How to avoid Trans Fats?

[Dahrol]

I'm trying to continue on my healthy eating lifestyle and have learned alot about fat intake and it's relation to heart disease. I don't smoke nor drink, so those are two pluses. HOWEVER, trans fat, which is the deadliest fat there is, is all around me, and my grandmother keep buying foods with trans fat in it.

Some foods even blatantly lie to you by claiming there is no trans fat, but the words "hydrogenated" appear in the ingredients. It's EVERYWHERE.

It's like death, all over the place, and I'm surprised how many Americans are eating this crap. I don't know what to do. I have a phobia of getting cardiovascular disease, or having a heart attack, and I'm overweight. I was 408 pounds, but I'm down to 351 in 4 months. I used to eat a crap ton of fast food and greasy fatty fried foods, and I'm TERRIFIED I've done irreparable damage to my heart and body, and that it's too late to lengthen my life span.

I've been evaluated by my doctor, and he says I'm on the right path, and my tests have all come back saying I'm still healthy, but I still have doubt.

Just the words "heart attack" give me anxiety, and I get tired of seeing commercials about it on TV.

Bottom line, I'm trying to avoid trans fat, and it seems hard. Any advice? What do I do?

This crap should be illegal!

[Flycaster305]

You need to shop at the outside edges of the supermarket, and avoid the racks on the inside. Your fresh products are located there, the transfat products are in the inside areas.  It's not an easy task.  Does your insurance provide coverage with a nutritionist?  That would be a valueable resource.  Your weight loss is impressive, well done

[jrbon]

It seems that in USA it is difficult, but here in Spain it is very normal  to buy ONLY fresh or frozen unprepared meat and fish. In fact prepared meat or fish is sometimes, even difficult to find.

Then fruits, salads and all sort of uncooked vegetables.

Jesus

[ed34]

Unfortunately, what you are doing (reading labels) is all you can currently do. If more people were educated to do the same, perhaps those lines of foods would be changed or removed. Perhaps if insurance companies and governments woke up to how many heart problems were avoidable due to transfats, then they could push for change. It's the same thing with high salt content. Many packaged products contain more salt than the daily recommended allowance. Keep up your good work, and educate everyone around you. England is being pushed by the
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to ban trans fats and reduce salt content, so perhaps change will be soon. Once everyone sees the difference it makes, they will all join in with the idea, especially with the savings on health costs.It is estimated that banning trans fats, reducing saturated fats and salt would save the UK health system 1 billion pounds a year.