Why Hydrogenated Oils Should be Avoided at All Costs

Tuesday, November 04, 2008 by: Richard Stossel
Tags: hydrogenated oils, health news, Natural News

(NewsTarget) If you're really concerned about getting healthy and staying that way, then you have to be very concerned about what you're putting into your body. This means not only avoiding fast foods and other known junk foods, but it means that you have to be very aware of one of the worst of the more than 6000 chemicals that are added to foods today. Most of these chemicals have negative side effects and a number of them are known health destroyers. One of the worst of these is hydrogenated oils.

All processed chemicals that are used in foods have seriously detrimental effects on human health and energy levels and have no place in the modern human diet

To highlight this, let's take hydrogenated oils and see what this substance really is and why it's so incredibly bad for you. Hydrogenated oils are oils that are often healthy in their natural state, but are quickly turned into poisons through the manufacturing and processing they undergo. They take these naturally healthy oils such as palm, kernel, soybean, corn oil or coconut oil and they heat it anywhere from five hundred to one thousand degrees under several atmospheres of pressure.

They then inject a catalyst into the oil for several hours. The catalyst is typically a metal such a nickel, platinum or even aluminum. As this bubbles up into the oil the molecular structure changes and increases in density and rearranges it's molecules so that instead of a liquid at room temperature we now have either semi-solid or solid oil. This creates either partially hydrogenated or fully hydrogenated oils.

The molecules in this new product are now closer to cellulose or plastic than to oil. In fact hydrogenated oil is only one molecule away from being plastic. When you eat anything containing this material, just as the oil is now thicker and more viscous (dense), so too does your blood become thicker and more viscous right along with it. The heart now has to work so much harder to pump blood throughout the system. This is one of the major ways that consuming hydrogenated oils contributes to high blood pressure.

As you can imagine, this thicker blood with this gummy substance flowing with it can easily lodge in the arteries and build up the arterial plaque. It doesn't take anywhere near as much time as you may think for this to occur. Some studies have shown that negative health effects of eating processed foods occurs within only minutes of consuming such foods.

In some studies it has been shown that such oils contributes to high cholesterol because it actually scars the internal walls of the arteries. This is due to the nickel that is often used in the hydrogenation process. This causes the body to then produce cholesterol to heal the walls of the arteries which is one reason that the plaque builds up on the arterial walls. As the walls are continually scarred this slowly shrinks the opening for blood to flow through making the heart work much harder, placing a great strain on the heart and eventually wears the heart out. This also creates more heat or "yang fire" energy to be created as well.

This thicker blood which has a harder time pumping through the arteries and up to the brain. Hydrogenated oils can slow the micro circulation of blood through the brain further causing various emotional and physical ailments such an Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ADHD and muddled thinking just to name a few. Remember also that one of the metals sometimes used in the hydrogenation process is aluminum which has been linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease in a number of studies.

There are stories of doctors who performed surgery and found several inches of a thick fatty substance in patient's arteries. Later this was identified to be the fatty, hydrogenated oil laden fast food breakfast of that patient the day before surgery. Not a pleasant thought at all.

Hydrogenated oils are great as preservatives precisely because all the enzymatic activity in the oil has been neutralized during the hydrogenating process. Remember that this hydrogenated oil is only one molecule away from plastic and plastic does not breakdown, it lasts for millennia which is one reason that even our oceans are starting to turn to plastic.

If un-hydrogenated oils put into foods they would go bad very fast. This would increase the cost to the manufacturer. That's because natural oils have enzymatic activity occurring in them which is what causes them and all foods to rot at room temperature. Any food that does not rot at room temperature is considered a "dead" food and should not be consumed.

In fact the faster a food goes bad, the healthier they usually are. That's because the enzymatic activity which causes the foods to rot at room temperature also means that the enzymatic activity within your own body will be greater as well. Food is basically meant to digest itself so eating foods high in natural enzymes such as fresh vegetables, fruits and other raw foods means less stress on your own digestive system. This is especially true when foods are eaten in proper combinations and in line with the laws and rules of Trophology (The science of food combining).

The more enzyme dead food and ingredients you consume, the more your own body has to create and use up its own food enzymes during digestion. The act of digestion is a strenuous one on the body and requires a lot of Chi, nutrients and enzymes to take place. This places a large strain on your internal organs, especially the pancreas which has to create the necessary food enzymes for digestion. An overworked pancreas is actually one of the major causes of type II diabetes which is basically pancreatic failure.

Trying to digest this plastic-like hydrogenated oil takes a massive amount of enzymes and chi from the system. But the body never really succeeds because this material is not natural and it's a substance that the body is not designed to absorb. Such foreign substances often cause false immune response which place a great strain on the immune system and decreases overall immunity.

As the body sends more enzymes (digestive acids) into the stomach to try and digest this plastic like oil, the internal stomach temperature rises. This is another way that these unhealthy oils can lead to cancer as cancer is classified as a "Yang" or "Fire" symptom in Chinese medicine. It can take thousands of degrees to break down plastic. The body is often only partially successful at breaking down and digesting hydrogenated oils.

The Cell Wall

Cell walls are normally made up of healthy oils such as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats, also known as essential fatty acids (EFA's). The walls of your cells are the cells defense mechanism so it's crucial that they have sufficient EFA's in the cell wall. This is what allows nutrients and waste matter to pass in and out the call yet keeps foreign invaders and pathogens out.

Once hydrogenated oils reach the cell, they try to assimilate them into the make up of the cell wall. Without sufficient EFA's, the cells are now forced to use this destructive hydrogenated oil into its cellular matrix to make up the difference. What's worse is that this new cell wall now made up of hydrogenated oils is virtually useless and this compromises the very function of the cell wall.

The presence of hydrogenated oils in the cell walls actually prevents nutrients from entering the cell but at the same time allowing pathogens, microbes and viruses to pass through. It also prevents waste material getting out of the cell. Between the nutrients that are kept out of the cell and the waste matter that is now trapped in the cell, the cell often mutates or dies which can lead to cancer, tumors or other serious health issues.

Electromagnetic Fields and the Cell Wall

The cell wall not only has a physical barrier made up of the normally health EFA's, but it has an electromagnetic (EM) barrier too. This EM field or barrier helps the cell to identify viruses, bacteria and pathogens, many of which have a positive ionic charge. Positive ions cause oxidation of the cells and are typically known as "oxidants". Healthy nutrients and bacteria have a negative ionic charge. Nutrients with a negative ionic charge are also known by the common name "anti-oxidants".

The cells use this and other similar mechanisms to help identify which substances to allow through that force field and which to repel. The cell would typically allow materials with negative charges to pass through while repelling those with positive charges. With the physical and electromagnetic functions of the cell wall now compromised due to the presence of hydrogenated oils, the cell is no longer able to identify friendly nutrients from foreign invaders.

This opens the flood gates for invaders to enter the cell and destroy it from within. With the cell wall functions now compromised and with little or no nutrients getting into the cell, it is basically defenseless and all manner of serious negative health effects can arise. Cellular toxicity will also rise at the same time due to the increased presence of waste matter that hydrogenated oils trap inside the cells.

Some ways to counter this and help strengthen the EM field of your cells is to practice deep breathing exercises. When we practice deep breathing we're taking in large amounts of chi and negative ionic energy into our bodies. This extra energy greatly strengthens the EM field of all the cells in the body and can help counter the negative effects of hydrogenated oils should we consume any.

This is one of many ways that natural techniques which make the body more "Yin" (negative) can help to decrease the overall incidence of disease. Since many of today's most common problems and ailments are diseases of excess positive ionic energy, keeping the negative ion fields of the body as strong as possible becomes a major factor in constant battle against dis-ease.

Tips to Avoid Hydrogenated Oils

To help avoid hydrogenated oils, most of your foods should be raw and as close to their natural state as possible. This means more fruits and vegetables including organic local meats as fresh as possible. The more real foods from nature that you eat, the less packaged and processed foods you'll consume. It's the packaged and processed foods that are most likely to be made with hydrogenated oils to help increase their shelf life.

This really means a change in the way that we think about food and what we classify as food. True foods are those from nature, in their natural pristine state, not those that come out of a factory or a box. You can't rely on the government or any other source to tell you what is ok to put into you or your families body.

It absolutely means becoming a label reader and checking everything you buy that's packaged and processed. You especially want to make sure that hydrogenated oils and other negative ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup are not listed as ingredients, even on packages that have the word "organic" on the box.

Just because a package has the word organic on the label doesn't mean that it's necessarily a healthy food. Packaged and processed foods with organic on the box would really be considered "less damaging" but not truly healthy. To be truly healthy means that a food is full of enzymes, phytonutrients, and life force with all their natural vitamins and minerals present.

Enzymes are actually more important than any vitamin, mineral or other nutrient since all processes that occur in the body must have sufficient supplies of enzymes to do their job. Foods that have had their enzymes destroyed are automatically classified as "dead foods"

Hydrogenated oils are absolutely one of the worst ingredients being put into the modern food supply today for the many reasons stated. This is an ingredient that must be totally avoided at all costs. This is especially important if you're looking to recover your health in any form.

Beware that eating out in restaurants can pose just as great a health risk as packaged and processed foods do. That's because many restaurants use hydrogenated oils in nearly everything they prepare. This is another reason that eating out too often can have very negative health effects.

The best solution is to prepare your own foods at home as often as you can and getting as far away from a processed food diet as possible. This way you know exactly what you're putting into your body and not leaving it up to modern manufacturers of today's so called "foods" that have no concern for your health or well being at all.

About the author

Richard is a network engineer and longtime practitioner of Chinese martial arts, medicine and chi-gung for over twenty six years. Having learned many Chinese health and healing arts from old world gung-fu and healing masters and practitioners, he has helped many people to overcome their health issues and achieve their fitness goals. Through diligent study and experience he has taken this knowledge even further over the years including reading scores of books on Chinese medicine, health, chi theory, science, physics, nutrition, supplements, meditation, martial arts, and many other subjects. Utilizing the web, health and fitness videos, newsletters, articles, teachings and lectures, Rich is passionate about spreading the true knowledge of health, healing, fitness and spiritual truths. I'm proud to be writing articles for NaturalNews.com You can read many articles, hear audio interviews, and learn more about the highly praised Chinese Health and Fitness video by visiting Chinese Health and Fitness.com