Avoiding Trans Fat May Save Your Life

As consumers we had no idea how much trans fatty acids (trans-fat) were in the food we eat. Until now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after much red tape, is requiring that trans-fats be on all packaged food labels. You will see the new addition right below the saturated fat listing. At least now, Americans in the packaged food they buy can see how much is in there. Trans-fat are worse on the heart than saturated fat and should be avoided in any diet program.

Trans-fat are, in my opinion, the most deadly of the unnatural forms of fat. The FDA estimates that 500 deaths from heart disease will be prevented in the next 3 years, thanks to this new information to consumers. Harvard researchers have estimated that 100,000 lives a year could be saved if people cut trans-fats out of their diets completely.

So what is a trans-fat? Trans-fats are artificially created by a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is adding hydrogen atoms to liquid vegetable oil. This process allows a longer shelf life and stabilizes the flavor. It is also cheaper than other fats, like butter or lard, so many food manufacturers prefer to use it. About 40% of the food on grocery store shelves contain trans-fat. Health officials in New York City estimate that 30% of the restaurants use trans-fats or fry food in them.

Once in the blood stream, trans-fats raise bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, LDL) and lower good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein, HDL). Trans-fat may raise cholesterol twice as much as saturated fat, which makes it one of the major contributors to heart disease deaths crippling Americans. There are more than 1.4 million Americans dying from heart disease each year. In a Harvard Nurses' Health Study, those who eat more trans-fat were 53% more likely to develop heart disease than those in the study eating low amounts of trans-fat. The high risk group was consuming 6.7 grams a day. You can find the same number of trans-fat in fast food French fries fried in partially hydrogenated oil. Higher incidence of diabetes and gallstone disease may be linked to trans-fat as well.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) estimates that there is no safe amount of trans-fat to eat. No one is sure exactly how much trans-fat Americans are eating. One tablespoon of margarine has 3 grams, one doughnut has 5 grams. The best thing you can do is cut trans-fat out of your diet completely. Your heart will thank you. Frito-Lay chips and Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers have already taken out trans-fat from their food. Most companies still have not taken trans-fat out of their products. There are two grocery store chains that carry no products with trans-fat, Whole Foods and Wild Oats. If you want to rid your diet of trans-fat, you are going to have to read food labels carefully. Besides the grams of trans-fat in the product, you need to check the serving size as well. Some products have small serving sizes to keep their grams total down.

If you want to keep trans-fat out your diet, there are things you can do. Cooking your own food is one of the best ways. You then know what style you are cooking with. Good oils to use are olive, grape seed, rice bran, canola, corn, and safflower oil. Staying away from restaurants that use trans-fat would also be advisable. Look for foods that contain essential fats that our bodies want, like the avocado.

With a little extra effort you can take trans-fat out of your diet. Taking trans-fat out of your diet may be the single best thing you can do to lower your risk of heart disease. There is no known health value of trans-fat, so your body won't be missing anything if you completely get rid of them in your diet.

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Food and Diet for More Energy

Do you find that you get fatigued during the afternoon? There are better choices than reaching for that candy bar, soda, or the latest energy drink. Food and diet is essential to giving your body more energy during the day which an online personal fitness training program can help with. With making some easy diet choices you can have more energy and feel alive during those once sluggish hours.

The fatigue and lack of energy you feel is associated with how you fuel your metabolism. Another way of looking at it is the food you eat or not eat is causing you have low energy and want to take a nap at work. If you are having any lack of energy throughout the day, now is a great time to start making better dietary choices which a dietician online can support you with.

The common diet programs that create this lack of energy are low calorie diets or eating 3 meals a day or less. Also, if your diet habits consist of fast food, candy, or soft drinks then your body is simply not getting the energy it needs and how it wants it was balanced energy levels. Another aspect that affects your energy with poor food choices is a lack of essential vitamins, minerals, complex carbs, and amino acids. All of these are building blocks for proper metabolism functioning.

The major issue with the ineffective diet programs of Americans is bad habits actually create more bad habits. Many people think that if they just had will power they won't succumb to food cravings that crush their diets. The reality is that poor choices create times when your body is in low blood sugar and that period is what causes your cravings. It is physiology that causes them not a lack of mental strength. Did you know that once you start eating 5 small meals during the day your cravings for sugar go away? Follow me on this person's day. We are starting with breakfast though they don't eat breakfast because they have noticed that if they skip breakfast they don't feel hungry till lunch. So at lunch they go out to dinner with their coworkers. Now, from a lack of energy they over eat more food than they should at any one meal. The problem is this doesn't feel or looks like too much food because this is what they are used to. How do I know this is too much food because at around 2 or 3 pm they are crashing. Their energy is low and they have become exceptionally irritable. Does this sound familiar?

So what are we supposed to eat? The goal is to eat 5 small meals throughout the day. For the average American this is cutting their normal meal in half and eating the other half as a snack. Breakfast starts the day either burning fat or storing fat. You know you had a proper breakfast because you are hungry 2-3 hours later, and it is time for another snack. You want to keep having small meals every two to three hours throughout the day. The reason this is good is because your body is burning calories and wants more fuel to keep burning. I know it seems logical if you don't eat you will lose weight. The problem is when you don't eat your body stores the food you eat as fat. When you fuel your body every 2-3 hours your body starts to burn more energy and will stop storing energy. This is the key to healthy losing weight.

Another key aspect to controlling your energy levels is the use of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that supports your body to release adrenaline into your system. Caffeine in moderation, as in one cup of coffee doesn't throw your body out of balance. Having a multiple cups or some of the energy drinks and your body is running on artificial energy and then you crash. Once you crash you want that good feeling again, and so you are off on another Starbucks run. I know people who go to Starbucks every 2-3 hours or after each time their body crashes. One thing on energy drinks, Red Bull has less caffeine than a cup of coffee though I can't guarantee what is in the rest of the energy drinks.

Do you need more protein or more carbs in your meals? If you find that your meals are made of mostly carbs or simple sugars than eating protein with your meals with balance you out. Most Americans are over eating protein. If you are not getting a small amount of complex carbs in each meal, this is another reason why you are low on energy. Carbs are you body's fuel. Protein is designed to rebuild your muscle tissue and your body doesn't want to use it as energy.

Adding proper supplementation can make easy healthy and throughout the day easier. For most people getting that mid morning or mid afternoon snack can be a challenge. Having a meal replacement bar or shake can give you the healthy fuel you need. Also, most meal replacement supplements are fortified with vitamins and minerals which is a far cry from the candy bar. Supplements allow you to get exactly the right amount of calories in your meal as well. Especially, if you are going after a weight loss goal you don't need to eat any extra calories. What should I eat for my 5 small meals? The first answer is the same things you are eating now only cut them in half. You will find that the sugar cravings go away so we automatically start eating less sugar. The goal is to go to the super market thinking about what you want to eat for your meals. If you buy it at the grocery store than you will have it ready when it is time to eat? Liveleantoday.com's diet program creates weekly menus that print out grocery lists to make this process easy. Start eating every 2-3 hours and turn your metabolism into a fat burning machine. I know you might be laughing, not your metabolism. Today if you start eating 5 small meals your body will start to turn over. You will know this is working because you will have more energy than you have ever had before.

Chuck Carter, BS Exercise Science is President of Personal Training website LiveLeanToday.com. For over 20 years, Mr. Carter has trained people to achieve their fitness goals. Go to for more information on online personal training program and other health and fitness information.