An Overview Of Trans Fat

Do you have regular cholesterol level checks? If you do youprobably have heard there is "good cholesterol" and "badcholesterol." Trans fat is the enemy to us all. Trans fatraises your "bad" cholesterol and lowers your "good"cholesterol. Trans fat is considered by some doctors to be theworst kind of fat of them all because of this double-barreledimpact on cholesterol levels. I am a bit more interested in this issue because for the firsttime in all the blood levels I have ever had drawn mine showeda rise in the "bad" and a lowering in the "good." I have such ahunger for donuts, cookies, cakes and candy; I imagine this waspart of the problem. Needless to say I am finally taking a gripon this problem and have eliminated all those items. I just hopeI can keep them out of my diet for good. I may nibble still alittle bit on my favorite peanut butter fudge recipe. Commercial baked goods like crackers, cookies, cakes and manyfried foods like doughnuts and French fries contain the "bad"trans fats. Shortenings and some margarine are also high intrans fat. It is such a shame I feel that these foods are so"bad" for us. I would be thrilled if I could have donuts forbreakfast every day, a cup of coffee, then some peanut butterfudge. I suppose I could if I wanted to continue to increase myrisks for stroke, heart attack and heart disease. I don't wantto. So I will at least enjoy these tasty treats only once inawhile. A high LDL cholesterol level is a major risk factor for heartdisease. If the LDL levels is too high, over time, this cancause atherosclerosis, a dangerous accumulation of fattydeposits on the walls of your arteries. The deposits are called"plaques," and they can reduce blood flow through your arteries.If the arteries that supply your heart with blood (coronaryarteries) are affected, you can experience chest pain and othersymptoms of coronary artery disease. I must say I have a veryintelligent personal physician. If the plaques tear or rupture,a blood clot may form and block the flow of blood or break freeand plug an artery downstream. If blood flow to part of yourheart stops, you will have a heart attack. If blood flow topart of your brain stops, you can have a stroke. Pretty scarystuff, isn't it? It truly is not worth eating a lot of foodwith trans fat. It is so important to find a personal physician you can trustand develop sort of a partnership approach to your health care.I have been with this same physician now for over 20 years andhe knows me fairly well. He has known me during the healthiesttimes of my life, so he ought to be fairly quick in picking upon the times I may become "unhealthy." From all I haveresearched so far, however, he is right on target withpreventative measures. Trans fat has also been shown to have some other harmfuleffects. Those include: � Increases triglycerides: A high triglyceride level maycontribute to hardening of the arteries or thickening of theartery walls, which increases the risk of stroke, heart attackand heart disease. � Increases Lp(a) lip oprotein: This is a type of LDLcholesterol found in varying levels in the blood and dependsupon your genetic makeup. At this time researchers say it isunclear how high levels of Lp(a) � independent of othercholesterol levels � increases the risk of heart disease. Moreresearch is needed. � Causes more inflammation: Increased inflammation is a processby which your body responds to injury. It is thought thatinflammation plays a key role in the formation of fattyblockages in heart blood vessels. Trans fat seems to damage thecells lining blood vessels. This can lead to inflammation. At your grocery store you can expect to see less trans fatshowing up in the food on the grocery store shelves. Beware ofeating out a lot. Many restaurants continue to use trans fat aspart of the oil used to fry food. For example, a large servingof French fries at some restaurants can contain 5 grams or moreof trans fat. Even though more and more restaurants are putting nutritionalinformation on their menus, most are not required to list transfat content. One change in this area, however, is in New YorkCity. New York City recently banned trans fat from being usedin restaurants, which seems to be a great step forward, we canhope other restaurants will follow suit. This was another problem of mine, eating out a lot. I don'tlike to cook. I rather spend my time doing something else thenrun to the nearest restaurant or fast food place and pick up abite to eat. This is exactly what has caused my blood levels tobe out of normal range. I never had this before. I have beenquite concerned. I was reluctant at first to take another pill, as my doctorsent me a letter and said: "Are you willing to take a pill forhigh triglycerides?" I wrote back and said: "No, will increasemy exercise routine and adjust my eating habits, I do not wantto fish around for more money to buy more pills." You see, heknows me pretty well. He asked: "Are you willing��." Next time I saw him, first thing, he said: "Your triglyceridesare too high, much higher than we want to see them." I felthorrible as I almost always do while waiting to see the doctor,and I said, "Well, how high were they?" He said again: "they aretoo high," and handed me a piece of paper where he had writtenthe name of a "pill" for me to get over-the-counter. It wasNiacin. He said, take this two times a day for six months andwe will do a repeat blood level to see if they have come down.He said, "How old are you now?" I said: "50." He drops theselittle subtle hints as if to tell me, "you are not 25 anymore,right?" Regardless of age, though, now that I have learned about thedanger of trans fat, they should be eliminated from any agedperson's diet as far as my opinion goes in the matter. At thistime, researchers do not know exactly how much trans fat aperson can consume without any negative impact on thecholesterol level. The issue is still debatable. However, theysay there is no question that you should limit trans fat,according to the Food and Drug Administration and the AmericanHeart Association. The Niacin was not expensive at all. The reason food nutrition labels in the United States do notlist a Percent Daily Value for trans fat is because it isunknown what an appropriate level of trans fat is, other thanit should be low. The AHA recommends no more than 1 percent ofyour total daily calories be trans fat. For example, if youconsume 2,000 calories a day, the total of trans fat you canconsumer is about 2 grams or less. On the other hand don't think a trans fat-free food isautomatically good for you. Food manufacturers are substitutingother ingredients for trans fat. Some of these ingredients liketropical oils, coconut, palm kernel and palm oils contain a lotof saturated fat. Saturated fat raises your LDL cholesterol. Ahealthy diety includes some fat, but to limit that fat. For a healthy heart diet try using olive, peanut and canolaoils. Eat nuts, fish and other foods containing unsaturatedomega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil supplement is also another heart healthy additive toyour daily diet. Source: The Mayo Clinic, and Trilogy Online. Disclaimer: This article is not meant to diagnose, treat orcure any kind of a health problem. All health problems shouldbe addressed by a Health Care Professional of your choice. Thisarticle is for information. This article is FREE to reprint with the resource box.About The Author: Connie Limon, Trilogy Field Representative.Visit http://nutritionandhealthhub.com and sign up for aweekly nutrition and health tip. The article collection isavailable as FREE reprints for your newsletters, websites orblog. Visit http://www.healthylife27.com to purchase an arrayof superior quality, safe and effective products inspired bynature, informed by science and created to improve the healthof people, pets and the planet.