Trans Fats - Dancing with the Devil

From hunters and gatherers to the hunted and herded, that seems to be what the food manufacture’s marketing schemes have done to society.   The drive for company profits has driven many food manufactures to push the envelope and hide one of the body’s biggest enemies, which in my opinion is “Trans Fat” (fully hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil or fat) and it should be outlawed!  In 2006 the FDA required manufactures to list the amount of trans fat in products, this was a good step in the right direction, but the FDA allows manufactures to state “0 Trans Fat” as long as the amount is below 0.5 grams per serving.  Any amount of trans fat is poison to the body and should be avoided, after all who eats one serving?

THE CASCADING EFFECTS OF TRANS FAT

At the molecular level the trans fat configuration is straight, a normal configuration will have a slight bend (cis formation), the human body does not know what to do with this unnatural “trans formation”, so it’s treated as a toxin.  The trans fat molecule attaches itself to the cell walls, blocking cells from absorbing the needed nutrients.  When these fats go rancid and oxidize they cause inflammation.  The body then sends LDL to repair the damaged area.  HDL is then sent to clean up the mess, but the LDL pattern B remains stuck in the nooks and crannies of the inflammation.  This contributes to plaque build up, heart disease and many other negative health factors and why cholesterol is proclaimed to be the enemy.

Cis-9-octadecenoic acid

Trans-9-octadecenoic acid 

               

                                                                                                                                                                   

Due to the inflammation and the trapping of LDL pattern B particles, LDL gets a bad rap and the manufacturer’s marketing campaign begins hunting and herding us by pushing their “Cholesterol lowering” products.  Limiting this inflammation is one of the many reasons for including Omega-3 and anti-oxidants in our diets.

PROTECTING YOURSELF

Read food labels and avoid anything that contains the words “trans fat”, “hydrogenated” and “mono-diglycerides.”  Mono- and di-glycerides are the new label tricks that are designated as “emulsifiers” rather than fats, so the trans fats they contain don’t count until you ingest them. 

 

For more information on Label Tricks reference the following links:

• Trans Fat Labels
• Label Makeover
• Food Label Tricks and Truths

Vegetable oil subjected to high heat is just as bad and is used often by fast food places due to its low cost.  The alternative would increase cost and would be bad for business.  Believe it or not, frying in lard or coconut oil would be a healthier alternative because at least the body can burn it for fuel.  

"Shocker" avoid eating at restaurants; they are not required to display nutrition information about the food they serve.

These poisons are all around us and are used by many food manufactures; however these manufactures live by profit, so they can die by profit.  Don’t purchase their products and that might get their attention!

Continuing with my belief in the power of Visualization, I hope visualizing the damage that food containing trans fats can do, gives you the needed will power to avoid the next order of french fries or donuts!

Sources: www.health-report.co.uk; Treelight.com; Mayoclinic.com; Fi.edu; Natural-health-information-centre.com; Scientificpsychic.com

Feel free to contact me.

The W.I.N. Syndrome

The summer is coming to an end and my local gym was busier than usual this year.  I was glad to see a large number of youth, both females and males motivated and highly engaged in achieving fitness.  The sooner they get started the better, within reason of course.  I also noticed a large number of youth walking around with shaker bottles filled with, red drinks, blue drinks, vanilla drinks, orange drinks, etc… I was a little concerned and disappointed as they walked around texting, talking on the phone and sipping their concoction.  But then I realized they must be suffering from what I call the "Want It Now" (WIN) syndrome.  There seems to be a growing trend in society these days where people just don't have the patients to work for something they truly want.   It's bad enough that technology has made us "Tools of our Tools", don't let your body and health suffer the same fate.

We all suffer from a little WIN syndrome once in a while when it comes to material things or careers, but for now I will focus more on the physical fitness impact of the WIN syndrome. The desire to succeed and achieve certain goals faster and better than the next person drives us all, not just the youth.  The high expectation society and we place on each other drives many of us to take short cuts when it comes to achieving our fitness goals.  We want to be stronger, faster, skinnier, and sexier than others and the less effort we have to put into it the better right?

In my opinion, the human body is amazing, very intelligent and capable.  At the same time it’s innocent and looks to you for direction and assistance.  The human body depends on you and trusts you like a child and at times it can be as forgiving as your favorite pet (dog), so be careful what you feed it and how you treat it.  In my opinion feeding the body chemicals before and after a workout can offset the body’s natural processing balance and functions.  You may not notice it right away and you may even feel like you're making progress, but there will be a price to pay in the long run. 

The body adapts very quickly, if you train it to perform on a good natural diet, after several years you will have a very efficient body capable of dealing with stressful and emergency situations better than a body dependent on chemicals.  At the same time if you accustomed your body to chemicals that provide a short cut to its normal processing routine, it will let you down when you need it the most.  The body will become lazy, weak and totally confused, potentially causing serious injury when you stress it or force it to perform without its chemicals.  Read my earlier posting Fitness for "The Battle" for another take.

In my opinion, if you must take supplements, stick to a good multi-vitamin and limit your intake of supplements that claim to improve physical gains.  It is better to take the pain now than later, I realize we all have our demons; it just depends how strong our cage is.  As always, remember the “Tortoise and the Hare” story, take your time and do it right!

   "Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor".  ~Dr. Alexis Carrel

Feel free to contact me.