industrially extracted from their original food sources and
heated to high temperatures.
FAQ: I thought canola oil was healthy because it contains
omega-3s?
A: Canola oil is highly processed. While it does contain a
relatively high amount of omega-3s compared to other oils,
omega-3s are even more vulnerable to oxidation than
omega-6s. The processing of canola oil creates just as many
oxidative by-products, including trans fats, which damage
your blood vessels and your brain cells.^11 More on this later.
A Brain on Fire
We tend to think of our brains as unaffected by the
goings-on in the rest of our bodies, but the problems
associated with inflammation don’t stay below the neck.
Perhaps we don’t think much about inflammation in the
brain because it’s invisible—it’s not something we can feel
with unmistakable certainty, as we can pain in an arthritic
knee or an upset stomach, for example. But here’s the cold,
hard truth: our brains sit downwind of the activated immune
system. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, vascular
dementia, MS and chronic fatigue syndrome—these diseases
can all in some way be likened to forest fires in the brain,
frequently set off by a spark elsewhere in the body. But
even before disease sets in, inflammation can rob us of our