Seeds of Doubt
Still Lives and the Truth About Seed Oils
From fire to snow, we left Los Angeles and started a life in New York without any warning, without a plan, without a return ticket. I am teaching my kids how to put on mittens, how to go through a subway turnstile, and walk on a sidewalk in a straight line. They cling to me at night, and ask me every day when we can go home. I have no answers. At ages 3 and 5, they are too young to put words to feelings, so a day of big city fun and excitement still ends in primal screams. My therapist urged me to share my own difficult feelings with them, to offer-up my own sadness instead of crying in private and wiping my eyes when they walk in the room. They actually need to know that my heart is broken for our friends who lost their homes, their schools, their jobs, and for a life that can slip through our fingers at the strike of a match. My impulse is to protect them, but they feel it whether I name it or not.
Taking a break from trying to find a home and the kids a school, I went to see the Giorgio Morandi show at David Zwirner Gallery. It was an act of self-preservation. In his intimate paintings made during World War II, household objects are decontextualized, stripped of their purpose, painted over, and cast in an ominous light. I saw my own impulse to create order out of human tragedy reflected back to me in Morandi’s still lives. Then, as now, we are fragile vessels, huddled together at the precipice of a tilted surface, being pushed ever closer to the edge, trying to find our light.
Sorry, did that bring you down? Can’t promise that anything in this week’s newsletter will be an upswing, but I did get a lot of great feedback from the NonStick Pan post, so I thought I would move on to SEED OILS, the boogie man of the wellness world. I am also sharing a 15% discount on Algae Oil, an innovative seed oil alternative. Just use the code SALADFORPRESIDENT here.
Seed oils, once a pillar of home and restaurant pantries, are suddenly under scrutiny — News outlets, influencers, podcasters and politicians claim they cause inflammation, chronic disease, and hormone disruption. Fast casual restaurants like Steak 'n Shake and Sweetgreen have discontinued their use, and a private organization, Seed Oil Free Alliance, is selling “seed oil free” certifications to packaged food brands and restaurants. But, are all seed oils bad for you?
What are seed oils? Whereas olive, coconut, and avocado oil are extracted from fruit, “seed oils” are vegetable oils that are extracted from the seeds of plants. The most common varieties are sunflower oil, canola oil, soybean oil, sesame oil, corn oil, and grapeseed oil. Despite the negative hype, the scientific community is divided on their health effects. Some scientists argue that using seed oils at home is fine, but that and that the real concern is their prevalence in ultra processed foods. Other studies have shown that their rich omega-6 fatty acids can actually help reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure.
It seems the issue is not with the oil themselves, but instead, the way these oils are extracted, and how we use them.
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