What Are Seed Oils, And Why Don’t We Use Them?

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably heard or seen us say “no seed oils” many times. But what does that mean? What are seed oils and why don’t we use them?

Kenzie, our founder, started her health journey after years of dealing with stomach issues, bloating, and constant headaches. She started noticing the connection between the food she ate and how she felt afterwards. One of the first things she recognized causing her issues was greasy foods, or foods high in oil. And as she cut out foods, honed in on the things she ate, and becam more tuned in with the correlation, she began noticing it across the board – foods using seed oils would always worsen her symptoms.

The more she recognized this, the more she started cutting out those foods, or replacing them with things made with healthy oils or butter, and the better she felt.

So when the vision of opening a coffee shop with healthy food and beverage option right here in Lisbon, OH started becoming a reality, it was a no-brainer that we would not be using seed oils. Instead we choose options like coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, or butter.

So what are seed oils, and how are they made?

Really, seed oils are just your typical oil, found in pretty much every food item in most restaurants, stores, and at home. They include canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, and vegetable oil that are pulled from the seeds of plants rather than the fruit. They are found in highest levels in things like packaged snack, highly processed foods, and fast food item in America. What they all have in common is the process used to make them. It’s a long one.

How seed oils are typically produced:

• 1. High-heat extraction: Seeds are pressed and heated at very high temperatures to extract as much oil as possible, which can degrade the oil in the process.
• 2. Chemical solvent treatment: Industrial solvents like hexane are used to extract the remaining oil from the seed pulp.
• 3. Refining: The crude oil is treated to remove impurities, waxes, and residual solvents.
• 4. Bleaching: The oil is filtered through bleaching clay to remove color compounds and other materials.
• 5. Deodorizing: High-heat steam treatment removes the naturally unpleasant smell the previous steps create.

By the time that bottle of vegetable oil reaches a kitchen shelf, original qualities have been stripped out, chemicals have been added in (specifically hexane, which is used in glues, varnishes, and as a cleaning agent, and poses health risks from inhalation!), and it looks nothing like the seed it came from. That level of industrial processing and the potential health hazards it offers is exactly why we don’t use it.

And it’s not just how they’re made, it’s how pervasive they are. Once you start reading ingredient labels, it’s almost impossible to find a packaged sauce, dressing, baked good, or snack without canola or soybean oil hiding somewhere in the list. That’s why it is so important to us that we make everything at Nourish from scratch.

What the research says about ultra-processed foods

Let’s start with an obvious disclaimer – we’re not scientists, and we’re not making medical claims. But we do think it’s worth knowing what the research community has been consistently finding about heavily processed foods, because it lines up with what we personally experienced.

Major studies that have covered nearly 10 million study participants found evidence that diets high in ultra-processed foods are linked to a range of negative health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, chronic inflamation, and obesity. Seed oils are a defining ingredient in almost every ultra-processed food. They’re cheap, shelf-stable, and flavorless, which makes them ideal for mass food production. They’re in chips, snacks, dressings, canned foods, and even many ‘low-fat’ options. Avoiding them means, almost by definition, eating less processed food overall.

What do we use instead?

🥑Avocado Oil

Unlike seed oils, avocado oil is pressed directly from the flesh of the avocado fruit — a process much closer to squeezing juice than running an industrial refinery. No industrial solvents, no bleaching. Just pressed fruit.

Avocado oil actually helps your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) in the foods you eat alongside it. It’s rich in monounsaturated fats, which research has consistently linked to healthier cholesterol levels and heart health, and contains vitamin E and lutein, antioxidants that help protect cells from oxidative damage.

It has one of the highest smoke points of any cooking oil — around 500°F — meaning it stays stable at high heat without breaking down, which matters when you’re cooking real food.

🥥Coconut Oil

Coconut oil gives things a natural richness and is a minimally processed, recognizable fat that’s been used by cultures around the world for centuries. It’s excellent for baked goods, giving a natural richness and texture that no industrially processed oil can replicate.

It contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of fat that the body processes differently from long-chain fats, and which some research suggests may support energy metabolism, and has naturally occurring antimicrobial properties, which is part of why it’s been used in traditional cooking and health practices for so long.

🫒Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Olive oil might be the most well-documented oil in the world, and for good reason — it’s been a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet for centuries. Unlike seed oils, it’s extracted through cold pressing, not a multi-step industrial process. You press the olive. You get the oil. That simplicity matters.

It’s rich in polyphenols — natural plant compounds that research has linked to protection against oxidative damage, chronic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Studies have also found that regular consumption of extra virgin olive oil is associated with improved cognitive function and a lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.

🧈Real Butter

Simple, recognizable, and minimally processed. Butter is churned cream. That’s it. It’s been on human tables for thousands of years, and it makes everything taste the way it should. It is nutrient dense and rich in fat-soluble vitamins and healthy fats. Butter contains calcium and vitamin D, which are essential for bone health, can help support metabolic health, and can provide quick energy. When eaten with vegetables, butter can also increase the absorption of antioxidants and vitamins found in the vegetables.

Ultimately, we’re not here to tell you what to eat. We’re just sharing what worked for us and making sure that when you eat at Nourish, you’re getting the same care we put into feeding our own families

When you eat at Nourish, you’re getting food made the way we’d make it at home – with ingredients we can actually name, cooked in fats that went through a process we can actually understand. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to, and we think you can taste the difference.

Come eat something real at Nourish Coffee & Kitchen at Lisbon, OH. Everything on our menu is made from scratch. No seed oils, no refined sugars, no shortcuts. Just real food, made with care.