Healthy trans fats vs. unhealthy trans fats revealed

Healthy trans fats vs. unhealthy trans fats revealed

Today I'm going to talk about something most of you have probably never heard... that there is a difference between good trans fats and bad trans fats. There is some evidence that the good trans fats can help you lose fat, build muscle, and even prevent cancer, while the bad trans fats have been shown to cause heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the general bubbly feeling in your body.

I'm sure most of you have heard all the noise in the news over the last few years about how bad artificial trans fats are for your health. If you have been a reader of my newsletter and e-book program, Truth About Six Pack Abs, then you definitely know my opinion that these substances are some of the nastiest food additives out there and are found in the vast majority of all processed and fast foods on the market today. In my opinion, artificial trans fats are right up there with smoking in terms of their health risk. After all, they have been a major factor in the explosion of heart disease since about the 1950s.

As you may have heard recently, since the beginning of this year, the FDA has mandated that food manufacturers list the grams of trans fat on all nutrition labels. This means that when inventory is replaced at grocery stores, you should see trans grams listed on all packages from now on, giving you an easier way to avoid them.

With all the talk about trans fats in the news these days, I wanted to clarify a few things, particularly regarding bad trans fats vs. good trans fats. If you've never heard of good trans fats, let me explain right away.

The bad trans fats

First, the bad trans fats I'm referring to are the artificial ones. These are represented by all artificially hydrogenated oils. The main culprits are margarine, shortening and partially hydrogenated oils, which are found in most processed foods, junk foods and fried foods. These hydrogenated oils are heavily processed using harsh chemical solvents such as hexane (a component of gasoline), high heat and pressure, infused with a metal catalyst, and then deodorized and bleached. A small percentage of the solvent is allowed to remain in the finished oil. This has now become more of an industrial oil than a food oil, but somehow the FDA still allows food manufacturers to put this crap in our food in large quantities, even with the well-documented health hazards.

These hydrogenated oils cause inflammation in your body, which signals the deposition of healing cholesterol on artery walls. Therefore, hydrogenated oil = inflammation = clogged arteries. You can see why heart disease has exploded since this crap was loaded into our food supply over the last 5-6 decades. As time goes on and science continues to reveal how deadly these oils really are, I think they will eventually become illegal and banned from use. The labeling laws were just the first step. In fact, some countries around the world have already banned the use of hydrogenated oils in food production, or at least set dates to phase them out permanently.

However, keep in mind that as companies begin to phase out the use of hydrogenated oils in processed foods, in most cases they replace them with highly refined polyunsaturated oils. These are still heavily processed oils that use high heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleaches. Even refined oils are known to cause inflammation in your body... a far cry from natural sources of healthy fats. Again, for the best results, it is best to avoid highly processed foods completely and choose whole, natural, minimally processed foods. Your body will thank you!

The good trans fats

Ok, after talking about the artificial trans fats, I want to be clear that there IS such a thing as healthy natural trans fats. Natural trans fats are formed in the stomachs of ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats, etc. and enter the animals' fat stores. Therefore, the milk fat and the fat in the meat of these animals can provide natural healthy trans fats. Natural trans fats have been thought to have potential benefits in your diet to help with both muscle building and fat loss. However, keep in mind that the amount of healthy trans fats in meat and dairy products from ruminants is greatly reduced by mass production methods and their grain- and soy-heavy diets. Meat and dairy products from grass-fed, free-range animals always contain much higher amounts of these beneficial fats.

One such natural trans fat you may have heard of is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and has been marketed by many weight loss companies. Keep in mind that those man-made CLA pills you see in stores may not be the best way to get CLA into your diet. They are artificially made from vegetable oils, instead of the natural process that occurs in ruminants. Once again, man-made products simply cannot compare to the benefits of natural sources.

Now that all of your labels should contain grams of trans fat, keep in mind that if there is an amount of trans fat listed on a meat or dairy product, it is most likely the natural good trans fats that we have discussed here. Otherwise, if the amount of grafts is listed on processed foods, it's most likely the dangerous unhealthy crap made from artificially hydrogenated oils, so stay away!

I hope you enjoyed this interesting look at good trans fats vs bad trans fats and use the information to arm yourself with healthier foods for a better body.