus on portions. Focus on protein. Focus on progress, not perfection.

If you want real results, it’s time to stop rearranging deck furniture and start steering the ship.

And if you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the conflicting information out there, if you’re not sure what to eat, how much, or how to even start getting your body moving again, I can help.

That’s what I do.

This is your invitation to cut through the crap and get the coaching and clarity you need to finally take control of your health with facts, not fear. No gimmicks. No ingredient demonization. Just a real plan that meets you where you are and gets you where you want to go.

Click here to book your free Nutrition Strategy Session.​ We’ll talk about your goals, your current routine, and I’ll show you how to stop chasing fads and start making real, sustainable progress.

Because this isn’t about what’s in your pantry. It’s about what you do. Day in and day out that determines how strong, mobile, and healthy you’ll be for the next 10, 20, or 30 years.

Let’s get to work.