The Truth About Seed Oils: What’s Really Fueling Your Gut (and Life) (#161) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 161
Dustin Serviss follows his personal questions about seed oils, food choices and gut health. This episode records his perspective and experimentation, rather than presenting a clinical treatment guide.
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This transcript was generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. It may contain transcription or speaker-attribution errors. Refer to the recording for exact wording.
Chapters
[00:00:00] A personal follow-up to gut testing
[00:01:10] Dustin describes his own food experiments
[00:02:17] The episode discusses how seed oils are made
[00:03:31] Considering competing claims about dietary fats
[00:04:47] Looking at oils in everyday foods
[00:06:04] Cooking choices and a wider lifestyle metaphor
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Transcript
[00:00:00] Dustin Serviss: Remember when I told you about my gut biome analysis? Oh, sorry. Welcome back to t pal labs. I am your host, Dustin Service. Okay. Back to what I was saying. A couple weeks ago, I did an episode on my gut biome and blood work, and go find it if you're interested in that. But part of that research into what affects my guts was seed oils. Now, again, I talked about it before. I'm not saying it's either good or bad. Every single person is different. We all have different gut biome. We all have different DNA. So take this for what it's worth, but this was a win in my world that maybe might help give you a win in yours.
[00:00:36] Dustin Serviss: So today, we're diving into a topic that sparked a lot of debate in both the wellness world and the world of everyday people trying to eat better, seed oils. And, ironically, when I was writing this article, and it's no secret that I use Chat GbT to interact and craft articles and then I I... I'm reading it, but I was having a fight with Chat GbT in getting it to take my stance. I'm gonna ruin the Kool Aid a little bit that I have a certain stance and a certain opinion about seed oils and it was... I'm not saying it's hallucinating. It was giving me very good data, but it was different data than I
[00:01:10] Dustin Serviss: was researching and aware of and knowing about. So, it was a good exercise in sort of looking at there's all sorts of literature out there, but I know what works for me and sort of what works for my body. So this isn't just theory. This has helped me. This is an episode built on my story and the changes I made to eat better and feel better. So let me start with olive oil. My blood work suggested that I eat extra virgin olive oil. That would be beneficial to me. And on paper, that makes sense. It's anti inflammatory, loaded with antioxidants, great for heart health, but there's a catch. You know, that's what my blood work told me.
[00:01:46] Dustin Serviss: But every time I have extra virgin olive oil and when I cook with it, I get gas every time. Doesn't matter what I'm making, but if I eat the same raw food prepared in water, so I use eggs fried in a pan with water, no gas. If I fry it up with extra virgin olive oil, I get gas. And so, you know, name the oil. If I fry it in a pan, heating the oil, something happens. So my body's telling me that this... I could feel better by do... Cooking different. So there's a bigger lesson here. The label might say it's good for you, but the real data is how your body responds. Now I think it's important.
[00:02:17] Dustin Serviss: Gary Breka did a great job on the Joe Rogan podcast recently talking about how seed oils are made. And I can't talk about this topic without, bringing this up because it's a little bit where things go sideways. So most seed oils... I'm talking about canola, soybeans, sunflower, safflower, corn, cottonseed, grapeseed oil, you know, are not made in your kitchen. They're actually made in a factory with steps that include high, high amounts of heat and mechanical pressing, which destabilizes fats. Then they perform a chemical solvent extraction system using hexane. So, then from there, it creates a really bad odoured product and they
[00:02:57] Dustin Serviss: need to bleach it to get the nice color that you see in the grocery store along the aisles. And bleaching it and deodorizing it removes the taste, smell, and color, and then they need to make it sort of start to taste the way that that brand wants to make it taste. So by the time you get your salad dressing or you get your oil in the frying pan, it's been altered at the molecular level. It's shelf stable, yes, but at what cost? Now, again, Gary talked about it on the Joe Rogan podcast, the oxidative stress seed oils can cause, And this topic has come up again and again,
[00:03:31] Dustin Serviss: highlighting how overconsumption of industrial oils is linked to increased inflammation, poor cellular health, and metabolic dysfunction. Not gonna go into any... What those things are, but, definitely recommend you look into it. So now to be fair, and this is where Chad Gbitt and I were getting into a great debate, but there are stats and studies that show replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats from seed oils can lower your LDL cholesterol. They have studies in twenty five twenty five, and then he or she referenced all these things. But here's my view. Those studies are often looking at pure chemical components, not the high
[00:04:09] Dustin Serviss: heat, the over pressed versions that end up in your chips, crackers, and salad dressing. That's like comparing a heirloom tomato to a fast food ketchup packet. Same origin, totally different outcome. So, yes, the science has layers, but if you zoom out and ask, how is your body actually performing? That's where this gets real. So I did have fifteen sneaky foods that you can look into that are common culprits of having highly processed seed oil. So here we go. Salad dressings and vinaigrettes, mayonnaise and aiolis, roasted nuts and trail mix. That one's bad because I eat a lot of nuts and I like... It's hard to find just salted.
[00:04:47] Dustin Serviss: Usually, they got sunflower oil on and for you on the trail mix, they usually always have sunflower oil for a preservative. And if you just wanna buy simple raisins to put on your oatmeal, I have not found one product that doesn't have sunflower oil on the raisins. So many granolas and protein bars, microwave popcorn, oat milk and alternative milks, dried fruits, watch out for the sulfates on that one, frozen plant based meals, Whole Foods hot bar. So, again, the deli bar that you go to a... You know, this is is Whole Foods or, you know, probably any major chain grocery store to buy hot food. Protein cookies and baked goods.
[00:05:24] Dustin Serviss: I love the whole emergence of protein cookies that just is so inviting, but watch out for those. Restaurant fried foods, even keto snacks, crackers and seed chips, hummus and dips, nut butters with added oil. So these are often disguised with buzzwords like macro balanced, fit friendly, clean label, but check the back. Check the ingredients. Usually, you'll find canola, sunflower, or sorbin oil in the ingredients. Now there's some better cooking alternatives, and this is what I use. I've been working for me personally in my own sort of gut biome and in my slash home. Beef tallow, that's rich in flavors, stable at high heat. Bacon fat, yep.
[00:06:04] Dustin Serviss: Old school, put it under the sink. You know, it's a little bit gross, but, we use it. Water based cooking, I do this a lot. I cook a lot of stuff in a frying pan with just water at the start. Eggs, That's just like, you name it. Some people like avocado oil, high smoke point, less processed, ghee butter for sauteing. It does have a good taste to it. So we're not saying eliminate oils entirely, but if you're a high performance human, why feed the engine with the cheapest fuel? Now what's in your oil is what's in your life. So here's what I wanna leave you with today. This isn't just about oil you cook with.
[00:06:38] Dustin Serviss: It's about the compounding effect of small decisions, the kind that either move you closer to vitality and clarity or slowly pull you away from them. Because if you're here listening, you're likely the type of person who's building something, a business, a legacy, a lifestyle. But what's it worth if you feel foggy every morning, if your energy's drained, your digestion's off, and you're chasing performance with the wrong inputs? See? Wealth isn't just money. It's how alive you feel, how creative your mind is, how present you are with your family, how resilient your body is under pressure.
[00:07:11] Dustin Serviss: And believe it or not, a six dollar bottle of salad dressing with canola oil could be slowing all of that down. It's being dialed in, knowing what gives you power and doing it not because a guru said so, but because you've lived the result. So if you're stacking wealth, stack health right next to it. Because when those two work together, your life hits a level most people never taste. And that's what we're talking about at t pal labs. Thanks for listening. If this episode sparked something for you, share it with someone who deserves to feel this way too. Until next time, invest well, eat well, and live intentionally.