Wednesday, June 18, 2008

EW! Bad bad Trans Fats!

Before the summer progresses too far, a bit of background information about my work is warranted. Center for Science in the Public Interest are the guys who got the “Nutrition Facts” on the side of packaged foods, and a few years ago, they lobbied to add the trans-fat category to that list. In the early part of the summer, I’ll be focused on trans-fat and saturated fat content in popular restaurants.





CSPI is has successfully encouraged a few major cities, New York and Philadelphia to eliminate trans-fats from their restaurants. We are now pushing for state-wide bans in Massachusetts, New York and California which could occur this summer. This fat is really bad--raising our “bad” LDL cholesterol, clogging our arteries, and causing upwards of 50,000 fatal heart attacks in the US per year. Nasty.


(Don’t forget not all fat is bad! In fact, we need to have the good types, like Omega-3 and Omega-6 to keep our eyes, brains, hearts and veins in tip-top shape. Best to get your good fat from nuts/seeds (almond, flax), olive oil, fish (think salmon) and avocado.)