Healthy Eating: Trans Fat

Trans fat is both very unhealthy and very common. It increases the amount of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglycerides, increases the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL ("good") cholesterol, and disrupts the functioning of cells that line the blood vessels. And it’s found in many foods, especially fried foods, baking mixes, cookies, crackers, and stick margarine and shortenings, as well as commercial baked goods.

But trans fat is not hard to identify, and with a little effort you can avoid it, especially in foods you prepare at home.

Part I: Avoiding Trans Fat when Cooking at Home

If you're in the habit of looking at the Nutrition Facts box on the labels of the food you buy, you're used to seeing the food's Trans Fat content. And, obviously, if you want to avoid trans fat, you'll choose foods with zero trans fat content. But you’ll need to look at more than the Nutrition Facts box.

Why can't you trust the Nutrition Facts box? Life would be simpler if the Nutrition Facts box told the whole trans fat story, but it doesn’t.

Take a look at the nutrition facts from a typical commercial barbecue sauce product. The label says “0g trans fat.”

Now look at the ingredients list from the same package:

The product contains partially hydrogenated oil. In other words, the product contains trans fat.

Why the discrepancy? Because, under FDA regulations, if a food contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, the food can be labeled as containing zero trans fat.

But no matter how little there is, trans fat is still bad for your body. And if you eat more than one serving of a “zero trans fat” product (more than two tablespoons of that barbecue sauce, for instance, or a handful of french fries to go with the barbecue, or a couple of brownies for dessert), you’re likely to find yourself consuming dangerous levels of a very unhealthy substance.

So don't rely on that easy-to-read Nutrition Facts box. Get into the fine print: read the ingredients list and make sure that what you're buying doesn't include partially hydrogenated oil. It's the healthy decision for your body.

Part II: Trans Fat When You’re Eating Out

When you’re cooking at home, avoiding trans fat is a straightforward process: read labels and stay away from anything containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Few restaurants, on the other hand, put nutrition information and ingredients lists on the menu, so eating out is a little more challenging. But if you know what to look for and how to order, you can keep your restaurant meals heart-healthy.

To that end, we offer these seven simple rules:

• No-Frying Rule: stay away from fried foods. Have your meats baked, broiled, sauteéd, stewed, roasted, steamed, grilled —but not fried. (Ditto for the vegetables, especially potatoes.)
• Salad Rule: avoid mayonnaise-based salad dressings. Stick with olive oil and vinegar preparations.
• Dessert Rule: be careful! Is it fried? Does it contain shortening? Cake, pie crust, cookies — all those goodies, all that trans fat! You’ll make better choices if you avoid pastries and focus on fruit-based desserts (Cerises Jubilee, anyone?).
• Homework Rule: if you’re not familiar with the restaurant, check out its web site. If they post a menu, you can decide ahead of time, or at least narrow your focus to the healthy choices.
• Beverage Rule: before you lighten up your coffee with artificial creamer, take a look at the ingredients. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil? Trans fat — proceed at your own risk.
• Question Rule: if something looks good but you’re not sure it passes the “good for you” test, ask your server: what’s in it? how is it prepared? Of course, you won’t get much of an answer if you’re at a fast-food restaurant, but many fast-food chains now post the nutritional content of their menu offerings on their web site.
• Last Rule: let eating out be a social occasion. Focus on your companions, share some good stories, enjoy a well-prepared, healthy meal, and relax. Your healthy heart is worth the effort.