Whether you are trying to watch your cholesterol or watch your waistline, there are foods that you simply need to avoid. Foods that have trans fat or trans fatty acids can raise your bad cholesterol and decrease your good cholesterol. MayoClinic.com reports that trans fat is considered to be the very worst type fat that you can put into your body. It is linked to heart disease, high cholesterol and other cardiovascular ailments. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, there is no daily safe level of trans fat intake. No matter what your fitness or health goals are, you should make certain to avoid harmful foods with trans fat.
Doughnuts
Doughnuts often have very high levels of trans fat. Besides being high in trans fat and unhealthful saturated fat, doughnuts usually have high amounts of simple sugars as well. The University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School reports that grocery-store bought doughnuts are particularly unhealthful, a popular brand of commercial doughnuts has 5 g of saturated fat and 5 g of trans fat. According to Baylor University, despite recent claims that major fast food doughnut chains are going to stop frying their doughnuts in hydrogenated oil, a popular brand of glazed doughnut still contains 3 g of saturated fat and 3.5 g of trans fat and chocolate-iced doughnuts has 5 g of saturated fat and 5 g of trans fat. You will have to check the nutritional information for each individual doughnut to make sure you are not consuming large amounts of trans fat.
Margarine and Butter
Margarine and butter are two of the most harmful foods you can eat. Once thought to be a more healthful alternative to butter, stick margarine and spreadable margarine is especially loaded with trans fat. Although butter has significantly less trans fat than margarine, the saturated fat and total caloric content is much higher. Substituting and cooking with oils that contain high amounts of unsaturated fats such as extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil or safflower oil is a much more healthful option.
Fast Food
Fast food is not only high in calories but it can also be high in trans fat. Unfortunately, fast foods such as hamburgers, buffalo wings, french fries, fried chicken, milkshakes and fish sticks are all high in trans fat. Even the grilled chicken sandwich, sometimes considered to be the most healthy option at fast food chains, is usually cooked on a grill that is covered in margarine. Partially hydrogenated oil which contains large amounts of trans fat is popular in the fast food industry because it is inexpensive and can be reused, according to the University of Kentucky. Many major fast food restaurants have recently made an effort to significantly reduce the amount of trans fat they cook with. While this is good news, you should still avoid fast food because it is often very high in saturated fat and sugar.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Trans Fat is Double Trouble for Your Heart Health
- New York University: Trans Fats: The Bad Fat in Town
- University of Pennsylvania: The Top 10 Foods to Beware
- Harvard Medical School: Trans Fat Labeling
- Baylor University Health: Facts and Figures From Anywhere
- University of Arizona: Trans Fat
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