Learning from Dr. Cate Shanahan
The doctor who convinced the Lakers to stop eating seed oils—and transformed how pro teams think about food
The Story
When Dr. Cate Shanahan started working with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2013, she found a locker room stocked with "healthy" foods: protein bars, energy drinks, pasta, and vegetable oil-based dressings.
She threw most of it out.
Shanahan had spent a decade studying traditional cultures—from Okinawa to the Mediterranean—and noticed something striking: communities that ate ancestral diets (bone broth, organ meats, fermented foods, animal fats) had stronger bones, fewer injuries, and longer healthspans than those eating modern processed foods.
Her controversial conclusion: the industrial seed oils in everything from salad dressing to protein bars were quietly destroying athletes' connective tissue and metabolic health.
The Lakers listened. Their injury rates dropped. Word spread. Now her framework influences nutrition programs across the NBA, NFL, and beyond.
Who is Dr. Cate Shanahan?
| Credential | Detail |
|---|---|
| Role | Board-certified Family Physician; author of Deep Nutrition and Dark Calories |
| Known For | "Hateful Eight" vegetable oils; Four Pillars of traditional nutrition |
| Teams/Athletes | Los Angeles Lakers (2013-present) |
| Education | BS Biology (Rutgers), Biochemistry/Genetics (Cornell), MD (Robert Wood Johnson) |
Shanahan's unique background combines molecular biology with clinical medicine. She doesn't just know what's "healthy"—she understands why at the cellular level.
What ISP Students Learn
Lesson 1: Food Is Information for Your Genes
Most nutrition advice treats food like fuel: calories in, calories out. Shanahan argues food is more like software—it tells your genes what to do.
Her concept of Genetic Expectation proposes that human DNA evolved over millions of years to expect specific nutrients. When you give your body what it expects (fat-soluble vitamins, collagen, minerals from bone), genes express properly and you develop strong bones, healthy joints, and resilient tissue.
When you give your body novel industrial compounds (processed oils, refined sugars), the genetic program gets disrupted.
"Nearly every disease is the inevitable product of a deranged metabolism."
What this means for young athletes: The food you eat isn't just fuel. It's building material. Eat garbage, build garbage.
Lesson 2: The "Hateful Eight" Oils Are Everywhere
Shanahan's most controversial position is her absolute rejection of industrial seed oils:
| The "Hateful Eight" |
|---|
| Canola oil |
| Corn oil |
| Soybean oil |
| Cottonseed oil |
| Sunflower oil |
| Safflower oil |
| Grapeseed oil |
| Rice bran oil |
Why she says they're harmful:
These oils are highly processed (extracted with heat and chemicals), chemically unstable (they oxidize easily), and contain high levels of omega-6 fatty acids.
When you eat oxidized oils, they create toxic compounds (like 4-HNE) that damage cells. When they're incorporated into your cell membranes, they make those membranes fragile.
The result, Shanahan argues: inflammation, slow recovery, and connective tissue that tears more easily.
What this means for young athletes: Check labels. Soybean oil is in almost everything processed. If you're eating a lot of packaged foods, you're probably eating a lot of these oils.
The alternative: Cook with stable fats—olive oil, butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, animal fats (tallow, lard).
Lesson 3: Eat Collagen to Build Collagen
Modern Western diets prioritize lean muscle meat: chicken breast, steak, protein shakes. These are high in certain amino acids but missing the ones that build connective tissue.
Shanahan's solution: eat meat on the bone.
Slow-cooking bones extracts:
- Collagen peptides — signal your body to produce new collagen
- Glycosaminoglycans — compounds that lubricate joints
- Minerals — in bioavailable forms
"You can't rebuild connective tissue without the raw materials. Muscle meat alone doesn't provide them."
She connects the epidemic of ACL tears and Achilles ruptures in modern sports to diets that build strong muscles but weak tendons.
What this means for young athletes: Bone broth, chicken wings, oxtail, slow-cooked roasts—these aren't "old-fashioned." They're building blocks for injury-resistant joints.
Lesson 4: Traditional Cultures Had It Right
Shanahan studied traditional diets across the world and found four recurring "pillars" in all of them:
| Pillar | What It Means | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Meat on the bone | Collagen and minerals from slow-cooked animal products | Bone broth, ribs, chicken thighs |
| Organ meats | Dense nutrition from liver, heart, kidney | Liver pâté, heart in stews |
| Fermented foods | Probiotics for gut health | Sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi |
| Fresh, unprocessed | Vegetables, fruits, herbs | Whatever grows locally |
No traditional culture ate isolated seed oils. No traditional culture ate protein bars. Every traditional culture ate organs and bones.
What this means for young athletes: "Ancestral eating" isn't a fad diet. It's how humans ate for 99% of history. The modern diet is the experiment.
Key Takeaways
| Lesson | One-Liner |
|---|---|
| Food is information | What you eat tells your genes what to do |
| Avoid seed oils | The "Hateful Eight" are in everything processed—check labels |
| Eat for connective tissue | Bone broth and slow-cooked meat build injury-resistant joints |
| Traditional = tested | Ancestral diets were refined over thousands of years |
How This Shows Up at ISP
Dr. Shanahan's framework shapes the Bio Skill Tree in several ways:
- Fueling quality challenges encourage whole foods over processed options
- Collagen and connective tissue health are part of injury prevention education
- We teach students to read labels and identify hidden seed oils
- The "Four Pillars" concept appears in cooking and meal prep challenges
When ISP students learn about "eating for performance," they learn Shanahan's insight: you're not just fueling your body—you're building it.
A Note on Controversy
Shanahan's views on seed oils are more aggressive than mainstream dietetic guidelines. Not all scientists agree with her.
At ISP, we teach students to:
- Understand different perspectives
- Look at the evidence critically
- Pay attention to how foods make them feel
Whether or not every claim is proven, her core message—eat real food, avoid industrial processing—is hard to argue with.
Learn More
"An athlete's career length is not just a function of training load. It's a function of how well their nutrition supports tissue repair."