And remember, even if a food is labeled as 0 grams trans fat, it may still contain .5 grams trans fat per serving.
So, as the consumer, you must read the ingredient list to look for partially hydrogenated oil.
Even the most skilled label readers can be misled by advertising.
When shopping at the grocery store, there are certain foods that more commonly contain partially hydrogenated oils. Crackers: I like to look for whole wheat as the first ingredient, and canola or olive oil as the fat source.Stick Margarines: Usually a high source of trans fat. Choose a trans fat free tub margarine or whipped butter.Frozen Meals/Appetizers: Many products that contain some form of pastry will contain trans fat. Even frozen products like taquitos or specialty frozen pizzas are offenders. Specialty Chocolates/Candies: A lot of candies that contain some form of white chocolate tend to have trans fat. I am not sure why this is. But, even some Dove chocolates have trans fat.Baking Mixes: Jiffy and cake or muffin mixes have trans fat since they have a dehydrated fat source in the ingredient list. These products need to be shelf stable for quite a while, so they use trans fat which has a longer shelf life for a fat source.Prepared Frostings: The tubs of frosting also contain trans fat, but look for other varieties like whipped, or reduced sugar, or cream cheese because they may surprisingly contain no trans fat.Convenient Store/Fast Food Sandwiches: Egg and cheese sandwiches, or anything on a biscuit may contain high levels of trans fat. It is usually the bread source that contains the trans fat. You can also research your fast food choices online.
I have been trying to get my family to cut trans fat out of their diet for years now, but what it comes down to is commitment to label reading.
You have to always scan the label for that partially hydrogenated oil every time you buy a packaged food. Even I have been fooled two times now.
How about you, do you read labels to avoid trans fat?
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