will the trans- fats ban make us fatter?

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Could the Trans-Fat ban backfire and make us fatter? By Michael Collins

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Earlier this year the NYC Board of Health voted unanimously to ban trans-fats from foods served everywhere from Starbucks to McDonalds to the Mom and Pop Diner on the corner.

Awesome, right?

Well, let’s take a closer look at the implications of this:

As we know from a plethora of studies, trans-fats suck, health-wise. Many experts pin our increasing incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity on trans-fats. So why in the world have food companies been filling our foods with these destructive fats in the first place?

To give you a crash course on Trans-Fats:

Trans-fats are the "Super fats" of the food industry. In the ‘50s, chemists went into the lab and fiddled with the chemical structure of unsaturated fats/oils in search of an oil that would last longer on the shelf, which in turn would boost profits immensely.

Adding hydrogen atoms to an unsaturated oil (“saturating it” without making it a real saturated fat) makes it last way longer without spoiling. What does that mean for companies? More profits.

All the cookies, cheezy poofs, and potato chips on the shelves have trans-fats in them to make them last for months and months on the shelves of your local Kwikie Mart.

Not only are trans-fats used in packaged foods, they are also used in the frying machines at fast food restaurants. Why?

Oils, by their very nature, are highly reactive with oxygen and go rancid (becoming carcinogenic) extremely fast. When you heat oil, it goes rancid even faster.

So if they are so unhealthy, how could banning trans-fats backfire on us?

Well, remember when the "low-fat" craze hit, and all the market was flooded with "healthier" snacks and desserts labeled "low-fat" and "fat-free"? What happened? Consumption of junk food shot up. Incidence of obesity shot up. Why? because:

- The public is not educated to the facts
- The public generally follows perception
- The companies’ marketing creates the public’s perception

When all those new products came out, they were touted as “healthier”, because they contained less fat. Trying to lose weight? Great, have some low-fat snackie pies. And you know what, have a few more! Why?

Because they're fat-free! Indulge!

Utter nonsense. Fats contain flavor and give food a scrumptious, savory texture. Food companies had to fill the flavor and texture quota somehow after the fats were removed. So what did they go to? Sugar!

These new, low/no-fat foods that were supposed to be healthier ended up sparking more obesity because replacing fat with sugar:

- causes insulin levels to skyrocket, making you hungrier and turning your fat-storing mechanisms on
- decreases satiety, causing you to eat more to feel as full
- caused greater calorie intake overall

So how will removal of trans fats back fire on us?

Well, very soon you will start to see ads pop up on TV touting "our *insert junk food name here* is free of trans-fats". They will start to slant the product as "healthy" (like when the Atkins craze was all the rage, you saw KFC advertise their fried chicken as “low-carb.”).

But guess what? It's more utter nonsense. All of those foods are still junk foods, right? Still unhealthy without trans-fats. Still going to kill you if you keep stuffing your face with them.

Removing trans-fats from these foods are irrelevant. The foods themselves are unhealthy and promote fat-storing!

Nobody is trying to get trans-fats out of fruits or vegetables, are they?

As I write this, I'm reminded of an episode of Married With Children where the Bundy family wins a contest for a lifetime supply of weenie tots. Their entire living room is filled with boxes of weenie tots. It turns out the weenie tots had to be eaten within a few minutes, or else they would disintegrate and vanish.

Back to the point: Be on guard of the perception creation machines, otherwise known as food company marketing teams. Don’t let them dictate your dietary habits. Instead, get education on sound nutritional facts and cut down or eliminate consumption of foods that undermine your health and cause you to store unsightly fat.

There are tons of places on the web where you can find the real deal on nutrition and fat-burning (like this site you’re currently reading *ahem). Want an easy, painless, NO-COST method to keep abreast of the latest in fat loss, body sculpting, health, and nutrition? Sign up here for our weekly newsletter (heck, we even GIVE you something to join – our latest Special Report: The Dark Side of Dieting. It details 21 things you probably didn’t even realize were keeping you from losing those inches.)

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