Trans fat can be very unhealthy when it is ingested frequently. I found a website that discusses the problems with trans fat: www.bantransfats.com
Trans fats are mainly used to increase shelf life.
While I agree that trans fats are bad for you, I do not believe that a small amount of trans fat here and there will kill me. The odd thing is now that we are required to label things more, obesity has actually continued to become a larger problem. It seems that people are so concerned with weight that it makes it worse for them or harder to stay healthy.
I pulled a Quaker Chewy Low Fat Chocolate Chunk Granola Bar and looked at the ingredients. There were a lot of natural ingredients like sugar, whole grain, salt, chocolate chunks, soy, and some others. There was also a handful of chemicals like TBHQ acid, sodium bicarbonate, caramel color, glycerin, sorbitol, and BHT. I didn't realize how much there would be in it. Even though there are some chemicals, I still do not think the granola bar will devastate my life. I care about my health but do not feel the need to pick apart and add the stress of eating a small snack every once in a while that may not be perfect.
I want to be healthy, but by worrying about every little thing I put in my body will make it harder for me to be healthy. I would rather live my life like I have the past 20 years. I do need to make some changes in my diet, such as limiting how much fast food and restaurant food I consume, but otherwise as long as I am eating my fruits and veggies like I should, I believe I will be a generally healthy individual.
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It does seem interesting that the increase of warnings and labels on foods has made little difference on obesity rates. It seems as if people only seem to consider the amount of calories and don't care as much about the effects of other things on the body.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to Raleys today I decided to go look at the gronala bars to see if I could find just one brand that was actually healthy. There is a quaker gronala bar "simple harvest" that had the most nutritious ingred. I also believe that if you limt trans fats it isnt that big of a deal. Moderation is key and look at all the studies that say "blah blah causes cancer" and then later we find out that it wasn't true at all. I think this chapter is very interesting though. I remember when we stopped having trans fats in our pastries at starbucks...the apple fritters havent been the same since :(
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