Posted on 05/11/2003 10:13:13 PM PDT by MikalM
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:42:27 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Oreo cookies should be banned from sale to children in California, according to a lawsuit filed by a San Francisco attorney who claims that trans fat -- the stuff that makes the chocolate cookies crisp and their filling creamy -- is so dangerous children shouldn't eat it.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
YES!!! We haven't eaten pasta or potatoes in this house for months and bread only rarely. And processed foods? Forget about it. My husband has lost 65 pounds in the past year, and I had a baby in December (after losing 25 myself), all the baby weight was gone in 2 weeks and I have lost almost 10 more very gradually since then - can't go too crazy while nursing. Anyway, the bottom line is, I can't even imagine going back to eating the way we used to.
And yes, yay for my mom - she was starting to scare me, with her disregard for her type 2. She's been so frustrated for years, yo-yoing back and forth with weight and sugar, doing well for a while and then losing all her groung again. Now she's afraid to go off induction! :) She's experimenting with adding a couple carbs here and there to see how well she can keep things stabilized. I'll tell her what you said about 3 months, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it.
Gotta go find a recipe for low-carb vegetable stuffing, I have two cornish game hens to work on for dinner! Thanks for the response.
You can't argue with the health nazis on this one because they're right. Substitute the word "arsenic" for "trans fat" and the argument becomes crystal clear, as in "arsenic provides crispiness in an oreo cookie."
Trans fat works slower than arsenic, but it's deadly.
Have you tried Atkins? It does wonders for people with type two diabetes and cholesterol problems. Check out the reviews of his book on Amazon.
Exactly. There's nothing wrong with fat per se. It's the kind of fat. Eat all the nuts, avocadoes, butter, cheese, cream and steak you want. But don't touch any hydrogenated oils.
One reason only, money. Palm oil and coconut oil are cheap. (FYI, honey isn't much better for you than corn syrup).
Hydrogenated palm and coconut oil is used to keep chocolate bars, "creme" fillings and other processed foods from melting at room temperature and to keep them from going bad. The manufacturers are fully aware of how harmful these oils are.
On the other hand, plain palm and coconut oil isn't nearly as bad as hydrogenated palm and coconut oil.
Effects of Different Forms of Dietary Hydrogenated Fats on Serum Lipoprotein Cholesterol LevelsA study published in the June 24, 1999 issue the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that consuming products low in both saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids has a beneficial effect on total blood cholesterol levels, especially levels of LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol). Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol have been linked with an increased risk for heart attacks.
Fats and oils are mixtures of fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are created during the hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen) of vegetable oils. When these fatty acids are hydrogenated, they become less soft and less likely to become rancid, which increases the shelf life of perishable goods, such as snack foods and baked foods. Such products, as well as hardened margarines and fried fat foods, are major sources of trans fatty acids in the diet. Trans fatty acids also occur in small amounts in some animal fats. Examples of foods other than stick margarine that contain high levels of trans-fatty acids are commercially baked goods and fried fast food, especially french fries.
"This was a carefully designed study, with clear cut results, that confirms and adds to the accumulating body of evidence that suggests that trans fatty acids contribute to elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and appear to have other metabolic effects that may also increase risk for heart disease." says Ronald M. Krauss, M.D., American Heart Association spokesperson on nutrition, and his colleagues. Krauss is a Senior Scientist and head of the Molecular Medicine Department at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley.
He adds that, "The good news is that there are many options currently available to both consumers and industry to reduce the amount of trans fatty and saturated acids in our diets. For example, semi-liquid margarine, soy bean oil, safflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, olive oil and safflower oil are all low in trans fatty acids and saturated fats,"
Current estimates of the average dietary intake in the U.S. population suggest that 12-15 percent of total calories are derived from saturated fatty acids, whereas only about 2-4 percent of total calories come from trans fatty acids.
During the study, eighteen men and eighteen women, over the age of 50, who had levels of LDL cholesterol greater than 130 mg/dl (moderately elevated) consumed a carefully controlled series of six diets over a period of the 36 days each. The individuals studied were all candidates for dietary intervention because elevated LDL cholesterol levels.
All of the diets provided during each 36-day period derived no more than 30 percent of total calories from fat. A key difference in each of the six diets was the type of spread that was used -- soybean oil, semi-liquid margarine, soft margarine, stick margarine or butter.
Both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in the blood were the lowest after the subjects had consumed the soybean oil and semi-liquid-margarine, and increased progressively after subjects consumed the soft-margarine, shortening and stick margarine and butter. The results were similar for both men and women.
An accompanying statement, written by scientists and physicians at the Harvard School of Public Health and Wageningen Center for Food Science in The Netherlands, notes that current U.S. regulations do not require the amount of trans fatty acid in a product to be included on food labels. They also note that fast foods are exempt from food labeling regulations.
"The debate about what changes might be needed with regard to U.S. food labels is ongoing and this editorial touches on the key areas," says Krauss. "For example, should the amount of trans-fatty acids in a product be included on food labels as a separate line, or should trans fatty acid content be combined with saturated fatty acid content on the label?
"In any event, consumers need to be provided information that will allow them to choose products with low content of trans fatty acids, and industry will need to continue efforts to reduce content of both trans fatty acids and saturated fats in the food supply," says Krauss.
I'll take whatever you have. This is perfect for me because I have celiac disease.
In order of priority:
1) brownies
2) choc chip cookie
3) cheesecake
4) coffee cake.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.