How To Avoid Bad Trans Fats In Your Diet

By Author: Mike Marshall
Total Articles: 115
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No one wants to eat bad or unhealthy trans fats. But how do you know which trans fats are bad and which are good? You can find out here.



Some research shows that good (or healthy) trans fats can actually help you prevent cancer, lose fat, and build muscle, while bad (or unhealthy) trans fats can cause cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and weight gain.



In the last few years, there has been a lot of information about how terrible man-made trans fats are for you, and how these food additives are found in most of the fast foods and processed foods currently on the market.



There is even evidence that man-made trans fats are as dangerous to your health as smoking, and are among of the main causes of heart disease.



To try to reduce these growing health issues, in 2003 the FDA mandated that food manufacturers begin to show information about grams of trans fat on all nutrition labels.



The FDA put this rule into effect to provide consumers with the information we need to make healthier food choices by lowering ...
... our consumption of trans fat as part of a heart-healthy diet.



But, even as you\'re trying to avoid these trans-fats, you need to understand the differences between good and bad trans fats in order to make informed decisions about the foods you eat.



What Are Bad Trans Fats?



Bad trans fats are the man-made, artificially hydrogenated oils that include margarine, shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils that you\'ll find in most processed foods, deep fried foods, and junk foods.



The way these hydrogenated oils are made is through highly processing techniques using harsh chemical solvents such as hexane (a component of gasoline), high heat, and pressure. They add a metal catalyst, and are then deodorized and bleached.



Incredibly, The FDA allows a small percentage of the solvent to stay in the finished oil, which can actually be industrial oil and not food oil.

These hydrogenated oils can wreak havoc on your body, causing internal inflammations that result in clogged arteries.



It\'s easy to see why heart disease has increased since these bad trans fats were introduced into our food supply more than fifty years ago.



The hope is that that these deadly hydrogenated oils will eventually be banned from use altogether and removed from our food supply. Some countries have already banned their use or set dates to phase them out.



Unfortunately, as companies start to phase out the use of hydrogenated oils in processed foods, they\'re often replacing them with highly refined polyunsaturated oils. These oils are also heavily processed by using high heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleaching agents, and are known to produce inflammation in your body.



What Are Good Trans Fats?



The good news is that there are natural, healthy trans fats. Cattle, sheep, and goats create these natural trans fats and store them in their milk and meat fat.



It\'s believed that natural trans fats in your diet have can help to build muscle and lose weight. But the benefits might be mitigated because most farming methods rely on mass production and the animals eat grain and soy diets.



The meat and dairy you get from grass-fed, free-range animals will have much higher quantities of the beneficial fats.



In general, you\'ll find that trans fats listed on a meat or dairy product are good trans fats, and trans fats listed on processed foods are bad trans fats. But you should always check to be sure.