I don't know if you know, but I get a fair amount of scrutiny from people who tell me that calories in vs calories out is the gold standard for effective fat loss. 

Though calories do play a role, the problem with this is that many people don't consider how food interacts with their bodies at the cellular level. This is why so many people struggle with fat loss, even when they restrict calories.

Today we’re going to go over why polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) should be avoided if you’re trying to lose weight.

To me, this might be the most important aspect of nutrition and weight loss. If you can “eliminate” these or drastically reduce them, this can either help you get over a plateau or significantly enhance fat loss.

Unfortunately, it’s initially not the easiest thing to follow. Why? Well, if you’re regularly eating ultra-processed foods, getting takeout, or dining out, you’re very likely eating an absurd mount of polyunsaturated fats. For a lot of people, removing PUFAs can be a fairly disruptive change.

Eliminating PUFAs from your nutrition will almost always guarantee fat loss and improve your health

Today you’re going to learn:

• What polyunsaturated fats are
• How they make us fat
• How to identify them in our food
• How to avoid them

What are polyunsaturated fats?

Polyunsaturated fats are commonly known as omega-6 fatty acids, seed oils, vegetable oils and refined oils. These oils are derived from plants, particularly from the seeds, grains, and they’re also found within the leafy plant parts as well.

Refined oils are mostly liquid at room temperature and are fairly fragile due to their chemical structure. This is not a good quality.

These are cheap, chemically extracted oils, and during their manufacturing process, bleaching agents and deodorizers are used to enhance their color and smell. 

The regular consumption of PUFAs have also only been apart of human history for about 150 years - not that long. By the 1900s, we were consuming about 0.4 tablespoons of PUFA per day. Today, we’ve 10x’d that and are now consuming over 4 tablespoons of PUFA per day. That comes out to being about 5.25 gallons a year, which is disgusting.

How do polyunsaturated fats make us fat?

By 1950, it was established that PUFAs can suppress the metabolic rate and lead to thyroid dysregulation (we talked about a sluggish thyroid and weight gain last week), ultimately slowing your metabolism. 

Also, if you remember high school biology class, mitochondria are the "powerhouses" of the cell. Over 90% of all energy is actually made in the mitochondria. 

Researchers have found that PUFAs damage the mitochondria of cells, suppressing respiratory enzymes and promoting excessive oxidative damage in the body. This is really bad.

To take this to an extreme level, cyanide is an acute disruptor of energy produced by mitochondria. It’s so effective that it completely shuts off energy production in about 90 seconds and… you die. We don’t want anything to disrupt cellular energy production at all. Not even a little.

The progressive disruption of mitochondrial function is ultimately what makes us fat, tired, and sick.

Excess PUFA consumption also contribute to:

• Increased estrogen (makes you fat)

• Increased cortisol (makes you fat)

• Decreased testosterone (makes you fat)

• Impaired digestion and liver function which are critical for detoxification and metabolizing hormones (makes you fat)

What are polyunsaturated fats found in?

The biggest PUFA offenders are:

• Restaurant cooking - they typically use affordable seed oils for the majority of cooking. These oils include canola oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, sesame oil and margarine

• Ultra-processed foods - nearly all of them contain some type of refined seed oil (see above oils)
• Nuts and seeds - animals like to load up on these for the winter months. Nuts and seeds are very regularly overlooked
• Low quality chicken, pork, eggs, and high fat fish - These have a lot to do with the nutrition of the animals and their environment. 

How to avoid polyunsaturated fats

What I’m about to list out are the reasons why getting rid of these fats are so hard. It’s actually impossible to completely avoid them but if you want to do your best to heavily reduce them, you’ll need to do these things:

• Avoid all ultra-processed foods
• Avoid all refined cooking oils
• Avoid nearly all premade salad dressings
• Avoid most restaurant cooking. Always ask them what they cook their food in.
• Prioritize low PUFA meats like ruminant animals (beef, lamb, venison, etc.)
• Read food ingredient labels
• Also, don't put PUFAs on your skin. You absorb them.

Actionable Tip for the Week:

⭐️ Avoid consuming refined oils and polyunsaturated fats ⭐️

Talk to you next week.

Cheers,

Tim

PS: I take requests and suggestions. Let me know if there's anything you want me to write about or make a video about. Would love to hear from you!

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