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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.s' crusade to wean Americans off seed oils is gaining advocates. He recently announced “Popeyes, Outback, Sweetgreens, Buffalo Wild Wings, they’ve all made the switch, or they’re in the transition to make the switch. We want to do everything we can to incentivize the companies to be transparent, to switch over from ultra-processed food and to be part of this movement to make America healthy again.” As reported here, Steak & Shake switched to tallow earlier this year.
Seed oils are vegetable oils derived from the seeds of certain plants, such as rape (canola), sunflower, safflower or soybeans. Kennedy and many others argue that their fatty acids break down during cooking into toxins that can lead to inflammation and weaken the immune system.
However, many nutritionists and American Heart Association spokespeople are full of caution, citing the American Heart Association’s 43-year long crusade to rid American diets of saturated fats like beef tallow, pork lard, coconut oil and the AHA's old hobgoblin butter. The trans fats in margarine and Crisco have been revealed as unhealthier than butter for about half that time, but AHA sticks to its endorsement of them.
Monday's deals
• Centro (1003 Locust St., Des Moines) offers half-price pizza and Peronis on Monday.
• Who's on First (810 E. First St., Ankeny) has steak night on Monday, and it's an 8-ounce filet with salad, mashed potatoes and beans for $22.95
• Pelican Post (265 50th St., West Des Moines) has a special today on hot beef sandwiches, $10.95 until 4 p.m.
• Eastside Eddie’s (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines) Monday $10 special is ham and Swiss sliders with fries.
• Tito’s Lounge (3916 Urbandale Drive, Urbandale) offers all-you-can-eat wings Mondays.
• Trostel's Greenbriar (5810 Merle Hay Road, Johnston) offers half-pound steak burgers with fries or salad and a beer for a Monday-only price of $14.
• Monday brings prime rib specials to both Chicago Speakeasy (1520 Euclid Ave., Des Moines) and Christopher's (2816 Beaver Ave., Des Moines).
• Johnny's Hall of Fame (302 Court Ave., Des Moines) has $12 burger baskets on Mondays and Fridays.
• Urban Cellars (640 S. 50th St., West Des Moines) offers $60 wine dinners for two on Mondays including two entrees with soup or salad, a dessert and a bottle on wine.
• Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines) has a burger basket with fries deal Mondays for $9.
• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St.) has specials on chicken Parmesan and lasagna today, $11.50 with garlic bread and salad.
• Destination Grille (2491 E. First St., Grimes) has a Monday steak night special, sirloins and truffle fries for $18.
• Aldi has a sale on red grapes at $1.49/pound, asparagus at $1.99/pound and zucchini at 99 cents/pound through Tuesday.
• Fareway has a sale on their own brand of pasta, all 97 cents a pound package, on Iowa chops at $2.49/pound and on most BBQ items through Saturday.
— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com | 
