2.52 WFPB – Why No Added Oil?
Oil is fat. There is 120 calories in every tablespoon of oil. If you are trying to lose weight and are adding oil or eating foods with oil in them, it will be difficult to drop the pounds. If you are eating a large amount of fat of any kind, your body will not have any reason to use its own fat stores for energy.
The concept of calorie density is important here, however will be discussed in more detail in the Obesity and Weight Loss section.
Oil is the most calorie dense substance in the typical American diet. It will pack a HUGE number of calories without filling you up. Look again at how 400 calories of oil compares to 400 calories of meat or vegetables in your stomach.
Oil is a processed food and has only been in the human diet for about 2000 years. You need to cut out the added oil as best as you can, ideally you would eliminate it completely. It is OK to get oil in its natural state…that is from the whole food. On a whole food plant based diet, you can eat an olive, but can’t add olive oil to things. You can eat any type of nut, seed or avocado, but can’t add the oil to your food.
Looking at labels at this point will shock you. There is oil added in so many products in the grocery store it is unbelievable. This just increases the calorie density of the food without adding any significant nutritional benefit. Food companies do this since it is cheap and it makes the food taste better. All this comes at the expense of your weight and health.
Many people think “I thought olive oil was healthy for you.” Well…it is better than using butter which has cholesterol and more saturated fats, however again as above oil itself is fat and we need to avoid it. Still not convinced? Lets examine olive oil in a little more detail.
Olive oil has 120 calories per tablespoon. It takes 43 olives to make 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Good luck eating 43 olives. If you do eat the whole olive, you will get some olive oil in its natural state, but you will also get fiber and many other minerals and phytonutrients. Olive oil is 14% saturated fat. Overall we want as little saturated fat in the diet as possible. Lastly, olive oil has a poor ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 coming in at 14:1. Remember from our review of unsaturated fats that the goal is a 4:1 ratio.
One last note on oil. In the heart disease reversal studies done at Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, oil was eliminated completely to help keep the diet as low as fat as possible. So if your goal is to REVERSE heart disease, it is crucial that all oil is eliminated from your diet.