Vegetable Oil: The Ugly Truth

Veg Oil

You know when you roast pork, all of the fat swamps the roasting pan. That fat is lard, natural, healthy lard. Now picture roasting vegetables…when you take them out of the oven, they’re not swimming in their own fat. So what is vegetable oil then?

Vegetable oil is typically made from applying heat and pressure to seeds (sunflower, canola, corn, grapeseed, safflower, rice bran and soybean oils) and them treating them with chemicals to make sure they look like natural fats, such as butter and lard.

These seed oils are now a core component of our food supply and the world is sicker now than ever.

Unlike animal fats, vegetable oils are very high in polyunsaturated fats and in particular, omega-6 fat. Anthropological research shows that our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a ratio of roughly 1:1. It also shows that these hunter-gatherers were free of the modern inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

Today, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats ranges from an average of 10:1 to 25:1. The problem with omega-6 fat is that it is pro-inflammatory. This means a diet with a lot of omega-6 fat (and not much omega-3) will increase inflammation.

When vegetable oils interact with oxygen they release neurotoxic chemicals. These toxic molecules are dangerous because they interact destructively with our DNA.

But aren’t vegetable oils ‘heart healthy’?

It’s been drilled into us that the cause of heart disease is too much saturated fat and the secret to curing it is to eat vegetable oils instead. Unfortunately though, if you’ve read our post ‘The Truth about Fat’, you’d know that the people actively encouraging us to eat these toxins are doing so because of their industry sponsors and BIG Food.

So what? A little vegetable oil wouldn’t hurt right?

Wrong. Every spoonful of vegetable oil is doing damage to your body. Elevated omega-6 to omega-3 ratios are associated with increases in all inflammatory diseases (aka pretty much all diseases). These diseases include:vegetableoilpoison

  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Macular degeneration
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Asthma
  • Cancer
  • Psychiatric disorders
  • Irritable bowel syndrome & inflammatory bowel disease

So in short, avoid vegetable oil if you want to stay healthy and live a long life!


Rosemary and Sage Roast Turkey

Rosemary and Sage Roast Turkey Recipe

Less than one week until Christmas!! If you’re still looking for a turkey recipe for the big day, try our Rosemary and Sage Roast Turkey. This recipe is taken from our Healed by Bacon Autoimmune Protocol Friendly Christmas Menu eBook.

AIP low fodmap gluten free sugar free christmas

We used to ask each of our guests to bring a dish to our Christmas lunch – sounds like a good plan in theory, less cooking, less cleaning up and save on money…turns out the plan is only good in theory.

One of our guests, Aunty Jane, liked to bring a “meat” dish to our Christmas dinner. Problem is, no one could ever tell what meat it actually was. In fact, one year another guest mentioned to Aunty Jane that she had slightly overcooked the pork she brought – that it was a bit tough and dry (and trust us, this guest was being very generous with ‘a bit’ tough and dry. Think chewing on a rubber boot and the dry feeling you get if you were to eat a spoon of coconut flour by itself). Looking confused, Aunty Jane replied with “Oh, I didn’t bring pork, I brought Turkey”. And from then on, (1) any meat dish Aunty Jane ever brought was just called “Mixed Miscellaneous Meat”, and (2) we started to cook the meat for Christmas dinner.

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Homemade Mayo

Homemade Mayo Recipe

Mayonnaise is one of those things that just makes everything taste better; chicken, bacon, eggs, veggies, you name it, it tastes better with mayo!

Unfortunately, due to the large scale production and subsidization of seed oils, we are hard pressed to find mayonnaise which doesn’t contain inflammatory seed oils. Even the ‘Olive Oil’ and ‘Whole Egg’ varieties are predominantly made with seed oils!

However, you can have your mayo and eat it too by making it yourself! This recipe will take you 10 minutes tops (even less if you use an electric beater) and I guarantee, once you make mayo yourself, you will never look back!

Oh just a quick note before you begin; this mayo is slightly runnier than commercial varieties but don’t be alarmed by this as store-bought mayo’s use industrial thickeners to provide the thicker texture.


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Meal Prep Monday





  1. Keep it simple


  1. Stick to your shopping list


  1. Prep!



Why I Love…MCT Oil

Fat is probably the most important nutrient for weight loss, healthy cholesterol, brain function and overall health!

Including more healthy fat in your diet is a great start to improving your health.

However, some people find it difficult to increase the amount of fat they’re eating a day (if you’re following a keto diet, fat should make up 60% to 75% of your diet).

That’s where MCT oil comes in.

MCT oil is oil made up of Medium Chain Triglycerides. Medium Chain Triglycerides are healthy, easily digestible fats that are metabolized in our liver (as opposed to other foods which are metabolized through digestion). There are 4 types of MCTs and the shorter the chain of carbon molecules in them, the faster the transformation to ketones for energy.

Here are 5 reasons why you should incorporate MCT oil into your diet.Why I love MCT Oil1

1. Hormone Support
If you’ve read our posts on fat and cholesterol you will know that fat is required for the production and balance of hormones. As MCT oil is so easily metabolised and used by the body, it can assist with maintaining a healthy level of hormones in our body.

2. Energy
MCT oil is metabolised in our liver which means they are absorbed faster and used by the body quicker (as they don’t need to be processed through our digestive system). MCT oils help with the production of ketones (read our Keto 101 post here). When we convert fat into ketones, our body has access to a more stable energy source. But also, when we use this as energy, it doesn’t create the same blood sugar and insulin spike as when we use carbs as energy.

3. Healthy Immune System
Healthy fats are required for proper immune function. The antiviral and antibacterial properties of MCT oil make it a great support for a healthy immune system.

4. Gut Health Support
MCT oil helps to give our digestive system a break because they are easily metabolised by our body. MCTs also have antibacterial properties which can help to balance gut bacteria. Just be careful with how much you take…take too much and you could be running to the toilet!!

5. Brain Health
MCT oil provides significant neurological benefits. Consumption of MCTs can delay brain aging by providing easily accessible energy to repair brain cell damage, increasing mental performance and slowing the aging of brain cells.

Homemade Jerky

Homemade Jerky Recipe

I absolutely love jerky; it’s a delicious high protein, low carb, portable snack that doesn’t require an icepack when you take it for lunch! If you are like me and love jerky, you will have realized it’s extremely hard to find a good quality jerky that doesn’t contain sugars or seed oils or cost you and arm and a leg!

Given jerky is a very lean source of protein, I love to eat mine dipped in homemade mayo to ensure I’m getting enough fats in! Fortunately I have come up with this recipe that takes around 10 minutes to prepare then the dehydrator does all the work for you!

f you don’t have a dehydrator, don’t fret, you can use a conventional oven on the same temperature and it works just fine!

How to make homemade jerky Continue reading

Paleo Packed Lunches

Paleo lunches can be haaard; you’re either stuck eating the same thing at your desk every day or you begin to be tempted by the ol’ lunch classic, the sandwich. Well I’m here to help you out!


I’ve put together this post so you’re equipped with 10 paleo packed lunch ideas so you don’t have to keep eating that old chicken salad you’ve been having for the past month!

Please note that some of these recipes do require slightly more time than a vegemite sandwich, so I like to do a big meat cook up on the weekend and freeze individual portions so that I can just defrost them the night before and pack them with some other bits and pieces for lunch! (Read our tips on meal prepping here).

Most of these lunches are actually based on leftovers with a bit of tweaking (read: lots of homemade mayo added to them) to make them different.

Picky Paleo Platter
Grab a BPA free lunch box with lots of compartments and add a different snack to each compartment. I love a few boiled eggs (read our post on how to choose eggs here), prosciutto or ham, cherry tomatoes, homemade pickles, olives, homemade mayo and some baby cos lettuce leaves. That way you can eat them all together or just snack on each ingredient!

Deconstructed Burger Bowl
Shredded iceberg lettuce leaves with cherry tomatoes, sliced beetroot, homemade pickles, a chopped hard boiled egg and a leftover, homemade beef patty all thrown together. You can make it taste even better by taking a small container of homemade mayo and pouring that all over before you eat!

Crispy Bacon, Avo and Mayo
This is an absolutely delicious lunch and great for when you need a high fat day after a few unhealthy meals. Crisp up some bacon (make your own with our recipe) and add to a lunch box with ½ to a whole avo, a few cherry tomatoes and a dollop of homemade mayo. If you want you can also add some baby cos lettuce leaves or you can just have the delicious fattiness!

Chicken Omelette
Believe it or not, omelettes actually taste really good when they’re cold! If I’m in a real rush, I will double the quantity I’m making for breakfast and have half for brekky and take the other half to eat cold at lunch. Add some coconut oil and cooked chicken to a pan to warm through. Then add some whisked eggs with a dollop of cream and cook to make an omelette (or scrambled egg if you’re anything like me). Let it cool and add to a BPA free lunch box with some cherry tomatoes, rocket and, you guessed it, homemade mayo!

Paleo Packed Lunch Ideas

Jerky and Mayo
A bit like the first lunch; get a BPA free lunch box with lots of different compartments. Add homemade jerky to one, some carrot sticks to another and lots of homemade mayo to another. Eat like a dip platter!

Hot Dogs (But not as you know them)
Leftover homemade pork sausages (or bought if you can find preservative free, pasture raised and low carb sausages from a butcher) wrapped in prosciutto and then wrapped again in zucchini ribbons. Feel free to dunk in homemade mayo!

All Day Paleo Brekky
Brekky for lunch, why not! I also have this for brinner (breakfast for dinner). Boiled eggs, crisped up bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes, pork sausage (homemade or bought) and a handful of rocket leaves.

No-Potato Salad
Chop hard boiled eggs and mix with finely sliced crispy bacon, homemade mayo and chopped chives. Add to a BPA free container and serve spooned into baby cos lettuce leaves and avocado.

Bone Broth with Slow Cooked Meat
This is absolutely delicious on a cold, winter’s day! Add hot bone broth to a large flask and stir through some slow cooked meat (we use the meat from the bones) and a spoonful or lard or coconut oil. That’s it!

Leftover Eggy Muffins
Delicious eaten cold with a crunchy green salad or even just a few veggie sticks will do the trick!


Basically, if all else fails, crisp up some bacon, hard boil some eggs and eat with some fresh veggies. In the words of Sergei the Meerkat, simples!

9 Reasons to Eat More Fat

Fat; what sort of chance does it have when it’s both the name of a macronutrient and a term to describe the nation’s ever increasing waistlines. Ever since we’ve been old enough to understand, we’ve been told by nutritional ‘experts’ and dietitians to decrease our fat intake (especially the dreaded saturated fat) and replace these fats with ‘heart healthy’ wholegrains, because, well, fat makes us fat. (Read the truth about fat and the food pyramid here).

Forget everything you know about fat!

In this post, we’re going to show you why you should be eating more saturated fat.

The Truth About Fat

1. Curb sugar cravings
Good quality saturated fat is more filling than carbs. Constant hunger, or cravings, is our body’s way of telling us that it is not being fed correctly. Consuming more saturated fat can help to fuel your body properly and provide you with an instant source of energy that, unlike sugar, won’t cause a spike in insulin and then an energy crash.

2. Reduce insulin spikes
Fat has the lowest impact on insulin level of all the macronutrients. Your body releases insulin in response to high blood sugar. When the body is continually required to do this, it can burn out, resulting in diabetes. Eating higher fat diets reduce the amount of insulin your pancreas has to pump out.

3. Control blood glucose levels
Fat helps to control your blood glucose level by slowing the absorption of carbs.

4. Helps with the absorption of fat soluble vitamins
Hard to believe, I know, but fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E and K need fat to be absorbed! Following a low fat diet reduces our ability to absorb these key vitamins.

5. Keeps you feeling fuller for longer
Fat is the most energy dense macronutrient. And because fat is filling, high-fat dieters often aren’t left feeling hungry (or grumpy like low-fat diets). On a high fat diet, appetite tends to be suppressed and dieters end up eating fewer calories without even trying.

detox copper eat meat

6. Weight loss
When you reduce your carb intake and replace it with fat, your body goes into a metabolic state called ketosis. In ketosis, instead of using your glucose stores for energy, your body taps into its fats stores and burns those for energy instead. Studies have shown that people on low-carb/high-fat diets tend to lose more weight (and faster), than people on low-fat diets.

7. Reduce inflammation
When our bodies are placed under chronic stress from things such as elevated blood glucose levels, high triglycerides, low HDL levels, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, our bodies can’t react with a proper immune system response. This ultimately leads to inflammation in our body. A number of studies have shown that diets high in refined carbohydrates can lead to oxidative stress and high levels of inflammation.

8. Improves brain function
our brains are made up of 60% saturated fat and 25% of our cholesterol is found in our brain. Following low-fat diets that restrict saturated fat consumption and focus on lowering cholesterol starves our brains of the nutrients it needs to function. Saturated fat helps to form myelin, the substance that helps to connect brain cells to each other. Low-fat diets literally starve your brain!

9. Balance hormones
Saturated fat is an essential building block for a variety of hormones in our body. Hormones have a much larger impact on us than we give them credit for. In fact, hormones control all the metabolic processes in our body. The fat in our body is saturated fat, with only 3% of our fat made up of other types. This ratio is critical for our health. The more man-made chemical fats (such as canola and soybean oil) we eat, the more this ratio gets out of whack. The further this ratio gets imbalanced, the more our endocrine system is impacted and the further hormonal disturbances are exacerbated.

Read our post Keto Diet 101 for how to include more fat in your diet.

The Truth About Cholesterol (Part 2)

This post is the second article in our series The Truth About Cholesterol. Read about why we need cholesterol here.

In this post we’re going to discuss the fallacy of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol aka HDL and LDL.

Veg Oil

There is no such thing as good and bad cholesterol. In fact HDL and LDL are not even cholesterol but lipo-proteins which act as transport mechanisms for cholesterol.

The propaganda bus has created an irrational fear that LDL is ‘bad’. However, our bodies cannot function without LDL – it transports 25% of our total cholesterol to our brain (fun fact – our brain’s weight is 20% cholesterol) for neurons to use in the transmission of vital messages between receptors. (Number one side affect of cholesterol lowering statins is memory loss and brain fog!).

HDL, the so called ‘good’ cholesterol, is the lipo-protein which transports cholesterol from the bloodstream back to the liver for reprocessing.

The real problem isn’t the level of LDL, rather the type of LDL particles circulating in the bloodstream. LDL particles can range between small and large – and it’s the small ones that are the problem.

Small LDL particles are more susceptible to oxidisation. When these particles oxidise, they create inflammation in our arteries which supply blood to our organs. This can then lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

So the real question should be: “what is causing LDL to oxidize?”



Calling LDL ‘bad’ is very misleading, especially if you are not identifying causation.
