Why We Skip Seed Oils in Our Kitchen

Walk down almost any grocery aisle and you will find canola, soybean, corn, and other seed oils in nearly everything. In our own kitchen, we have chosen to reach for traditional fats instead. This is a personal preference, not a prescription, but it is one we get asked about a lot, so here is why we skip highly processed seed oils and what we cook with instead.

Sheri and Gina, founders of Yonder Hi, Sheri and Gina here from Yonder. Clean, simple ingredients are the whole reason we started this brand, and that mindset shows up in how we cook, too. Here is our honest take.

What are seed oils?

Seed oils, often labeled "vegetable oils," include canola, soybean, corn, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, and grapeseed. What they have in common is how they are made: they are industrially extracted and highly refined, usually with heat and chemical solvents, to turn seeds into a neutral, shelf-stable oil. They are inexpensive and everywhere, which is exactly why they show up in so many packaged and restaurant foods.

Why we personally skip them

Our reasoning is simple and comes down to one word: processing. We like our food as close to its natural state as we can get it, and heavily refined oils are about as far from a whole food as an ingredient gets. We would rather use fats that people have cooked with for generations and that take little more than pressing or churning to make. It is the same instinct behind everything we do at Yonder: choose the clean, minimally processed option when you can.

Common seed oils found in packaged foods

What we use instead

Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling, dressings, and low-heat cooking.
Avocado oil when we want something for higher-heat cooking.
Grass-fed butter and ghee for flavor and traditional dishes.
Coconut oil for baking and certain sautes.
Tallow and other traditional animal fats for roasting and frying.

Traditional fats like olive oil, butter, and coconut oil

A simple way to start

You do not have to overhaul your pantry overnight. The easiest first step is to read labels and start swapping: keep a good olive oil and an avocado oil on the counter, and reach for them first. When you cook more at home, you naturally control what goes in.

Clean choices we love

That clean-ingredient mindset is exactly why we made Yonder the way we did. Yonder collagen is single-ingredient, grass-fed collagen peptides, flavorless, third-party tested, and certified Glyphosate Residue-Free by The Detox Project. It delivers 10 to 20g of collagen (plus a bonus 9 to 18g of clean protein) in one to two scoops and supports skin, hair, nails, joints, and bone health as part of a daily routine. Enjoy it in flavorless, chocolate, or creamy vanilla, and pair it with a warm cup of Faith Farms Mushroom Coffee.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are seed oils?
Industrially refined oils pressed from seeds, including canola, soybean, corn, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, and grapeseed. They are often labeled "vegetable oil."

What oils do you cook with instead?
Extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, grass-fed butter and ghee, coconut oil, and traditional animal fats like tallow.

Do I have to cut seed oils out completely?
Not at all. This is a personal preference. An easy start is reading labels and keeping a good olive oil and avocado oil within reach at home.

Sheri and Gina, founders of Yonder

We're Sheri and Gina, the founders of Yonder, a clean, grass-fed collagen brand born from our childhood friendship and shared health journey. We believe in simple, pure nutrition you can trust, which is why Yonder is single-ingredient, grass-fed, third-party tested, and certified Glyphosate Residue-Free by The Detox Project. To learn more about our story and mission, visit our Our Story page.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.