Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Natural Trans Fats That Are Actually Healthy For You!
Filed under: Health — @ May 28, 2010
Everyday we are bombarded with information and marketing telling us what is healthy for us. From food labels to “expert” advice espoused by doctors, dietitians and media pundits, we’re spoon-fed a whole lot of reasons why we should be eating or not eating something for the sake of our health. Some people are simply flabbergasted by the information overload and tune it all out because how do you know who and what to believe? This is a major problem for people who are a part of the health industry to try to overcome.
Simplifying the communication of important health messages is an essential method for insuring the general public both understands and implements proven strategies that can be practically applied into their daily lives. Without this, most of the science about diet and healthy living is rendered virtually meaningless because the people it is meant to help make better decisions about what to do regarding their health cannot comprehend it well enough. Unfortunately, though, sometimes the simplicity of making broad statements as universally true axioms regarding health can backfire and lead to even more confusion. Thus is the case with trans fats.
If you’ve been paying any attention at all in the past few years, then undoubtedly you’ve gotten the message loud and clear that trans fats are to be avoided as much as humanly possible. Most of the major health organizations say to keep trans fat consumption to no more than 2g daily. Unfortunately, some people who think they are not ingesting any trans fats at all are getting it into their body because of some shifty nutrition labeling practices the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allows by letting a company declare a product is “trans fat-free” if it contains less than .5g. This is disgusting and should not be allowed. But that’s why it is so vitally important that you also read the ingredients list of any food you purchase to make sure it doesn’t contain “partially hydrogenated” ANYTHING! If you see that, run like the wind.
One of my readers was shopping at his local Trader Joe’s recently and came upon some grass-fed beef he wanted to purchase. He was excited to find this high-quality meat at a place where he regularly shops, but quickly became concerned when he saw that there were trans fats included on the nutritional label for the meat. WHAT?! He decided not to purchase the meat and instead zipped an e-mail to Trader Joe’s asking them what the deal was with trans fats being in the grass-fed beef. He thought the manufacturer may have slipped some into the meat for taste or something.
Click here to get the story on why there are trans fats found naturally in meat and that they are actually extremely healthy for you to be consuming!
