Ban Trans Fats - List of Foods High in Trans Fats
How to Ban Trans Fats from Your Diet
How do I avoid consuming trans fats? First, find out where trans fats are usually found in foods, and then learn how to interpret food labels. Trans fats are poorly understood and seldom are they accurately mentioned on food labels. Fortunately, there is a growing industry of concerned edible oil refiners who have brought natural oil back to the market. I have never entered a health food store yet that did not have at least a minimal selection of cold-pressed un-refined oils and mayonnaises.
When buying oils or mayonnaises, look for ingredient lists which specifically state that the oil used is cold-pressed and un-refined. Current conventionally employed oil pressing methods ordinarily maintain temperatures which are sufficiently high to create trans fatty acids from unsaturated oil sources. Unless you are certain that the oil contained in a prepared food is unrefined, un-damaged oil, you can very safely assume that it is not. Instead, you can assume that the oil is an un-safe, conventionally processed, trans fat containing oil. You must also realize that oil containing foods labeled as organic are not necessarily treated correctly. Do not assume just because a product contains organic oil that the oil has not been damaged by inappropriate handling and processing.
Keep Oil at the Bottom of the Ingredients
Only purchase prepared foods that list “oil” way down at the bottom of the list of ingredients (this way you won’t be getting very much of the dangerous trans fatty acids). Or, better still, simply don’t purchase prepared foods which have any oil listed in the ingredients unless that oil is listed as olive oil, butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil or perhaps expeller pressed oil.
Olive oil is sufficiently robust that it normally does not sustain damage when it is pressed, and also, it is not subject to the same refining processes that other oils are usually taken through. Butter is not refined, and is an extremely stable fat because it is almost completely saturated. The same can be said for lard (genuine animal source lard) and un-refined coconut and palm oil.
You don’t need to worry about where these safe fats and oils land on the list of ingredients. They are not harboring trans fats.
Do Trans Fat Free Products Really Have No Trans Fats?
Many food processing companies assume that trans fats are created only when hydrogenation processes are carried out with oils. They assume that non-hydrogenated oils do not contain trans fatty acids. Consequently, they label their products as being trans-fat-free even though they are made from oils that were extracted and processed with the usual and damaging methods. These companies’ food products are therefore not really trans fat free even though they have prominently labeled these foods as such.
You will only find out if a food contains trans fats by reading the list of ingredients that are in the food product and this only if you read between the lines, so to speak. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer from acne or some other health condition that will be set into play through the consumption of trans fatty acids (like I had) you can test your conclusions on your own body (if you wish). But, this becomes less and less interesting, as the pattern becomes more and more obvious. Just how many break-outs is a person interested in enduring for the sake of science?
At any rate, ferreting out trans fats is possible. It takes just a little effort (you have to turn all the boxes, bottles and cans over, and look for the fine print). But, it really is not hard to do.
Below is a list of foods containing trans fats:
Foods Contain Appreciable Quantities of Trans Fatty Acids:
* Margarine
* Mayonnaise
* Most dips and sauces
* Chips
* Cookies
* Soft Candies
* Crackers
* Doughnuts
* Processed cheese
* Hydrogenated peanut butters (eg Skippy’s)
* Hydrogenated and partly hydrogenated anything
* Cakes
* Most snack foods
* Certain Cereals
* Commercial Granola
* Canned soups and stews
* Most salad dressings
* Pastries made with vegetable shortening
* Many Puddings
* Sweet Breads
* Muffins
* Coffee whitener
For a better understanding of trans fats you can read the articles linked below. Ban trans fats from your diet and your body will thank you.
This post is part of the series: Trans Fats
Trans Fats are hidden in many foods. Finding them requires some understanding, and eliminating them from your diet is imperative. This series takes a good look at trans fats.