Interesting Little Known Published Facts About Trans Fats

I guess you could say since my recent surgery, I am more aware than ever before of the ingredient labels of foods and if the truth be known one has to GO BEYOND THE LABEL if you really want to eliminate trans fats from your diet. Take a look:

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/trans-fat-foods.php

EXCERPTS:

10 Surprising Foods That Contain Trans Fat

Let's start with something you already know... trans fat is bad. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that trans fat should probably be at the top of your list of things to avoid eating. At the very best it would be in second place behind "deadly poison." In case this now common knowledge information is new to you, feel free to learn exactly how bad it is here, here and here.

Now for something many people still don't know (unless of course you've seen me mention it throughout this site about 48 times already). A few years ago, the FDA came up with some hilarious guidelines for food companies to follow when it came to listing the trans fat content of their food in the food's nutrition facts panel. Basically, trans fat content only needs to be listed if the food contains 0.5 grams or more of it per serving.

What that means is, if a food contains 0.49 grams of trans fat in 1 serving, that food will have "Trans Fat: 0 grams" listed in its nutrition facts. This is when the hilarity ensues.

• First, few people ever eat 1 serving of anything. So, if someone happened to eat 2 servings of a food that contained 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving, they'd eat just under 1 full gram of trans fat all while thinking they ate "0 grams."
• Second, even if just 1 serving was eaten, any trans fat is still too much trans fat. Yes, less than 0.5 grams isn't quite 10 grams, but it's still FAR from fantastic and, over the course of the day, adds up.
• Third, many foods mess around with their serving size until they get it to a point where they reach that 0.49 grams of trans fat (or lower) sweet spot for the sole purpose of being allowed to put "0 grams" on their label.
• Fourth, there are a ton of foods that go out of their way to print something along the lines of "This food contains 0 grams of trans fat! We are super awesome because of this!" in big bold letters right on the front of the package to show off just how "healthy" the food is and to give you further reason to buy and eat it. In reality, however, an insanely large number of the foods doing this do indeed contain some amount of trans fat per serving (less than 0.5 grams of course). So, as if it wasn't bad enough that foods can have "Trans Fat: 0 grams" on their label even though the food actually contains it, many of these foods take it even further by bringing extra attention this fact/lie and turn it into another selling point of the food.

And while you are processing all of this, bare in mind that the American Heart Association recommends that we consume a maximum of 2 grams of trans fat per day. However, they go on to say that there is enough naturally occurring trans fat in some meat and dairy products that most people already reach this maximum 2 grams without the additional consumption of the man-made trans fat found in the types of foods on the list below.

Long story short, people who care about their health should ideally be aiming to consume as close to 0 grams of trans fat per day as they possibly can.

With all of that being said, I thought it would be fun to bring to your attention some of the most surprising foods that, despite what their labels say, actually do contain some amount of trans fat per serving. Here now are 10 of those foods...

(My Input)

As mentioned many times before, you have to become an ingredient label reader. NOW it seems you have to do some research on your own, since tricks are being played on you with the ability to list ZERO grams of trans fat when in fact the trans fat is still there and it adds up.

The article goes on to list 10 food or types of foods to avoid and includes but is not limited to:

Most processed cereals

Many food bars, probably ALL granola bars and many PROTEIN bars (see previous post on protein bars)

Most store bought crackers and snack foods

Girl scout cookies

Most popcorn, especially microwaveable popcorn

In my opinion if one keeps uppermost in his or her mind, that two things drive the market for most store bought processed foods:

• SHELF LIFE
• PROFIT MOTIVE

Then you will be able to read the ingredients and if in doubt go home and google the specific product and you will be amazed at how many of the common every day foods you consume still have lots of trans fats in them.

Romans 8:32 "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" NOTE - Surely this includes healing!!!

Dan