Improve Your Health by Lowering Trans Fat Intake
Trans fat is found in most of the foods that we consume today. This man-made fat has been used since the 1940's to give foods a better taste and to prolong their shelf life. Recently researchers have discovered that trans fat can have a significant negative impact on your cholesterol levels and increases your risk for heart disease and stroke.
Trans fat is formed by injecting hydrogen into oil to partially solidify it. This process is called hydrogenation. When looking at food labels you may seem the term partially hydrogenated oil. This is just another term for trans fat. However, if a food is labeled fully hydrogenated, it does not contain trans fat. The process to fully hydrogenate an oil does not result in trans fatty acids.
The way that trans fat affects your health is by lowering your level of HDL or high density lipoproteins. The HDL are responsible for transporting excess cholesterol back to your liver to be processed as waste. If your HDL is lower, it cannot perform this very important function. Trans fat also raises your LDL, or low density lipoprotein levels. This LDL is responsible for excess plaque buildup in your arteries which can cause decreased blood flow to the major organs. If a piece of this plaque would happen to break free, it can form a clot in the artery and depending on the location of the clot, it can cause a heart attack or a stroke.
This is why you must become aware of your trans fat intake and do everything you can to lower the amount of trans fat in your diet. The following are some good tips to help you lower your trans fat intake:
* Read the labels. In January of 2006, the FDA required that all foods must list the amount of trans fat on the nutrition label. Look for trans fat on the label and try to find foods with very little or even no trans fat.
* Know the foods that do contain trans fat. These include your snack foods such as cakes, cookies, doughnuts, microwave popcorn, etc. Do some research on the Internet for a printable list of foods that contain trans fat. Print it out and become familiar with it.
* Switch to whole and natural foods. These foods do not contain trans fats. Eat more lean meats, fish, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.
* Keep from eating out as much as possible. Plan your meals a week at a time and if possible cook them up ahead of time and put them in the freezer. This allows you to just pop something in the oven when you get home from work.
Following the above tips will not only reduce the amount of trans fat in your diet, it can also help you maintain a healthier lifestyle and may even help you lose weight. To get the added benefit of your diet change, start an exercise program or start taking walks with your family. You've only got one body, take good care of it by reducing trans fat for better health.
