The "Healthy" Oils That Are Fueling Inflammation (And What to Use Instead) | 498
Pioneering Today Podcast - Homesteading in a Modern World
Melissa K Norris
4.8 • 974 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you ever wondered if the oils sitting in your pantry might actually be contributing to inflammation?
In this episode, I'm diving into one of the most overlooked pieces of the inflammation puzzle: the types of fats we're using every day. Many of the oils marketed as "healthy" may actually be disrupting omega balance, stressing the gut, and keeping inflammation quietly simmering in the background.
I'm breaking down:
• What makes certain seed oils inflammatory
• Why the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio matters so much
• Which fats I personally avoid
• The traditional, stable fats I use instead
• How to confidently read ingredient labels at the store
This conversation builds directly on the last two episodes where I shared our personal health journey through a cancer diagnosis and what chronic inflammation really looks like in the body. If you haven't listened to those yet, I encourage you to start there:
👉 Chronic Inflammation: Why It Happens & What to Do About It
https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/chronic-inflammation/
👉 When Your Health Forces You to Stop (and What to Do Next)
https://melissaknorris.com/podcast/when-your-health-forces-you-to-stop/
👉 Learn more about the Whole Health Reset here: https://melissaknorris.com/the-whole-health-reset/
👉 For more information and any links mentioned in today's episode, visit the blog post here: https://melissaknorris.com/498
Thank you to Azure Standard for sponsoring this episode. I trust them for high-quality, minimally processed pantry staples and traditional fats that align with how I feed my family. You can explore their oils and bulk foods, plus get 15% off your first order of $100 or more with coupon code "Melissa15": https://melissaknorris.com/azure-standard
As always, this isn't about fear or perfection. It's about understanding your body, noticing patterns, and making simple changes that add up over time.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What are inflammatory foods and how do you actually recognize them in real life? The definition of |
| 0:09.1 | inflammatory foods and I think why it's something that a lot of people struggle with is most of |
| 0:14.1 | the time we just want a list, right? We want a list of things that we know to clearly avoid |
| 0:18.5 | and then that will solve all of our problems. It's kind of the |
| 0:23.3 | whole, you know, just give me this magic, you know, pill solution for whatever it is. But the |
| 0:30.8 | reality is with our bodies, they don't work like that. There is no one magic pill. So I want to talk about today where we're |
| 0:41.5 | going to narrow in on a lot of the oils and foods that are causing inflammation in the body. |
| 0:49.3 | And the reason that I'm focusing it on just the oils is because there are a lot of things |
| 0:54.0 | that can cause inflammation in your body depending on just the oils is because there are a lot of things that can cause |
| 0:54.4 | inflammation in your body depending on where your body and your gut health are, which is why |
| 1:00.9 | some people have food sensitivities to certain foods, others don't, et cetera. So for the scope |
| 1:05.8 | of just one podcast episode, we honestly can't cover it in its entirety. Now, the good news is we are going to have a |
| 1:12.7 | whole week diving into these types of things inside the Whole Health Reset Challenge. So today I want to |
| 1:18.8 | kind of back it up and talk about one of the very inflammatory, however, foods that a lot of folks |
| 1:26.7 | are consuming. So, as I said, a lot of folks are consuming. |
| 1:28.9 | So, as I said, a lot of answers online when it comes to inflammatory foods are really |
| 1:34.0 | oversimplified as in just avoid sugar or just eat clean or just go keto, just go carnivore. |
| 1:43.6 | Are those true? Yes. Is it more complex than that? Yes. So in reality, inflammatory foods are usually defined by how they're processed, how they affect blood sugar, and how they disrupt fat balance in the body. |
| 2:03.9 | So today I want to answer that question by walking you through what inflammatory foods |
| 2:08.4 | actually look like on ingredient labels, not talking theory or trends, but looking at things |
| 2:15.0 | when you're buying at the store so that you can make a better, |
| 2:18.3 | more informed decision and know exactly what's going to happen to your body by eating certain |
... |
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