I know Trans Fats are bad for you. I avoid any food with trans fats and know they are being removed from food at a rapid rate. However, they do still sneak their way into our diets.

Do you know why they are bad for you? I didn’t know much, so I thought there was a chance you didn’t either.

Here are a few facts about Trans Fats:

1. Trans Fats lower the quality of breast milk. The trans fats actually affect the level of trans fats in your breast milk, and therefore in your baby.

2. There is an article by nutritionist Dr. Mary Enig which said that consuming trans fatty acids “Affects immune response by lowering effeciency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells.”

3. Trans fats can increase your blood insulin level, which increases your risk for diabetes.

4. Trans fat has been found to increase the risk of heart disease by raising the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowering the levels of good cholesterol (HDL).

5. Diets with a high fat intake increase the risk for mascular degeneration

Where do you find it? According to the FDA trans fats are found in processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Examples are vegetable shortenings, some margarine, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, crackers, muffins, pizza doughs, hard taco shells, hamburger buns, cake mixes, chocolate drink mixes, store bought soups, premade breakfast foods such as cereal bars, toppings, dips, condiments, salad dressings, pancake mix, packaged or microwave popcorn, frozen dinners and other baked goods.

Make note that a food can contain .49 grams of trans fat and still be labeled “0 trans fat”. These “0 trans fat” foods can really add up in your diet.

(There are naturally occurring trans fats in beef, lamb and full-fat dairy products, so monitor your intake of these foods, beef once a week, full fat dairy products should be one serving per day.)

It seems our “great” food additive inventions have been doing a lot in the way of causing us to be a very ill society.

It really isn’t that difficult and it doesn’t take that much more time in your day to make food from scratch. If you weigh the convenience against the long term affects on you and your family it is easy to see why making muffins, cakes, soup, pancake mix etc. is worth the extra couple of minutes you gain by opening a container and adding water. We make pancakes or waffles on the weekends. We make large batches, then freeze them to reheat during the week. I also make soup from scratch, I double the recipes and then freeze them so they are available on short notice. If you keep organic frozen fruit on hand it is easy to whip up muffins on moments notice.

If you must buy some of these items buy from reputable companies or merchants who make the choice to avoid partially hydronated vegetable oils and trans & saturated fats.

Eating healthy leads to feeling healthy, looking healthy and thinking healthy. It does change your outlook, your attitude, your energy and your quality of life. It will do the same for your children.

-Sheri

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Tags: healthy eating, heart disease, trans fats