Even though I live in an area that is incredibly ‘organic’ in nearly every sense of the word, I’ve never been too conscious of what I eat. A couple of years ago though Jess and I were told about the dangers of a type of fat that is in a lot of food and upon further investigation we found out that Trans Fats are absolutely horrible for you.

Before I go on I just want to say I’m still not that conscious about eating healthy but this thing in particular is really bad.

Trans-Fats are identified most easily by the word HYDROGENATED.
Go ahead and look at the ingredients of some of the food in your house – crackers, chips, frozen dinners, pretty much everything I like to eat seems to have some sort of Hydrogenated Oil in it. What’s dangerous about Hydrogenated Oils? Trans fats are a man made fat. Because they are man made your body doesn’t know exactly what to do with them. Trans fats actually lower your good cholesterol and raise you bad cholesterol. They also contribute to heart disease and diabetes.

What’s funny about Trans fats it that they are found in a lot of ‘fat free’ food. For instance margarine is nearly 100% Trans fat. In the long run it’s actually a lot better to eat butter than this man made substance.

Why use Trans-Fats? They help preserve taste, they’re cheaper, and give food items a longer shelf life.

Trans fats are getting more attention as KFC recently announced a switch to a non-hydrogenated oil to cook their chicken in and the entire state of New York is considering a flat out ban of Trans-Fats for all restaurants.

As for me, I’m torn. My favorite snack, Totinos, has betrayed me with hydrogenated oils.