Friday, June 30, 2006

Common trans-fatty foods

If you've read my post about trans fats, you know that I do my best to avoid foods that contain them. When you're better off putting lard in your system than this stuff, shouldn't you do your best to avoid them too?

Some of you already read ingredient labels. That's awesome. That will be your best defense. But some of you maybe are too lazy to do it, or get intimidated searching through all that tiny print. I'd like to make a quick list of common foods that you may or may not be aware are on "the bad list" by containing partially hydrogenated oils.
  • Margarine - You already know this one, right? I hope so! This is the worst item on the list.
  • Cool Whip - About as bad as margarine. You're much better off with real whipped cream.
  • Peanutbutter - Some brands don't have trans fats, such as Laura Scudder and the brands sold in Trader Joe's. But the common ones like Skippy and Jiff are best avoided.
  • Non-dairy Coffee Creamer (like Mocha Mix) - If it's trying to be fake dairy, it's likely made of trans fats. This includes the powder stuff.
  • Nearly all common cookies and crackers in the snack aisle - Trans fats increase shelf life, therefore they're used in things that need to sit awhile, like pre-packaged foods. Even stuff marked as "healthy" may contain them.
  • Cereal - I was hit hard by this one. I love cereal. But the vast majority of cereals in that aisle are tainted with trans fats. Look for cereals made by smaller brands instead of General Mills and Kellogg.
  • Cake Mixes - Most boxed cake and muffin mixes contain trans fats for longer shelf life.
  • Commercially deep fried foods, especially fast food - Trans fats take high heat very well (they were created by high heat to begin with) so most commercial places that do a lot of deep frying use large vats of partially hydrogenated oils to do the frying. I try to avoid fast food altogether.
  • Croissants from cheap sources - Croissants are flaky and yummy, supposedly with buttery goodness. However butter is 3-4 times as expensive as margarine, so places that mass produce croissants (like Costco or any store brand) probably use margarine.

You wouldn't put dirty fuel into your car, would you? That's why you need to be choosy about what you eat. Avoiding the foods on this list is a step in the right direction. But if you can help it at all, read those ingredient labels!

11 comments:

Maggie said...

Oh no!!! My coffee stuff?!?! Well, damn!

Unknown said...

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The Radical Notion said...

I don't eat margarine, coffee creamer, or cool whip but I can't give up my cereal or peanut butter. I do like some KFC sometimes too and I'm sure that's loaded.

Unknown said...

peanut butter!!! I love peanut butter!

*looks at ass*

yep! I surely do!

Jerry Novick said...

Cool Whip says "0" trans fat in its nutrition box. Not that people should eat that stuff anyway.

Geeky Dragon Girl said...

It's been a couple years since I looked at a package of Cool Whip. It's possible they've changed their formula, but I'd look at the ingredients list just to be sure.

The Radical Notion said...

I was looking at an empty package of cool whip at work the other day (we keep stuff in the plastic containers) and I noticed the zero trans fat and was planning on coming here and revealing my findings but, alas, someone has beat me to it. Cool whip is caca anyways. Blech.

Geeky Dragon Girl said...

I admit I used to love Cool Whip, I don't know why. But I don't trust it anymore. Next time I'm in a grocery store I want to see for myself if hydrogenated oils are in the ingredients list. If the amount is small enough, the FDA allows them to say "No Trans Fats", but's it's still there. I want to see if Cool Whip has done something sneaky like that.

Anonymous said...

Great blog you have! I really enjoyed it. Hope you keep posting new findings.

Anonymous said...

looks like this is a very old thread that probably nobody will read... but anyways, i would also be interested if cool-whip has trans-fats. if it has 0.5 grams per serving, that IS a big deal. I live with a 76 year old woman who consumes about 2 tubs a week. if it has 0.5 g of trans fats per serving, that is 25g per tub or, for her a consistent intake of 7g per day. and i wonder if there is any connection between that and her alzheimers...

Unknown said...

Scudders? Well, here's a shocker for you...tonight I went to buy Laura Scudders PB to make my grandmother's PB cookie recipe for a cookie exchange party. Right away I noticed something very new on the front of the label...NO STIR!....it said in big gold letters. Hmmmm, I thought...I turned the jar over and read the label. To my Shock & Awe (not the good kind of Awe, either) the second item on the label was HYDROGENATED VEG OIL!!!

They've gone and ruined it by adding in artery clogging garbage!!! Unbelievable!!!

*sigh*sniff*sigh*

And yes, as I understand it, Cool Whip does have trans fats - my doc explained to me that Hydrogenated oils are a trans fat... therefore... well, you can do the math. Cool Whip is a heart stopper.