Trans Fats - Avoiding Trans Fats Made Easy
By Barry Lovelace

You can't pay attention to the news these days and not have heard about trans fats. Everyone is warning us of the danger they pose to our health and some lawmakers are trying to protect us from them by banning them in New York City restaurants, a move that is a terrifying example of government overstepping its boundaries, but I digress. It made me realize that this might be something worth writing about and trying to explain.

Trans fats have been around since the early 1900's. This type of fat starts out as hydrogenated oil. Hydrogenated oil is created when hydrogen molecules are added to unsaturated fats like vegetable oil. The oil is 'saturated' with hydrogen, thus hydrogenated oil is a saturated fat. The use of this oil has sky rocketed and is found in nearly all packaged food. Food containing hydrogenated oil is extremely shelf stable and has a more appealing texture than food without.

Anyway, without getting too scientific, when some hydrogen atoms move during the hydrogenation process this can cause them to be 'opposite' or 'trans' where they would normally be. The end product is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or trans fat. What this means to you is that when you see partially hydrogenated vegetable oil on a label you are holding a product that contains trans fat.

Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil allows food manufacturers to turn liquid fat into solid fat, like margarine for example. The main source of trans fats in the American diet is processed food, which honestly I don't even like calling food. Processed food is so far removed from real food that it is scary and yet you see it in just about every shopping cart at the store. It has become so accepted and 'normal' that I don't think most people stop to think about what is really in this stuff. I think if you look at the ingredients on a food label and you see a long paragraph, it is safe to say that it is not a good choice.

Anyway, back to the trans fats, these fats do occur naturally in beef, pork and dairy products. Hopefully you have removed or limited these items from your diet anyway. Now that you know what it is and how it's made lets talk about why it is a problem.

Trans fats, like saturated fat raise the LDL cholesterol level in the blood. This increases the risk of coronary heart disease, which is the leading killer of people in America. Does this sound scary? It doesn't have to be. Like I said, these foods have been around a long time, they are nothing new. What has changed is that more and more people turn to processed foods than ever before.

Trans fats and saturated fats can be easily avoided. All it takes is for you to make better choices and eat real food versus packaged food. Many food manufacturers have improved their packaged foods by removing trans fat and adding whole grains. Often this is clearly marked on the front of the package so keep an eye out for it.

If you're not already doing so, it is a good idea to start reading labels. When buying a packaged food, choose one with the lowest amounts of trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol. Once again, it all comes down to choice. So the next time you are out grocery shopping, make it a point to pay attention to your purchases and read those labels.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized personal trainer and fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. Barry is the creator of the HOT selling volleyball training program Training For Volleyball

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