What seed oils are really doing to your body

By | Books, Cookbook, Recipes, Vegetable Oils | 9 Comments

VEGETABLE oils are highly unstable.

When they interact with oxygen, they release neurotoxic, DNA mutating chemicals which are known to cause cancer (at least).

Recent improvements in measurement technology have now thrown a spotlight on the quantity of these chemicals released by normal use. And the results are truly terrifying.

Cheap vegetable oil made from seeds (canola, sunflower, corn, safflower, grapeseed, rice bran and soybean oils) is a new addition to the human diet. Unlike animal fats and oils made from fruit (olive, avocado and coconut oils), they’re very high in polyunsaturated fats and in particular something called an omega-6 fat.

A recent study found that when seed oils containing these fats are heated at a normal cooking temperature (of 180 degrees celsius), they create highly toxic chemicals known to be involved in cancer causation.,

And each time the oil was re-used the concentration increased massively. The study showed that by the fifth day of oil re-use, it had five times the concentration of these chemicals that it had on the first (which was already alarmingly high).

But worse than that, the researchers also made the point that all they could measure was the amount of these chemicals left in the oil. Since they are highly volatile, they are constantly escaping into the air around us when the food is being cooked.

According to another recent study, it is likely that this volatility explains the stubbornly high rates of lung cancer among women in Asian countries (where smoking is rare among women, but wok frying with Canola oil is a daily task).

Those toxic molecules are dangerous because they are interact destructively with our DNA. This significantly increases the chances that cancer will develop.

These seed oils are now a core component of our food supply and Australians are sicker now than at any time in our history.

We are almost four times as likely to have thyroid cancer than just three short decades ago. We are more than three times as likely to have liver cancer. We are twice as likely to have melanoma, Motor Neuron Disease, kidney or anal cancer.

Men are more than twice as likely to have prostate cancer and 60 per cent more likely to have testicular cancer. Women are 43 per cent more likely to have breast cancer. And children are paying even more dearly.

A child is 6 times as likely to suffer from leukaemia than at the start of the 20th century. And they are more than four times as likely to suffer from a life threatening allergic reaction than they were just 20 years ago.

The chronic disease tsunami is upon us.

Every day there are thousands of teenagers standing over vats of frying canola oil for eight hour shifts at every fast food restaurant in this country. Every day, there are people cooking with high temperature seed oils in woks and frying pans. And every day there are industrial quantities of heated seed oil being poured into commercial baked and frozen foods.

A century ago, exactly none of these fats were added to our food supply.

Every day 312 new cancer sufferers are diagnosed in Australia. That this is allowed to continue when the science is so clear on the likely cause, is not merely a shame or an embarrassment. It is an outrage and a tragedy.

It is reasonably safe to assume all the fat in processed food comes from seed oils. The good news is that this only applies to food made by others (and usually shoved into a packet with a picture of real food on the front).

Nobody can stop you making and eating real food. All you need is a little know-how.

Also published on news.com.au


Eat Real Food Cookbook Launch Offer

Cookbook bundle540Get the new Eat Real Food Cookbook OR the Sweet Poison Quit Plan Cookbook OR BOTH for 25% OFF.

Just Enter the discount code ERFCB25 at checkout

Both books are of course signed by David

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Offer ends 31 December 2016

Free Recipes

By | Recipes, Sugar | 3 Comments

FREE Recipes from the Sweet Poison Cookbook

When you first quit sugar, its handy to have some stand-by recipes.  Grab this starter set of recipes from the book absolutely free.

These recipes were developed by Peta Dent. Peta is a proper chef, so the recipes are full-on, professionally developed desserts and sweet treats fit for inclusion in any TV chef’s collection. This doesn’t mean they’re hard to make or use bizarre ingredients (Guatamalan chia seeds anyone?).

Peta has cooked each of the recipes dozens of times, trying different combinations and adjusting the quantities until we (and a random selection of sugar-addicted and sugar-free guinea pigs) were happy with the end product. I’ve tasted all of them. The quality control was hard work, but someone had to battle through all that ice cream and cake (okay, I had a little help from the kids!). Lizzie has also made a lot the recipes to make sure an average person in an average kitchen with an average supermarket down the road can pull them off . They’re spectacularly good and we are very excit-ed by the sheer abundance of high-quality fructose-free options this book represents.

Buy David’s Books

By | Books, Cookbook, Education, Recipes, Sugar, Sweet Poison, Vegetable Oils | 6 Comments

All of David’s books are available from this site. And each book purchased is personally signed by David. If you buy multiple copies of books you will receive multi-buy discounts and keep an eye out for sugar themed or oil themed bundles which also offer great discounts.

All of the books are also available electronically (obviously those aren’t signed).

In addiction to the books there is a great range of electronic resources (such as guides to the sugar content of common foods) available in the Resource Store.

The Books

 Free Schools Cover Small
Free Schools

David Gillespie has six kids. When it came time to select high schools, he thought it worth doing some investigation to assess the level of advantage his kids would enjoy if he spent the required $1.3 million to send them all to private schools.

Shockingly, the answer was: none whatsoever.

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The Sweet Poison Quit Plan Cookbook

Ex-lawyer and ex-sugarholic, David Gillespie, revolutionised the lives and eating habits of thousands of Australians with his bestsellers on the dangers of sugar, Sweet Poison and The Sweet Poison Quit Plan. To help get us unhooked from sugar, David with the help of wife Lizzie, gave us recipes for sweet foods made with dextrose-pure glucose, a healthy alternative to table sugar. Here, David has worked with a chef to develop more delicious fructose-free recipes.

All proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to charity

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Toxic Oil

“‘Vegetable’ oil makes you exceedingly vulnerable to cancer. Every extra mouthful of vegetable oil you consume takes you one step closer to a deadly (and irreversible) outcome.”With these words David Gillespie begins his follow-up to the bestseller Big Fat Lies: How the diet industry is making you sick, fat & poor. In Big Fat Lies he analysed the latest scientific evidence to show us that vegetable oils, specifically seed oils, are dangerous to our health, despite that fact that they are recommended by government health agencies.

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Big Fat Lies

In Big Fat Lies David explodes the myths about diet, exercise and vitamin supplements, examining the latest scientific evidence and exposing the role the multibillion-dollar food, health and diet industries have played in promoting the health messages we follow or feel guilty about not following.

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The Sweet Poison Quit Plan

Packed with reader anecdotes and lists to help you organise your sugar-free life, this book presents one of the most accessible and achievable strategies around for losing weight and avoiding some of the more pernicious lifestyle diseases that are increasingly associated with excessive sugar consumption. Gillespie is an informed and entertaining writer who makes his subject fascinating, and inspires with his passion and logic.

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Sweet Poison

The #1 Bestseller, Sweet Poison exposes one of the great health scourges of our time and offers a wealth of practical and accessible information on how to avoid fructose, increase your enjoyment of food and lose weight.

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Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Biscuits

By | Recipes | 3 Comments

MAKES 16 SANDWICHES (32 BISCUITS)

The creamy caramel centre between these chocolate-y biscuits will win over any sugarholic.

Biscuits
150 g unsalted butter, chopped and softened
2/3 cup dextrose
2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or to taste
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons cornflour, sifted

Caramel filling
1 cup dextrose
85 g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup thickened cream
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon water

  1. Beat the butter, dextrose and vanilla with an electric mixer for 8–10 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the flour, cocoa and cornflour and beat until a dough forms. Form the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  3. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5 mm thick. Use a 5 cm cookie cutter to cut out rounds from the dough, placing them on the prepared trays as you go.
  4. Bake the biscuits for 10–12 minutes or until just dry and cooked. Cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
  5. To make the caramel filling, whisk the dextrose in a saucepan over high heat until melted. Bring to the boil and cook for 2–3 minutes or until golden. Carefully whisk in the butter, then remove from the heat and whisk in the cream. Put the cornflour and water into a small jug and whisk until smooth, then add to the pan. Return the pan to low heat, then stir the mixture continuously for 3–4 minutes or until thickened. Leave to cool completely.
  6. Spread the caramel filling over half of the cooled biscuits and sandwich with the remaining biscuits. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Anzac Biscuits

By | Recipes | 6 Comments

FREE RECIPE FROM THE SWEET POISON QUIT PLAN COOKBOOK

Wholemeal flour adds a slight nutty taste to these traditional biscuits, but you can substitute it with plain flour if that’s what’s in your pantry. These are best eaten on the day they are made as they will soften a little when stored but they do freeze very well.

Makes 18

1 cup wholemeal plain flour, sifted
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup dextrose
125 g unsalted butter, chopped
1/3 cup rice malt syrup
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan-forced). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Mix the flour, oats, coconut and dextrose in a medium bowl.
  3. Put the butter, syrup and water into a medium saucepan and bring just to the boil over medium heat. Whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and allow the mixture to foam up. Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
  4. Drop tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared trays, leaving room between them for the mixture to spread.
  5. Bake the biscuits for 20–25 minutes or until golden. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

» VARIATION:
If you prefer a more cake-like texture, roll the mixture into balls, then only flatten them slightly before baking. For a crisper result, squash the dough flat before baking.

Coconut And Lime Sorbet

By | Recipes | 2 Comments

Living in Queensland it gets very steamy during summer. It’s great to have a refreshing iced treat like this in the freezer to cool down on those balmy summer days – and nights.

Serves 4

1 1/2 cups dextrose
2 cups water
1 lime, zest removed in wide strips with a vegetable peeler
2 cups coconut milk

  1. Put the dextrose, water and lime zest into a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until the dextrose has dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
  2. Pour into an ice-cream machine and churn according to manufacturer’s directions until frozen. Spoon into 4 glasses to serve. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

» VARIATION:
If you do not have an ice cream machine, use hand-held electric beaters to beat the sorbet every 2 hours, returning the mixture to the freezer each time, until the mixture is frozen.

Hot Cross Buns

By | Recipes | 2 Comments

Makes 12

4 cups plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tablespoon mixed spice
2 x 7g sachets dried yeast
1/4 cup dextrose
pinch of salt
40 g unsalted butter
300 ml milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
olive oil spray, for greasing

Flour paste
1/2 cup plain flour
90 ml water

Glaze
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons dextrose

  1. Sift the flour and mixed spice into a large bowl, then add the yeast, dextrose and salt. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the milk, then heat for 1 minute or until lukewarm. Add the warm milk mixture and egg to the flour mixture. Use a flat-bladed knife to mix until the dough almost comes together. Use clean hands to form a soft dough.
  2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5–10 minutes or until smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
  3. Punch the dough down to its original size. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 12 balls and put onto the prepared tray about 1 cm apart. Cover loosely with plastic film. Set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
  4. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced).
  5. For the paste, mix the flour and water until smooth, adding a little more water if needed. Spoon into a small snap-lock bag and snip off 1 corner. Pipe flour paste crosses on top of the buns.
  6. Bake the hot cross buns for 15 minutes or until they are golden and cooked through.
  7. For the glaze, stir the water and dextrose in a small saucepan over low heat until the dextrose has dissolved. Boil for 5 minutes. Brush the warm glaze over the warm hot cross buns. Serve.

» VARIATION:
If you like, knead some finely grated orange zest into the dough before baking.

Chicken Schnitzel

By | Recipes | 3 Comments

Free Recipe from Toxic Oil

Not everyone has, or wants, a deep-fryer. Before we discovered the joys of frying in animal fat, Lizzie would make this version of oven-baked chicken schnitzel for special occasions. It is a little time-consuming, but the schnitzels freeze really well after they’ve been cooked, so you can make a big batch and have some for another time; all you need to do is resuscitate them in a frying pan when you want to use them. Feel free to experiment with the recipe – try parmesan instead of tasty cheese, different herbs, garlic, some chilli, or both.

Serves 8

2 cups breadcrumbs
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
2 teaspoons mixed (or dried Italian) herbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 chicken breast fillets
60 g (1/4 cup) butter, melted

  1. Preheat oven to 180° C. Line an oven tray with non-stick baking paper.
  2. In a flat-based bowl or dish, mix together the breadcrumbs, cheese and herbs.
  3. Place the eggs in a separate bowl.
  4. Place the chicken fillets between two pieces of plastic wrap and flatten (bashing not rolling) with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1 centimetre. Cut the breasts in half (or smaller if you like).
  5. Using one hand (your ‘wet’ hand), dip each chicken piece into the beaten egg and place into the dry mix.
  6. Using your other hand (your ‘dry’ hand), cover the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture, then place on oven tray.
  7. Once all chicken is coated, spoon over the butter.
  8. Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

Image courtesy of Apolonia / FreeDigitalPhotos.net