09 Feb
Trans Fat
I made these myself, so I know they are trans fat free. If you want to be sure you aren’t getting any trans fats in your diet stop buying highly processed foods and make things yourself!
There are some areas of our diet that I think are up to interpretation. I’ve recently joined the crowd that believes saturated fat from whole animal products isn’t as bad as we previously thought. I’m working to balance my checkbook and my desire to eat local and in season, which means during the winter I eat a lot of squash and potatoes as my vegetable servings. We try very hard to limit the amount of processed corn/soy products we consume, but I know there are many even within my own family that just don’t see the point.
One area where there can’t possibly be any convergence in opinions though, is that trans fat is very, very bad for us. Avoid it for your heart. The American Heart Association says please, for your own sake, don’t eat it. If your’e watching your weight, there is research that suggests trans fats cause you to gain more weight than other fats AND will give you a fatty belly. As someone who is currently hauling around a fatty belly wherever she goes, I assure you this is something you don’t want.
Yesterday I tweeted a link to an article that listed 10 foods you may be eating that contain trans fats even though the package has claims on the front that say “I’m trans fat free! Eat me! Eat me!”. How can this be?
(Did you read the article yet? Do it right now, and make a goal to go through your house and throw away absolutely everything listed on that page. There are no excuses, this stuff is bad for you!!! If you’ve heard arguments that meat and butter can contain them, there is an answer here that might help you.)
Those tricky food manufacturers! They know that you are busy and your baby is screaming to go home and take a nap (oh wait, that doesn’t happen to you?) so you’re quickly scanning the aisle for something that has the things you want and doesn’t have the things you are trying to avoid. The problem is that those food manufacturers also know of a loophole you might not be aware of. As long as each serving size has less than .5 grams of trans fat, the package can say that the product is trans fat free. If you eat two servings though, or something closer to 5 or 6 like I always do, you’ve just consumed much more trans fat than you should in a single day. If you eat several servings of several different products with that hidden trans fat you can do serious damage to your health. The reason the list that the author of the article provided worries me so much is that a lot of those are foods kids are eating, often in large quantities over time. We can do better for our babies!
The solution to avoiding trans fat once and for all (and understanding when the front of the package lies to you) is to stop reading the nutrition label, and start reading the ingredients list. To quote the article I linked:
If the ingredient list includes the words “shortening,” “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “hydrogenated vegetable oil,” the food contains trans fat.
I don’t buy anything anymore without reading the ingredients list. I mean that, anything EVER. Every single sample offered to me at Costco, every treat I want to indulge in, every package littered with health claims or buzz words like “organic” and “natural”. If you commit to never buying anything with the words shortening or hydrogenated in the ingredients list, you’re going to eat a lot less junk. Don’t worry about what the front or sides of the package say, flip right to the back, and if it lists anything hydrogenated in the ingredients package set it quickly back on the shelf. Your heart will thank you one day!
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Really interesting article. Do you know if there’s anything else that can have lurking trans fats (besides the ingredients that you listed?)
Before we went vegan, I was all about real butter for this reason alone. Luckily around here places like Whole Foods carry Earth Balance, which is not hydrogenated and has no trans-fats. I still use it sparingly, because it’s essentially cold-pressed canola oil, and oils are never good in excess, but I am glad that there’s an alternative to the gross margarines that are out there aplenty.
I think a lot of people overlook peanut butter as a hugely unhealthy thing. Natural peanut butter that is not hyrdrogenated can be great, but a lot of brands that claim their PB is “all natural” still hydrogenate.
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 8:57 am
Not that I can think of. Although I’m wondering if anyone can tell me about the label that some foods are using now which has words like “non hydrogenated coconut oil” in the ingredients list. Why don’t they just say coconut oil?
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Anni Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Maybe they do that when things are typically hydrogenated? I’ve seen it a lot in foods that have three of the same ingredients, just various levels of hydrogenated. It’s so gross - how can something be “partially hydrogenated”???
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Christine Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Hydrogenation is when they bombard unsaturated fats, which can have many double bonds between carbons, with hydrogen to break the double bond and create a single bond, creating a saturated fat. The reaction is generally never taken to completion - that is all the double bonds becoming single bonds - as that takes a lot of time, energy and is difficult to control. Thus, they bombard the fat with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst and then stop after a certain amount of time. Its impossible to guarantee the all the double bonds were saturated, so it’s called partially hydrogenated.
Wow, I just labelled myself as a huge nerd. I hope that helped!
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Anni Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:23 am
No, that’s really interesting! It’s cool to learn about the science behind nutrition and food production. Thank you!
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Kelli Nicole Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:29 am
I was actually really hoping someone would explain hydrogenation! Thanks!
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Christine Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:51 am
No Problem!
Just for a bit more science information fun: another strike against hydrogenated fats is that the catalyst used is made of nickel or something similar. In a perfect world, the catalyst helps the reaction to happen faster/with less required energy/etc. and it is not consumed by the reaction. (This means that the catalyst is the same at the beginning and the end of the reaction, so the products should have no remnants of the catalyst in them.) However, this is not a perfect world, so there is a chance that there would be trace heavy metals from the catalyst used in things like margarine or shortening due to incomplete reactions.
Isn’t what happens to our food before we eat it wonderful?
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Anni Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
It’s downright scary!
My FMIL calls our peanut butter “that weird stuff” because the oils rise to the top… I wish she would listen to this! (She won’t. I’ve tried.)
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Christine Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Sad day! That’s really unfortunate.
I used to think pre-stirred, sugar and fat added peanut butter was something exotic as a kid as we rarely had peanut butter due to my sister’s peanut allergy and if there was peanut butter it was the all natural kind. Then, of course, I actually tried eating some and I felt SO gross. Never again! I’m definitely an all natural peanut butter person.
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Christine Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:55 am
The only reason I can think why they would say that is because usually they hydrogenate fats to make them solid at room temperature. Coconut oil can be a solid at room temperature, so people might assume that it is hydrogenated when it actually isn’t.
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I think a good thing to keep in mind is if it is something you wouldn’t have in your pantry at home, or you cannot pronounce (or recognize) the ingredients-stay away! I’ve really cut down the amount of processed food I eat. You’re right, trans fat is deadly and best be avoided at all costs!
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2We eat seaonsally and locally. I even posted on my blog (a while back) that we go as far as getting some of our favorite snacks right here in our local area (like popcorn which is grown locally and havested locally)- We love it.
I really have to get on the no trans-fat life style though I am extremely proud of my family because we do more things home made with local products than we ever have. Hit on our bank account? Sure.
But obesity is one of the leading causes of health care expenses in our country and I don’t want my family to contribute to that.
Do you think the taxes they’re talking about on certain foods (mainly junk foods) is a good idea or even a way to keep people from buying those kinds of foods?
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:01 am
I think a food tax like that is akin to cigarette tax, levied, IMO because smoking cigarettes/eating junk doesn’t just affect the person doing it. Especially with nationalized health care, we now all pay for our collective mistakes as a nation. No one can argue that excessive amounts of fat, sugar, salt, trans fat, etc are ever in any way good for you, and when the indulgent get diabetes I now have to contribute to paying for their treatment.
If you can stomach taxes on cigarettes I don’t really underhand why you can’t stomach a tax on certain extremely unhealthy foods.
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Jackie Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Yikes if I start a debate, but I think if you have an interesting point about paying for health care as a nation so we pay for other people’s mistakes.
You probably didn’t see it because it was on before the Super Bowl, but O’Reilly interviewed Obama about the health care act, and the way Obama put it was “It’s time for us all to start taking responsibility for our own health care. I don’t want to have to pay for someone’s health care down the road because they didn’t get health care earlier on” (not a direct quote)
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that there are two ways of looking at it - either, now we’re all paying for everyone’s (not quite true because we don’t have a public option, but yeah, still we are more connected now), or now we each have to pay for our own, instead of having tax payers pay when you land in a hospital without insurance.
I agree. People don’t usually like these taxes because no one wants to be told want to do, but they do make a difference. No one argues you SHOULD be eating more junk food, and no one says you should get rid of it completely (okay, well, you just did
but I think you’d be okay if someone decided to have a Dr. Pepper or bag of Doritos occasionally) I think these taxes discourage people from making mindless choices, like “oh I’m hungry I’ll just grab this bag of chips.”
i heard a commercial that made me cringe the other day. It was a woman talking about how she could barely afford to feed her family, and now the government wanted to tax the things she buys, like sodas and chips. Well, hun, if you can barely afford to feed your family, you should be spending that money on milk and vegetables. Now I don’t judge people who do make that choice, I mean, good nutrition is learned and we weren’t all modeled that growing up. But WHO wrote that commercial trying to make junk food look like it was vital to feeding a family?!?!?! ARGH.
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Cécy Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:02 am
I think that’s where a lot of the issue is. It’s cheaper to buy junk food than real food and take the time to cook it for most people.
I think it was in Food Inc where they interviewed this family. The dad has diabetes and the wife was saying how her choice was to either pay for his medication and eat junk food or not get his medication to buy real food. Their choice was junk food. Sure it’s an extreme (or is it?) example, but my thought was you can regulate most diabetes with the right diet, buying junk food (aka fast food in their case) instead of real food to me meant he was taking his medication for nothing.
I’m reading a lot about food lately and realizing how a lot of things are subsidized and they are what end up in the processed ready to throw in the microwave foods that a lot of this country feeds on.
I bring my own food at work and just to see the reaction of my co-workers, I realize a lot of them don’t even know how to cook. It makes me sad. So of course they don’t buy fresh primary ingredients (fruits, veggies, meat, dairy), instead they just throw something in the microwave.
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:22 am
It’s obviously funded by food manufacturers who want people to keep buying their goods. Look at what we subsidize, wheat, corn, and soy, mainly used to make junk foods. If those things cost more it might mean people would rearrange their budget and devote more to fruits and veggies (ideally we would subsidize veggies and not corn, but the corn/wheat/soy lobbies are much too strong for the politicians to touch that).
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Jackie Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:28 am
Preach it sister!
Have you looked into why hemp is illegal in this country? It’s a different plant that marijuana (you can’t smoke it and get high even if you tried!) It was the cotton lobbyists who ran it out of the country. And it would be a great product for making clothes, paper, all sorts of things, but cotton lobbyists have us convinced it’s a drug so now we have to import it. Which is crazy, cause why is it okay to import it but not to grow it? So we’re basically sending our money to other countries cause we’re just silly.
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Gogo Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:56 am
Yeah, I have zero problem with this kind of tax. None of those foods are essential. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable revenue stream.
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Marissa C Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:28 am
I say tax it!
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Meg Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:30 am
I think the tax makes sense but I can see how people think it’s one more thing the government is trying to control.
And sadly, it IS cheaper to buy junk food than vegetables. And in low income neighborhoods they have a surplus of junk food and very little produce (or the produce is disgusting) so get the shiny package of chips that you know you will like or the bruised tomato that looks disgusting and you don’t know how to use? A lot of people don’t know their vegetables or how they can be cooked. It’s sad and I would suggest the government take the money from the junk food tax and re-invest into properly educating people (not just printing up a crap load of fliers with a food pyramid) about healthy living.
I worked for a city in New York and they have a program geared to educating youth in poor neighborhoods about healthy food that tastes good- programs like this should be nationwide for poor and not-so poor.
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Mary Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Regarding prcies, I think it totally depends on where you shop. Fortunally, we have amazing local stores in Colorado (ie Sunflower Market) where we can get fresh, local veggies and fruits for great prices. I budget $70-75.00 a week on groceries because I shop there (and I am often under that!) and it’s because 1. I don’t want to buy junk and 2. I am not paying for packaging. I agree, though, that it is often easier for folks, after working long hours, to come home and eat processed food or take out than to cook good nutritious meals (or go grocery shopping, even). Its a tough culture to change.
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Meg Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Mary- I lived in Denver, CO for a year and found that Sunflower is only in the more wealthy neighborhoods (I lived near DU for graduate school). That store and others like it are not in places near some of the more poor neighborhoods (where I worked). So although that is a lovely idea, those places are not available for people everywhere.
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Mary Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Hi Meg! DU? Social Work, by chance?
I agree that Sunflower (and others like it-like Wholefoods) tend to be in more wealthy neighborhoods. I think Denver is interesting, though, because many neighborhoods here are mixed with poor and wealthy areas, such as North Highlands and Sunnyside (where a new Sunflower Market is located). Either way, though, I agree that those stores are not on every block so it does take time for most to drive there and plan a menu around what is available. I find that I have to go on Wednesdays on “double sale days” to make sure I can shop within our budget. I also have to drive out of my way to a Sunflower, so its not very easy (especially on weeks like this-with so much snow and a baby to get from daycare. I can totally see why its easier to eat out and get processed food.) All this to say, I agree with you, Meg, but I think it takes work no matter where you live sometimes. And, this is getting off topic, but stores like King Soopers are interesting because they are suppose to be the “cheaper” stores but they do not offer comparison shopping like “per item pricing”, so, in reality, most of their items are more expensive.
I also wanted to clarify about my post earlier regarding spending less because I don’t want to buy junk at sunflower-its because there isn’t much there, not because I don’t WANT to buy junk. I want it. Just can’t but it at stores like that.
I agree with the original thread, though! I think some taxes wouldn’t be all that bad!
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Mary Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
I re-read my response and wanted to clarify! Meg, I defintely think that Denver is a special situation where there may be more options than other cities. I agree that produce is SO limited (and, quite frankly, gross) in most stores! Also, I wanted to add that I know there are so many systemic issues that make it very difficult to eat nutritious, balanced diets (such as transportation, location, education, tradition, etc). I think I could go on and on and will stop myself here…
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Thanks for the link! While we eat very few processed foods, I’m passing it on to my friends and family so they can get on the bandwagon too!
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4I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Girl Scout cookies have trans fats, but it makes me sad anyway. What about my peanut butter patties?!
Thank you for the article. Getting rid of processed foods is hard, but I need to keep at it.
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Jackie Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I’m still gonna eat them!!
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i love how food manufacturers are being so sneaky with trans fats. is it a way for them to keep us coming back to their foods? sort of like mcdonalds in supersize me, but more subtle. jenna, do you think trans fats, like hfcs and nicotine, are addictive or habit forming?
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:23 am
I don’t think it’s necessarily the trans fat itself, it’s the way it is used. Layers of fat on salt on fat or sugar on fat on fat, etc. (I borrowed those terms from the book Overcoming Overeating btw!)
Trans fat is found in foods that are rich and comforting and delicious. Those are certainly properties that cause me to come back for more!
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 9:25 am
Wait, not Overcoming Overeating. It’s called The End of Overeating. So similar!
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Cécy Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:05 am
I think they talked about that on NPR, in an article about how a lots of vegetarians give up their diets for bacon.
They explained that we are wired to go for sugar and fat because they are survival foods. We used to have a much harder time packing on the pounds, we needed sugar and fat to help us through winter, hard work and more. We have a far more sedentary life now with food accessible year round so we don’t need it nearly as much, but we are still wired that way because our diet and way of life has really only changed in the last 100 to 150 years. It takes a lot longer for evolution to change our genetics.
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Oh my goodness I am doing the best I can!!! I find all these articles to be so overwhelming and that article had a snarky undertone I did not appreciate. Ughhhh.
Sorry, bad day. But geeze louise I feel like I can’t eat anything but raw veggies and I’M HUNGRY!
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Andrea Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Sorry you’re having a bad day
Don’t feel limited in your food choices though!Stick to whole foods, or items made entirely from whole foods (e.g. the hummus I just snacked on with some carrots contains only chick peas, tahini, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper) and you’re good to go.
I like to follow the approach of shopping the perimeter of the grocery store and avoiding the aisles as much as possible…that is where most of the trans-fat foods hide!
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Andrea Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Ohh I like the idea of shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store! That’s a good approach since usually its my fiance that is the ones that sees something and must have it (like a kid).
I just get so frustrated! I know there’s tons of food out there to eat but dear lord it’s one thing after another and I wish people would stop making such crap and pretending like it’s food. Grrr!
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Thanks for the great article. I did get distracted by the tasty looking treats at the top. Planning to share how you made those?
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
https://thatwifeblog.com/2010/02/happy-love-day/
It’s an old picture
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Thanks for pointing out this article! My husband is much more of a transfat nazi than me and I tend to not look at the ingredients. Sadly, I eat all of those items! I think I’ll be doing a pantry clean out this weekend!
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9Good post! I try to eat seasonally and so squash is great during the winter months. We’re trying to shy away from potatoes because apparently they can really spike your blood sugar and aren’t that great for you. But sweet potatoes, yams, etc. are good substitutes. And rutabaga! We just had rutabaga last night. Yum.
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10Trans fats are so gross. Convenience foods are convient but so many of the ingredients are not worth ingesting.
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11Warning: might be TMI…
So I do my best to eat non-processed foods and make things myself and all that, but my one remaining ‘guilty pleasure’ was having peanut butter on my (sprouted grain) toast in the morning. And I mean crappy, Skippy peanut butter. Partially because it’s available for free at work, and partially because the sweet taste makes me happy and it keeps me full. ANYWAY - I noticed they sell a new “Natural” brand that promises to be transfat free, so I tried it for two weeks.
Which turned out to be the most constipated two weeks of my life. Seriously!! I couldn’t figure out WHAT was going on since I had also started eating tons and tons of fruits and veggies and only non-processed foods.
Turns out their “natural” peanut butter is made with Palm Oil, which apparently causes constipation.
It was really fun, let me tell you. I hope someone else can read this first and not go through it!
So there’s my public service announcement about poo for the day. Enjoy ladies!
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liz Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Ok the palm oil thing confuses me…. is hydrogenated palm oil the same? I would assume so.
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Stephanie Appel Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Good question… I don’t actually know, but the pb jar says “no hydrogenated oils” and the ingredients just includes plain “palm oil”. Anyone else know?
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I read it yesterday, it’s so interesting. There is obviously something wrong with the law because it shouldn’t be left up to the companies to choose their serving size so they don’t have to put transfat in there.
In any case I’m glad the author mentioned what to look for in the ingredients list to avoid it. I’m getting more and more careful when it comes to ingredients, but it’s a process and a habit to set up I guess.
I remember buying shortening once, I thought it was so disgusting, I never bought any again (I don’t know that we have anything like it in France).
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13I don’t eat or buy any of the foods on that list, for myself or my family., thank goodness, but I will surely start to read ingredient lists more carefully that I do now. Thanks Jenna.
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14I guess I just don’t get too worked up about it. Everything in moderation has always been my philosophy. Am I over weight? Yes. I need to lose about 30 pounds to get back to my ideal weight. People weren’t kidding when they warned me about the newlywed weight gain LOL!
Honestly, if I want a hot dog, I am going to eat a stupid hot dog. Is it healthy? No. Do I care? Kind of but I have learned that if I am hungry for something, I just have to eat it. Otherwise, I will majorly overeat trying to satisfy that craving. I eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies but I do mix in processed food and don’t feel bad about it. Like I said, everything in moderation.
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Melissa Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Oh yeah. I forgot that I wanted to add that I only eat one thing on that list. Ritz. Mmmm my favorite cracker ever!
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Erin J. Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I love Ritz crackers! LOL. I feel the same way as you. I am not overweight, but I could probably stand to lose a couple pounds. I try to exercise, but if I want to eat something I am going to eat it. It’s worked pretty well for me for the past 27 years.
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Zoe Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
haha yeah, I kind of feel this way too. I don’t eat any of the boxed products on that list, but I’m sure I’m eating all sorts of other crap, and I’m far from overweight. Maybe this will not always be the case as I get older and my metabolism slows down (already 28 now). My point is not that I advocate eating trans fats or anything, and I wouldn’t eat a whole box of Girl Scout cookies for any reason either, but I just don’t think my body will implode from eating some indulging once in a while. :T At the same time, I do applaud those with the dedication to live such a healthy lifestyle!
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I know Girl Scout Cookies had trans fat which is so sad. There are also a host of other unsustainable ingredients, such as Palm Oil, which contributes to Rain Forest deforestation.
They’re actually made by Keebler (Kellogg)so the poor nutrition really doesn’t surprise me. Maybe this year I’ll just make a donation.
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16Thanks for the great link Jenna. I try my hardest to make things from scratch and I typically don’t by processed products or junk food. I am just learning to stop looking only at the nutrition label and straight at the ingredients list instead. I’ve actually found it so much less confusing to go grocery shopping this way.
I really enjoy your food/nutrition posts. We are both at the same point in the process of moving towards a more local/organic lifestyle & I enjoy knowing others are working towards the same goals. It’s quite motivating.
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17Fantastic post! I wish more people would realize that butter is not the devil and that processed food is!
Just yesterday I was at home sick, and watching daytime tv,I saw a cereal commercial.
The commercial was touting how GREAT cereals like Fruit Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, Lucky Charms etc. were for kids because they containg 8grams of whole grains per serving.
I nearly threw something at my TV.
I had a simlar reaction when I saw a commercial of “Manwhich” claming that each serving of manwich contains a serving of vegetables.
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18Honestly, I think it’s silly to get all worked up about things like this Someone will always be able to find some kind of article about how doing xyz, eating xyz, watching xyz, etc. is bad. I think as long as we remember to keep things in moderation we’ll be fine.
And to be perfectly frank..I would much rather my kids have a little bit of junk food every now and then, then be the kid who goes to a birthday party and sees twinkies for the first time and goes completely, off the wall nuts or turns into a food snob who thinks they need to educate all the other 5 year olds about the crap they’re eating. A little junk food every now isn’t going to be the end of the world. I have to die somehow, I’d much rather be full of foods I enjoy then angry, grumpy, and bitter about all the times I passed up my frozen thin mints crushed over moose track ice cream.
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19I try not to eat too much processed stuff - it probably helps that I have a gluten allergy, so I can’t eat most mainstream junk, but it’s becoming easier to find more gluten free junk foods now that it is becoming more prevalent. I’m currently on a fast where I can’t eat any processed foods, so that helps.
I think this issues, like many others, we’ve kind of brought it on ourselves. We demand cheap, long lasting goods and the food industry delivers. For example, margarine and shortening were created because people wanted solid fat that would give the right texture for baking and cooking and that lasted longer and was cheaper than butter. Since we’re all so used to being able to get certain foods so cheaply, it’s going to be incredibly hard to change people’s minds about things like this! But as you like to say, all we can do is vote with our food dollars for trying to encourage change back to less processed, healthier food!
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20I am a new follower! Can you share your receipe? It looks so yumming and I’m dying for sweets since I’ve been on this 17 day diet I’m doing with OMGMOM blog. Tongiht I’ll be emailing my awful pictures to join in your weight loss challenge
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
The recipe for the cookies? Here’s my original link to that picture where I link to the recipe! https://thatwifeblog.com/2010/02/happy-love-day/
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Bummer about the crackers. I wonder if the pretzels I eat to keep from throwing up have trans-fats.
The food rules about being able to say something contains no “xyz” as long as the amount is below # is ridiculous - and lying.
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22Thanks for sharing that article; it was really interesting. Eating right can be hard work!
Speaking of paying attention to what you’re eating, I’m doing a little experiment today where I’m taking a photo of and posting everything I eat today. Interesting!
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23Great post.
It always makes me laugh when people think eating real full-fat dairy is so horrible, but using yucky oils or margarine is a better choice. I’m definitely in the saturated fat from pastured animals isn’t so bad camp.
I don’t eat the stuff on the list in the article because I’ve lost my taste for processed junk. The saltines I make at home taste SO much better.
In fact, I actually lead a girl scout troop and we just finished cookie sales. I didn’t buy one box because they are so bad for you. I just can’t justify it. Plus the troops only get about .60 per box they sell. I’d rather donate cash to the troop.
My Dad just had his 2nd heart attack in 7 years and is lucky to be alive. It really bums me out that people aren’t willing to forgo this junk food in exchange for better food and better health. The standard american diet is basically diabetes/heart disease waiting to happen. Not worth it all. Plus real food tastes better.
Oh yeah, on NPR the other morning they were reporting on how kids who eat processed foods have lower IQ’s than kids who don’t. Food for thought.
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Jenna Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
What is this saltine recipe you speak of?
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cait Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
They’re delicious and super easy. Double the recipe because they’re kind of addicting. I’ve also made them with half whole wheat flour/ half white flour which worked pretty well.
http://stresscake.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/something-easy-and-unlikely-homemade-saltines/
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Thanks for the interesting article. We try really hard not to eat processed foods. We started making our own granola bars for instance to avoid the nasty stuff in store bought ones. I also tried making crackers (didn’t know you could make those until recently) and they were pretty good.
Farmer Brad of our CSA was interviewed this week about the potential effects of the Food Safety Modernization act will have which isn’t related to transfat I guess but rather the larger topic of where does your food come from. The interview can be found here http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/
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25As a semi-retired cake decorator, I want to tell you all that nearly every single icing recipe on the planet that cake decorators use calls for shortening. We use shortening in the icing because it’s more stable than butter so in harsh temperatures it won’t be as likely to melt. Keep this in mind the next time you go cake shopping!
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26Along these lines … this is an article posted on KSL (Utah) today. This is definitely an eye opener. I’ve always known that soda, even diet, is bad for you, but I didn’t realize diet soda could still be this bad! It’s enough to make me want to stop drinking pop altogether. After I polish off my Diet Dr. Pepper of course. Oops!
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14315654
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27I also feel really strongly about trans fats. In my experience, the biggest offenders are baked goods, and not the prepackaged kind. Prepackaged food has to be labeled, but bakeries don’t have to label their food. Petit Fours, wedding cake, and croissants are usually loaded with the stuff.
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28To the previous commenters that essentially said “what’s the big deal?”:
I’m speaking for myself here, but what I find most outrageous about this article is not that there are foods that contain trans fats, but the fact that food producers are able to claim that their products are “Trans fat free!” when that isn’t true. It’s completely ridiculous.
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29Yay Jenna! Trans fat is one thing I strive to avoid too - it’s completely fake and totally unnecessary!
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30This is great. Recently my mom and I got into a discussion about fats being good vs bad and what the heck does that even mean. I did a lot of research on it, and it’s pretty interesting how trans fats came about and why they are so bad for you. I am happy to say I have none of the foods on the list and I very rarely eat any of them (ritz crackers and girl scout cookies once in a blue moon)
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31I’m shocked! I eat way more trans fat then I realized. I was actually eating Ritz crackers a few minutes ago…
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32Hi Jenna! I know I’m late to comment but here are a couple of comments/questions:
1. Arrowroot cookies (baby teething cookies) also say they have 0% trans fat but then have shortening listed as an ingredient. Shameful!
2. Anyone know why sometimes on the label (frozen potatoes in this instance) it says 0% trans fat and then under the “prepared” column it says that there is (I forget exactly but lets say…) 3% trans fat when the ingredients is only “potatoes” and the instructions don’t tell you to do anything other than roast them in the oven? Why does the fat content change? Maybe Christine knows the science behind that…?
3. Off topic but somewhat related… What are the rules on organic food and what happens to it after it leaves the farmer? My example here is baby carrots. I have never liked baby carrots because they taste like soap to me (some sort of preservative, I assume) but I was making a soup the other day and was in a bit of a hurry so I bought a bag of organic baby carrots to just throw in the crock pot, thinking that there wouldn’t be that soapy taste because there would be no preservatives, but then there it was! So, does anyone know if preservatives or other additives can be added to organic foods after they leave the farm and still have “organic” on the label? Does the term “organic” only refer to the way that the food was produced?
Thanks everyone! Jenna, I love your food posts! They have inspired me to make some real changes in my life and I’m grateful for the time and effort you put in to getting this information out to people.
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Lida Reply:
March 3rd, 2011 at 3:19 pm
The FDA allows manufacturers to claim “0 grams trans fat” if the food has less than or equal to 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Definitely something to keep in mind especially if you eat more than one serving!
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Shopping/Food/how_to_figure_out_the_amount_of_trans_fat_in_cooking_oil.html
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Lida Reply:
March 3rd, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Hm, so sorry, didn’t mean to repeat what Jenna wrote in the post itself. But this is probably the answer to Mrs. Pumpkin’s #1 question. #2 doesn’t make sense unless the food preparation involves adding some kind of cooking oil or fat?!! How strange!
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Erin Reply:
March 3rd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Gerber Graduates Arrowroot cookies don’t contain shortening or trans fats, but they do have sudar and HFCS.
The term “Prepared” means that you prepare the item following the recipe on the package. So whatever recipe, besides cooking inthe oven might contain trans fat.
Organic standards, like USDA organic allow the addition of wax on to fruits and veggies. I highly doubt that your bagged baby carrots have wax on them. But did you know that baby carrots aren’t really baby carrots at all. They are big carrots that are shaved down in to a smaller size, and labeled “baby”. So what happens to all the carrot that was shaved off??? Pretty wasteful if you ask me.
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Erin Reply:
March 3rd, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Here are all the “CHEMICALS” allowed on/in products labeled ORGANIC.
http://www.organicfoodprocessing.org/info/natlistapprovedsubstances.pdf
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Mrs. Pumpkin Reply:
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Thanks everyone!
Lida, I do understand the 0.5% rule, I was just commenting that Arrowroot could be added to the list of 10 products in the article that Jenna referenced above.
Lida and Erin, I looked the potatoes up online that I was looking at in the store and you are right, I missed the “greased” cookie sheet that you are supposed to roast the potatoes on so that is where the difference is. Oops!
Great info on the Chemicals on/in “organic” foods - thanks Erin!
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1) Shortening and trans fat are not synonymous. Hydrogenated fat and trans fat are not synonymous. Shortening refers to a processed or blended fat and evenif some of the fats are hydrogenated it does not automatically mean they are trans fats. “Trans” refers to the state of a chemical bond in the fat and that bond only forms in specific conditions. Manufacturers of shortening are getting better at controlling this so they don’t go out of business. There is now trans fat free Crisco. Blows the mind. But please don’t oversimplify the science and start yelling at Arrowroot.
2) You could theoretically induce formation of trans fat by high temps in the presence of oxygen/air. But it’s odd they’d call out such a specific increase in %. If the product really is only potato and it’s cooked without fat there is simply no way to spontaneously generate fat. I can only guess they’re implying you are using a fat to cook with.
3) If in the course of processing an organic food is treated with non-organic additives the end product cannot be labeled organic by USDA standards. A restaurant can say they use organic berfbut the rarely claim the burger is organic as it includes cooking fats, breads, veggies, etc.
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34p.s. Based off what the FDA statement is, I can only assume they’re hedging their bets by saying all shortening/hydrogenated oil/etc has trans fat. It is an easier statement than saying some do, some don’t, and it depends on how they carry out their hydrogenation which dictates the ratio of unsaturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, cis-fats, trans-fats and saturated fats. Certainly if you want zero chance of trans-fat then avoid these things. But the whole truth is somewhat grey.
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