That's Fit

We all want to save money when grocery shopping -- who wouldn't? But, as Maggie mentioned last month, bargain foods, while light on the wallet, can be heavy on your waistline and hard on your health.

An article in Shape magazine says that research has shown less expensive items often have more trans fats than those that are slightly more expensive. Trans fats, as you may know, have been shown to raise your bad cholesterol, and can show up in the ingredient list as partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oil and shortening -- not stuff you want in your snacks, no matter how great the price is.

The University of Minnesota researchers Shape refers to found that 24 percent of the products they examined still contained trans fats -- the amounts might have been reduced from previous versions, but the products were not trans fat-free. Be choosy when buying snacks -- don't let a bargain get in the way of your health! To see some surprising foods that have trans fats, check out this slideshow at AOL Health.

We now know that a city the size of New York can ban trans fats altogether. But is it possible for a city the size of Los Angeles to ban fast foods? The LA City Council thinks so, and they plan on doing just that for a whole year according to recent news.

OK, they're not banning all fast foods. Rather, it's a ban that will keep new fast foods restaurants from opening up in the LA area for a year. But just what defines a fast food restaurant? Here's the criteria: "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

It's thought this move will help reduce rising obesity levels in the LA region. That and help independent sit-down restaurants establish roots. What do you think of the move? Will it work?

After dragging their feet for months, McDonald's has finally caught up with their competitors. The fast food restaurant has changed the oil they use for cooking their French fries to one that's trans fat-free. Though other restaurants had already made the switch, McDonald's was worried that the change would affect the taste of their trademark fries.

A few weeks ago, my husband told me that McDonald's now offers a salt-free Big Mac. I can't find any evidence that he's right about that one, but, in any case, my response was "Why would you want to eat something like that anyway?" It's ingredients like salt, fat, and sugar that make McDonald's meals taste the way they do, and those same ingredients disguise the fact that what you're eating is ultimately junk. I can see why McDonald's was worried about the change.

Any improvement is a good one, so now when you do indulge in an order of McDonald's fries, you won't have to worry about the trans fats. But keep in mind that you do still need to worry about the fat, sodium, and calories. Learn more about healthy fast food picks with AOL Body's slide show about diet-friendly fast foods. And don't forget to sign up for our Summer Quick Fix challenge!

Healthy or not healthy? It's a pretty easy question to answer when you're comparing apples to, say, a candy bar. But when you take a look at coconuts, the answer just isn't so clear. Several years ago I worked with a Registered Dietitian who wrote a piece about the benefits of coconut oil. I ended up 86ing the article because I just wasn't convinced that her conclusions were sound nutritional advice. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid which is said to benefit your immune system. But coconut oil is also crazy high in saturated fat. The RD swore by her stance, but I wasn't convinced. I'm still not. Do the benefits of coconut oil outweigh the negatives?

Fitsugar just ran an article with some further explanation about coconut oil. It has a long shelf life and high smoke point which makes it a good choice for many restaurants and bakeries (particularly those that have had to switch from trans fats). But coconut oil is 90% saturated fat; 60% of which is a form of lauric acid and is metabolized quicker than most saturated fats.

So, the debate continues. As for me, I'd prefer to boost my immunity through fruits and veggies and avoid the unnecessary saturated fat.

Friendly's, famous for it's burgers and ice cream sundaes, is planning on switching its 500 restaurants over to trans-fat free oil by fall. The restaurant chain has been working on eliminating the trans-fat laden oils for over a year. Since New York banned the use of trans-fatty acids in restaurants, chains such as McDonald's and Uno Chicago Grill have been making the switch to non trans-fat oils. Friendly's is finally jumping on the bandwagon and switching to a slightly friendlier oil.

While a switch away from trans-fats is an undeniably positive step, it's important to remember that just because a product doesn't contain trans-fat it doesn't mean it's healthy or low-fat. To learn more about trans fats and how they affect the body, click here.

If you're a carb-eater, then you probably know by now that all carbs are not created equal. "White" flours are those who have had most of the nutrition stripped out of them during processing. Whole grains, such as whole wheat bread, are a much more nutritious source of energy and fiber.

So just grab the bread with the whole wheat label, right? Not so fast. It's important in today's world of powerful marketing to read food labels carefully. When choosing whole wheat bread, you want to look for three things, according to Dr. Mallika Marshall, who recently visited The Early Show:

• Fiber: Fiber will not only help you stay full longer, it's also linked to long list of health benefits. Adults should eat between 25 and 30 grams a day, so choose a loaf of bread that has a high fiber content.
• Sodium: Store bought bread contains a surprisingly high amount of salt. Make sure your choice has less than 350 mg per serving.
• Hydrogenated Fats: Partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated fats are bad news. If you spot them on the label, move on to a different brand of bread.

I'm going to add my own item to the list -- high fructose corn syrup. It's nearly impossible to find bread without any sweetener in it, but it is possible to find a honey-sweetened bread if you want to avoid HFCS. Better yet, make your own bread at home and then you get to control what goes in it!

Although trans fats have been banned from many restaurant chains nationwide, there are still some states that are tip-toeing through the issue without any commitment.

It's hard to understand why some restaurants don't change to cooking oils that do not feature trans fats, as long as the taste does not change and the cost to change is not significant. The good public image by making a change would most likely be greater than any cost of changing oil types.

Although New York City was the trendsetter in eliminating trans fats from restaurant menus, an additional 14 states that have proposed cutting back or disposing of trans fats have not made a single move to actually follow through with the proposition. Health just isn't at the top of those state's agendas, yes?

Ok, I'll say it: I still use butter. It's light butter, and it's mixed with canola oil, but it's still butter. Ever since margarine betrayed me with it's high trans fats, I've just been unable to go back. Plus, butter just tastes better.

Margarine and butter have been duking it out for as long as they've shared a shelf at the supermarket. It can be confusing trying to decide which product to use, especially with all of the new generation margarines out there that claim to actual improve cardiovascular health. So what's the truth, which is actually better?

According to the NYT, margarine wins, as long as it's carefully selected, sold as a liquid or in a tub, and completely free of trans fats. Unfortunately, whether you choose butter or margarine, neither qualifies as a healthy fat. Better to use very sparingly, no matter which you choose, and an even better choice would be to make the jump to olive or canola oil. So there you have it. I'm going to hang on to my butter, though. I'll just push it way into the back of my fridge so that I use it only on those "splurging" occasions.

With all the bad press trans fats are getting these days it seems the most popular food labels in the grocery store are the ones screaming "Zero Trans Fats!" in huge red letters. But can you trust that zero means zero? Not necessarily. The FDA says that a label can proclaim zero grams trans fats if there's less than 1/2 gram per serving, and considering most packages contain more than one serving and we Americans have a portion control problem...well you do the math. A person could easily exceed the 'no more than 2 grams of trans fats daily' recommended by the American Heart Association.

So how can you know for sure if zero means zero? Read the label. If partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is listed then there are trans fats present, in however small amounts.

I get a little peeved when I see food labels that are somehow deceptive -- for example, a food label that has very few calories in a serving but if you look further, you'll find that their definition of a 'serving' is something ridiculously small. But here are some other ways that food manufacturers are deceiving us even further, courtesy of Fitsugar:

• Sugar is generally regarded as a bad ingredient, and on food labels, ingredients are listed from the most prevalent to least prevalent. So in the ingredients label, manufacturers will distribute sugar among several different ingredients so that it doesn't appear in the top three ingredients. How cheeky.
  
• They'll also 'pad' ingredient lists with healthy-sounding things
• They'll hide dangerous ingredients behind innocent-sounding ones
• They can name a food item whatever they want, whether it contains the appropriate ingredients or not. Fitsugar uses as an example Kraft's Guacamole Dip. It has hardly any avocado.
  
• Another reason for listing impossibly small serving sizes: if there's less than 0.5 trans fats in the serving size, they can list it as 0 trans fats.
• Keep in mind that currently there are no regulations ordering food manufacturers to list certain chemical contaminants and toxic substances. Yikes!

The big news in my neck of the woods is that the Calgary Stampede starts tomorrow -- it's a 10-day long fair of sorts that pretty much takes over the whole city with an array of pancake breakfasts, parties and middle-aged drunk executives in cowboy hats stumbling down the streets as early as noon. One thing that's synonomous with the Stampede is the food -- which is basically all deep-fried, covered in sugar or both, in typical carnival fashion.

But there will be something missing from the fair food this summer: trans fats. Some people are up in arms over it, proclaiming that their mini donuts just won't be the same without trans fats, but to them I say: Pffffft! Everything you eat is still going to be 75% fat, so what does it matter if it's saturated or trans? They're both going to kill you if you eat too much. It's a a healthy step that's intended to help us live better, so what are we complaining about?

What's your take -- can you taste the difference in trans-fat free stuff?

It may seem like since we're hearing about trans fat bans on new products on an almost daily basis, there must be practically none left out there. It seems like no company would dare have trans fats at this point, would they?

Well they would dare, and they do. Grocery stores are still full of products that are loaded with unhealthy trans fats such as pot pies, frozen pizzas, pastries, cookies, and various convenience foods (all the good stuff!).

Just because we keep seeing so many "Trans Fat Free" and "0% Trans Fat" labels doesn't mean the problem is solved. Even brand name foods like Pepperidge Farm and Campbell's still have high trans fat content in some of their products. Reading labels and finding brands and products you know are healthy is more important thane ever!

Applebee's is now a safer place to eat.

After the trans fat ban in New York and Philadelphia that prompted major chains like McDonalds and Starbucks to stop using the harmful frying oil, the popular restaurant with over 1,800 locations is the latest to jump on the trans-fat-free bandwagon.

These "partially hydrogenated oils" have been consistently making headlines lately, as doctors think they are responsible for increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other ailments.

But don't worry, the food still tastes the same -- at least according to Applebee's. Says their CEO, "After extensive testing with our guest, we found that our foods coked in zero trans fat oil still have the great taste have come to expect."

I've never been a big fan of Applebee's, but knowing this, I might give them a second chance.

Burger King is being sued by a consumer advocacy group that dislikes the chain's use of trans fats in its foods. While I applaud the use of trans fat-free oils in chains like Wendy's, Taco Bell and KFC, Burger King has yet to switch the oils it cooks customer's food in from the artery-clogging oils.

Is that any reason to sue the company, though? Unlike smoke-free establishments, the smoke can't drift over and invade the air of non-smokers. People that choose to eat at Burger King and have that unhealthy dose of trans fat should be responsible.

While I'd never eat at Burger King based on what I consider a pretty deplorable menu, millions do each day. Although the chain has not committed to a menu free of trans fats, I'm not sure that is the basis of a lawsuit. But, it will be interesting to see how this court case proceeds (if it does).

And another one bites the dust! Yum Brands, Inc. announced this week that two of it's restaurants -- KFC and Taco Bell -- have switched to trans fat-free oils in their restaurants. KFC and KFC/Taco Bell combo restaurants will be using a soybean oil and Taco Bell will be switching to canola oil. Both restaurants still have items on their menus that contain trans fats -- such as biscuits and baked goods -- but the change in oil will affect several popular items.

Trans fats have been shown to raise bad cholesterol and reduce good cholesterol. Restaurants, food manufacturers, and even entire states have been dropping it like a hot potato. But before you run out for a "healthy" bucket of trans fat-free chicken, don't forget to consider the saturated fat and calories. KFC and Taco Bell have improved the health of their products for sure, but they are still selling fast food after all.