Notes From The Coach

Did you know?

By Ali Baedke, MS, RD, Clinical Education Coordinator, HDL, Inc.

Trans fat deserves it’s bad rap. It can wreak havoc on your cholesterol levels and is a major contributor to the increasing rates of heart disease. Found in small quantities in meat and dairy, it is most often found in fried, packaged, and canned foods.

If you have been reading nutrition labels and looking for those that state “no trans fat” or “trans fat free”, look again. Food companies can legally make such claims if foods have < 0.5g trans fat per serving. If you eat 3 servings of a food item that has 0.4g of trans fat per serving, you are getting 1.2g of trans fat with that food alone! How much trans fat should you have in one day? The answer is simple: as close to 0g as you can. This is one type of fat you don’t need in your diet.

So how do you know which foods are truly trans fat-free? Notice if the words “partially hydrogenated” or “hydrogenated*” appear in the ingredients list. If they do, do your body one big, fat favor. Shelve it.