DARK Calories! How Vegetable Oils Destroy Your Health (& How You Can Get It Back) With Dr. Cate Shanahan

Ben Greenfield

Aug 24, 2024

Episode description

Dr. Cate Shanahan, “The Energy Doctor,” is a Cornell-trained physician-scientist whose works have inspired entire movements involving bone broth, live-culture ferments, and seed oil-free business empires. Together, with NBA legend Gary Vitti, she created the LA Lakers PRO Nutrition program, which has been emulated by elite championship teams around the world.

Dr. Cate is back for a threepeat to discuss her new book Dark Calories, in which she introduces you to well-respected scientists who warn that vegetable oils are a public health disaster, wreaking havoc on your body’s cells by depleting antioxidants and promoting free radical toxicity.

Their many effects include:

Uncontrollable hunger, resulting in the need for drugs to maintain your weight
Inflammatory fat buildup under your skin and within your internal organs and arteries
Blood sugar swings that promote bad moods and antisocial behavior
Disrupted brain energy, concentration problems, and mental illnesses
Intracellular oxidative stress that promotes cancer development
Gut inflammation, bloating, heartburn, and "the runs"

Important protein powder note: During our discussion, Dr. Cate and I expose the issues with the oxidation and processing of protein powders. Oxidation can indeed be an issue for all food and supplement products. This is why, at my supplements company Kion, we negotiate higher up the supply chain to get fresher raw ingredients, have negotiated rights to reject products based on oxidation and use an ISO-certified fulfillment center specialized and certified for food warehousing and fulfillment.

For Full Shownotes here: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/darkcalories

Episode Sponsors:

Fatty15: Get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/BEN and using code BEN at checkout.

BioStack Labs: Get 15% off your purchase of $100 or more by going to biostack.com/ben15.

Magic Spoon: Scoop up these new, crispy, crunchy, protein-packed treats at your nearest grocery store or visit MagicSpoon.com/greenfield to save $5 on your order today!

BEAM Minerals: Go to

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Exercise with metabolic health to minimize oxidative stress

When you are metabolically healthy and not consuming seed oils, exercise does not cause as much oxidative stress because your body can handle it.

#metabolism

#oxidative-stress

Avoid cold-pressed canola oil due to refining toxicity

Unlike olive oil, there is no industry standard for 'cold-pressed' canola oil, and it still undergoes a refining process that makes it toxic.

#oil

#toxins

Recognize plant antioxidants' limited benefits for human cells

Antioxidants from plants are designed to protect the plant and are almost worthless for protecting human cells from oxidative stress once absorbed.

#antioxidants

#oxidative-stress

Prioritize prevention of oxidation over sugar intake

The chemical process of oxidation driven by vegetable oils is thousands or even billions of times more damaging and faster than glycation from sugar.

#oxidation

#vegetable

Recognize one french fry equals toxicity of one cigarette

The amount of toxic aldehydes in one fast-food french fry is equivalent to the toxicity of smoking an entire cigarette.

#processed-food

#toxins

Avoid powdered proteins due to oxidation risks

Powdered proteins are a form of ultra-processed food because the process of dehydrating them exposes nitrogen in amino acids to oxygen, causing damaging oxidation.

#oxidation

#protein

Beware vegetable oils depleting cholesterol levels

Vegetable oils lower your cholesterol not because they are healthy, but because cholesterol is a crucial antioxidant that gets used up fighting the oxidative stress from the oils.