Make it your mission to read (and understand) food labels. Photo: Getty Images

Partially hydrogenated oil is a diet no-no. And many companies are replacing this trans fat with palm oil. They say it's a healthier option. But is it? Not exactly, says FitSugar.

On food labels, you might see this ingredient listed as palm-fruit oil (from the fruit of the palm tree) or kernel oil (from the palm seed inside the fruit). Palm kernel oil is the worst of the two, with 86-percent saturated fat (50 percent of the fat in palm-fruit oil is saturated), but FitSugar says both of these oils should be limited. To protect your arteries and heart, look for foods made with canola or olive oils instead.

Another reason to stray from palm oil: Production of the stuff is leading to deforestation, which is driving orangutans toward extinction.

There's also coconut oil -- but is it any better for your body?

Fat. Talk about a word that unjustly carries a negative connotation. When someone is overweight, they are considered "fat." When a food is unhealthy, this appellation is typically assigned because of how much "fat" it contains. And when the likelihood of something taking place is low, you're told it's a "fat" chance. Poor fat -- it deserves much better than this.

For all the fat shunners out there, it's important to know that not all fats are bad; in fact, most are essential to total body health. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are probably among the best examples. Fatty fish, flaxseed oil, dark leafy greens, walnuts, wheat germ, and hempseeds all contain EFAs, which cannot be created by the body and must therefore be obtained from diet. Monounsaturated fats -- such as olive and canola oils, almonds, avocados, and pecans -- are incredibly healthy fats, as are some polyunsaturated fats, such as sesame and sunflower oils.

The fats you want to steer clear of as much as possible are saturated fats (butter, shortening, lard, etc.), trans fats (hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fake fats, such as Olean and Olestra. It's because of these fats that "fat" has gotten such a bad name.

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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!

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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.

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We'd all like to know that we're going to make it to our retirement and still have a few good years in us to finally enjoy some time off. But the sad reality is that many of us won't make it to those golden years, or won't have the health to enjoy it, and in many cases, this is mostly preventable. As diet guru Julia Havey points out, there are five things that could very well keep you from enjoying you old age:

1. You smoke. Haven't you heard the news? It will kill you, man.
   
2. You don't walk enough. True, cars and elevators are great inventions, but they're also making you a little rounder in the waistline. If you have a couple of minutes to spare (come on, who doesn't?), walk.
   
3. You eat too much saturated fat. Saturated fat is only healthy in moderate amounts. Use with caution.
   
4. You eat too much trans fat. Unlike saturated fats, trans fats are never healthy, no matter what the amount. Rid them from your diet.
   
5. You don't eat enough fruits and veggies. 5-10 a day, that's all it takes.

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The trans fat ban has been in effect in many major restaurant chains (and health conscious households) for quite some time now. People are becoming increasingly aware of the risks this unhealthy fat poses to cardiovascular health and expanding waistlines. As such, trans fat is slowly being phased out of the American diet, but slowly is certainly the operative word.

According to a recent article in Men's Health, there still are plenty of cities or states where trans fat bans failed to pass. Furthermore, there are quite a few fast food chains that continue to offer foods that are high in this artery-clogging fat.

What foods most commonly contain trans fat? Here's what Men's Health had to say:

• Donuts
• Biscuits
• Pies
• French Fries
• Cookies (especially ones with fillings)

And what fast-food chains are serving up the most trans fat?

• Krispy Kreme
• Burger King
• Pizza Hut
• McDonald's
• Chick-fil-A

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What ever happened to banned books? You know, "The Catcher in the Rye" and the like. The type that throngs of parents used to vehemently argue over at PTA meetings. Who knows, maybe it's because no one lately has written a book worth banning. So, in lieu of books, the new trend seems to be banning fat. Is it a good idea? Or should we, as a nation, forgive bad fats -- specifically, trans fat -- for its adipose transgressions?

Well, let's take this study into account: Wake Forest University researchers discovered that male monkeys who consumed diets containing trans fats registered a 7.2 percent increase in body weight, compared to a 1.8 percent increase that occurred in monkeys that ate diets rich in monounsaturated fats. What the researchers found most surprising is that this difference in weight still took place even though both groups of monkeys were consuming the same amount of total calories.

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You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Read the labels at the supermarket. But unless you're well-versed in all things healthy, it can be hard to know what to look for. So next time you're shopping around, take a quick glance and look for these five things:

1. Bad fats. If it has any trans fat or over a few grams of saturated fat per serving, skip it.
   
2. Sugar. Has it got more than 10 g of sugar per serving? If the answer's yes, skip it.
   
3. Fiber. Fiber is good for curbing hunger, among many other things. Particularly when choosing breads and cereals, look for items that are high in fiber -- think 4 g or more.
   
4. Ingredients. Does it have a list of ingredients as big as the dictionary?Are most of them unpronounceable? Think: Do you want to put all those chemicals in your body? Yeah, didn't think so.
   
5. Servings size. Pay attention to just what constitutes a serving. For instance, you might think 5 g of sugar isn't that bad, but if there's 5g of sugar in a two tablespoon serving? That's a lot.
   

When the masses finally came to their senses and began eating carbs again, they wanted healthier options. This is why you now see so many whole grain pastas, breads, muffins, and even snacks. These products were a direct response to the public demand for whole grain foods. But are these foods truly whole grain? Most times, no.

Unless a product as labeled as being either 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain, it only has to contain some whole wheat in its ingredients. The rest can be made up of enriched flour, usually colored with a caramel additive to give it that nice, brown look. Always check the label; if if doesn't list whole wheat flour first, then it's probably not 100%.

This trickery also applies for trans fat. It's extremely common these days to see foods that supposedly contain Zero Trans Fat. Is this a lie? In some cases, yes. Food manufacturers are allowed to put the zero trans fat label on their products if they contain less than 1g of trans fat per serving. So, assuming that a food has .5g of trans fat per serving and you eat four servings (which is easy to do with spreads, for example), you've now consumed 2g of trans fat from a food that wasn't supposed to have any.

What about organic foods? They're not part of this shadiness, are they? Occasionally, they are. The USDA has three classifications of organic foods: 100% Organic -- meaning that it is made with 100% organic ingredients; Organic -- which means that a food is made with 95% organic ingredients; and Made with Organic Ingredients -- meaning that it is comprised of at least 70% organic ingredients.

Caveat emptor. That's the best advice I can think of when it comes to shopping for healthy foods.

Ever since food companies had to start being more forthcoming about the trans fat content in their products, consumers have been more educated about what they're eating. But a new study on cheaper snacks reveals that we're still a long way from a trans fat-free world.

As some of you may know, the FDA demands that foods be properly labeled if they contain this substance. But cheaper snack foods, which are manufactured with small amounts of trans fat, still boast 0 grams even though they contain certain amounts of it. The reason being is that they are allowed to round down if the amount is less than half a gram of trans fat.

Is this misleading the consumer? Perhaps, but in the end it's up to us to check out the ingredients before eating it. Knowing what we're putting in our mouths is called personal responsibility, so don't be afraid to turn the box or bag over to look for "partially hydrogenated" oils. Until the technology becomes cheaper to produce trans fat-free products, those of us who are health-conscious will have to keep a sharper eye out.

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Food manufactures are doing all that they can to get around the whole trans fat ban. This much was explained in greater detail in a post I wrote a little while back, pointing to serving size trickery and other tactics to appeal to the health conscious consumer.

But, buyer beware; there is something else that you should be on the lookout for when it comes to the type of fat you are consuming. It's called interesterified oil, and it's an unhealthy fat that has sneaked its way into the likes of Peperidge Farm cookies and Little Debbie cakes.

Ineresterified oil have been shown to raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, while also having a negative effect on blood glucose levels. A study at Brandeis University revealed much of this information. As for whether or not ineresterified fats are worse for you than trans fat, that seems to still be unknown. Either way, the stuff isn't exactly healthy, so you would do well to steer clear of any foods that contain it.

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Food manufactures are finally getting the message: Ban Trans Fats!! Nevertheless, there are still plenty of guilty parties out there, many of which may be finding their way into your belly without you even knowing.

What are the worst 10 food offenders when it comes to trans fat? The folks at WebMD point them out in a line-up:

10 - Toppings and Dips

9 - Cookies and Candy

8 - Breakfast Foods

7 - Chips and Crackers

6 - Baked Goods

5- Frozen Foods

4 - Fast Food

3 - Soups

2 - Packaged Foods

1 - Spreads

Surprised that some of these foods made the naughty list? Me too. For a detailed description on each of these items, click here to read the full article.

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It wasn't very long ago that fat was considered the single-worst thing a person could eat if they wanted to follow a healthy diet. For starters, the stuff is called FAT -- so, even at first blush it has a negative connotation. Then, people began to associate the fat they wanted to lose with the fat they were consuming. Logic dictated that to lose that fat, one must eat less foods that contain a great deal of fat. Problem is, this reasoning is actually rather illogical, because fat isn't nearly the evil doer we once thought it was.

The key is to know the difference between "good" fats and "bad" fats. Here's the Cliff Notes description of each type:

TRANS FAT: Okay, so this one is definitely bad. It raises LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol. It also increases inflammation, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes. It can be found occurring naturally in small amounts in red meat, but more abundantly in processed and baked foods (e.g. potato chips, cookies, Twinkies, etc.).

SATURATED FAT: Well, we're 0 for 2 at the moment -- Saturated Fat is also pretty bad for you. It raises LDL cholesterol, increasing one's risk of heart disease. Saturated fat can be found in cheese, whole milk, beef and tropical oils such as coconut and palm oil.

I know that I blog often about the dangers to your health from trans fat, but it's because I feel that it's important to stay current with the tricksters. They think they can fool us, but we're hip to their sneaky ways. We are the educated public, and we're not gonna' take it anymore!! Who's with me?!!

If you haven't fallen in line, and are wondering just what the hell I'm talking about when I talk about trickery, it has to do with the methods that many food manufacturers are using to get around the trans fat ban. Case in point: the FDA allows food manufactures to list their products as containing Zero Trans Fat if they contain less than half of a gram. Therefore, these foods can contain .49 grams of trans fat Per Serving (which is also important to remember -- we are talking about serving size here, too) and still be listed as having Zero Trans Fat. This means that if you eat more than the serving size, you are now consuming trans fat -- even in the eyes of the FDA.

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Health is hip these days, and almost every company out there is trying to capitalize on this by claiming their products are healthy. But unfortunately, many of these so-called 'healthy' items aren't necessarily good for you. Be wary of foods with these labels on them:

• All Natural. Sure, it might not be heavily processed, but it still may be high in calories, fat or both.
  
• Cholesterol-free. This doesn't mean fat free. In fact, many cholesterol-free foods are high in saturated fat
• Low fat or fat-free. This doesn't mean calorie-free so watch out.
  
• Trans fat-free. Just because there's no trans fat, doesn't mean there's no fat. There are probably some dangerous saturated fats in there.
  
• Low sodium. It's a good idea to reduce your sodium but look into what they've replaced it with. It might be sugar.
  
• Good source of ... Many unhealthy food items claim their healthy by emphasizing one nutrient. For example? Macaroni and cheese packages claim it to be a good source of calcium (it is) but they don't mention that it's very high in fat, sodium and calories.
  
• Multi grain. Multi grains aren't necessarily whole grains, so check the label.
• Baked. Backed chips are a better choice than fried ones, but they're often high in calories and sodium
• Organic. There's no doubt that organic food is better than regular stuff, but just because it's organic, doesn't mean it's healthy. It can still be high in organic fat and organic calories.

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