# No trans fat- no hydrogenated oil diet?  Help!



## sugarx2 (Dec 1, 2008)

HI!

I found out two years ago that the blistery rash I got after eating out, and eating fried foods, and eating at DENNY'S was from Partially or Completely or any kind of HYDROGENATED OIL.

So, I must talk with all restaurant cooks or managers before I eat out anywhere to see if they can make me something with a natural oil in a separate pan. NO GRILLS that have been tainted. 

At McDonalds the burgers don't bother me, but the so-called HEALTHY GRILLED CHICKEN does. Since it says NO TRANSFAT in that chicken, I called corporate. They told me that the chicken comes in frozen and may well be coated with trans fat by the originating company, but they don't add any so they don't claim it. SO YOU ARE EATING TRANSFAT.

ALSO anything marked "0 Transfat" is meaningless, because our government allows any fat to be list as ZERO if it is less than .5 milligrams per serving, and a serving is ambiguous.  So they just jockey the serving down, till it fits the bill. They are supposed to list the hydrogenated oil, or margarines, or interestified oil or fractionated oils on the ingredients list, but they are not doing it.  Reese's Peanut Butter cups by Hershey's no longer has it listed, but if I eat it RASH!  So my skin knows more than they do!  Call them on it, they lie, then they send you $10 bucks for complaining.

So, I made everything I ate from scratch for Thanksgiving for the first time. I used Palm Oil, Olive Oil, BUTTER, and it was great! It was two days cooking for two people, but it was delicious. I used my DESCOWARE cast iron DUTCH OVENS, and other stainless steel pots, and my Pyrexware to rebake.  A trial, but worth it!

Gotto go, made myself hungry TIME FOR LEFT OVERS.

OH yeah, the reason I am starting this thread, ANYONE OUT THERE AVOIDING TRANS FATS?  START giving my your details, and your recipes.
Where can you eat out, what can you eat there? What do you cook with?

Thanks!


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## gadzooks (Dec 1, 2008)

I use raw, organic coconut oil. Medium chain triglyceride, non-transfat, non-hydrogenated. Converts in the liver, so no fat every enters the arteries...cannot be stored as body fat.


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## bethzaring (Dec 1, 2008)

sugarx2 said:


> HI!
> 
> 
> OH yeah, the reason I am starting this thread, ANYONE OUT THERE AVOIDING TRANS FATS? START giving my your details, and your recipes.
> ...


 
You can't go wrong with cooking with butter and olive oil.

We simply do not eat out!!  LOL

Not a hardship for us, nothing worth eating at around here.  We don't do fast food.

Simply cook from scratch with natural, whole, unaltered foods.  Just pop in here with any questions on a specific meal.  Watch the daily, what's for dinner? threads to get ideas of meals to prepare.


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## attie (Dec 2, 2008)

> I called corporate. They told me that the chicken comes in frozen and may well be coated with trans fat by the originating company, but they don't add any so they don't claim it.


Now there's a typical McD's statement for you.

Ditto to what the others say sugarx2


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## PanchoHambre (Dec 2, 2008)

I am not one to worry too much about what I eat.. .I am generally non allergic and have an iron stomach.... I do find if I eat out too much especially cheap stuff like take out and chain restaurants (I love fast food sometimes but I despise chain restaurants and only eat at them if unavoidable) I start to feel really nasty.... I blame this on all of the trans fats and other nasties in processed foods. At home I try to limit the use of processed foods to a minimum... maybe some of the pre-made sauces and condiments but thats about it... I do not need my food to be the product of a science project


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## sugarx2 (Dec 5, 2008)

*Coconut oil questions????*



gadzooks said:


> I use raw, organic coconut oil. Medium chain triglyceride, non-transfat, non-hydrogenated. Converts in the liver, so no fat every enters the arteries...cannot be stored as body fat.



I bought some of it, but not sure how to use it. It is solid due the cool temperatures. It was softer at first, when I bought it a few months ago. How long is it good, and should I keep it in the fridge if I don't use it all that often?

What is your favorite dish that you use it in?

Thanks!
Candy


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## gadzooks (Dec 5, 2008)

Use it solid just like shortening...I even spread it on toast. Warm it up a bit, and it is oil! Because of it's nutritional value, I even blend an ounce or so into a smoothee. Shelf life of about two years. I generally refrigerate some, and keep a jar in the pantry as well. Of course, I buy 5 gallons at a time. I bake with it, fry with it...use just like any other fat.


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## Michael in FtW (Dec 5, 2008)

Wow - where to begin?

Fat is reported in 1/2 gram (0.5 g) increments, not milligrams ... 0.5 milligrams would be five ten-thousandths of a gram (5/10,000 or 0.0005) gram. Something with less than 0.5 mg of any type of fat wouldn't be significant.

Serving size is really not ambiguous ... it is clearly stated and usually in common serving sizes. You are right that just because something shows "0 g" of something doesn't mean it is "0 %". And, you are right - serving sizes can be adjusted to the advantage of the producer ... we had a thread recently about a brand of store bought pies that had a serving size of 1/12th of a pie. And, the rounding rule may sound a little strange - but it actually has another side ... you can't round up to say something contains more of something than it really contains.

Customer Support can, sometimes, be the worst place to get a real answer. McDonalds has a website that list the nutritional information and ingredients of all of their products. Looking there - the Grilled Chicken Salad shows that the chicken is prepared with a partially hydrogenated fat consisting of both cottonseed and soybean oils - and the entire dish contains less than 0.5 g Trans Fat. A Quarter-pounder burger contains between 1.0-1.499 g Trans Fat.

The problem with the whole "trans-fats expose" media sensationalism is that most people think "trans fat" is synonymous with fast-food, shortening, prepared foods or anything with the word "hydrogenated" associated with it - and limited to those items. Those are the media darling targets .... they make the headline news. But, the chefs, pastry chefs and bakers in New York who are faced with a ZERO TRANS-FAT law know there is more to the story - the New York Times has actually had a couple of atricles about this - explaining it's not just about hydrogenated fats.

WANT A ZERO TRANS-FAT (TF) DIET?

Those "healthy" pie-crusts made with butter instead of shortening - they contain about 3.12 g TF per stick. A slice of toast with 1 pat (1 teaspoon) of butter - 0.13 g TF. A bowl of organic whole-grain cereal with a cup of milk - 0.25 g TF from the milk. 1/4-lb ground meat - about 1.33 g TF. 1/4-lb cheese - somewhere between gound meat and butter. Other cuts of beef .... Prime grade has more TF than Choice grade .... which has more TF than Select grade.

Basically - for a zero trans-fat diet you have to give up red meat, milk, cheese and butter from ruminant animals (like cows, buffalo, bison, sheep, goats, venison, etc.).

You can eat pigs, birds, seafood, reptiles and varmits.


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## sugarx2 (Dec 6, 2008)

Michael in FtW said:


> Wow - where to begin?
> 
> Fat is reported in 1/2 gram (0.5 g) increments, not milligrams ... 0.5 milligrams would be five ten-thousandths of a gram (5/10,000 or 0.0005) gram. Something with less than 0.5 mg of any type of fat wouldn't be significant.
> 
> ...



If you were my neighbor, I would take you food shopping with me!!!
;-)
Candy


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## Russellkhan (Dec 6, 2008)

Michael in FtW said:


> The problem with the whole "trans-fats expose" media sensationalism is that most people think "trans fat" is synonymous with fast-food, shortening, prepared foods or anything with the word "hydrogenated" associated with it - and limited to those items. Those are the media darling targets .... they make the headline news. But, the chefs, pastry chefs and bakers in New York who are faced with a ZERO TRANS-FAT law know there is more to the story - the New York Times has actually had a couple of atricles about this - explaining it's not just about hydrogenated fats.




 As far as I can tell, it *is* just about hydrogenated fats. I never saw the NYTimes article you mention, but a little research shows that the law is specifically applied to artificial trans fats, which means hydrogenated oils, not the trans fats which occur naturally in certain foods. The laws in California and other states make a similar distinction, as do FDA regulations that require disclosure of trans fats in product labeling.



Michael in FtW said:


> WANT A ZERO TRANS-FAT (TF) DIET?
> 
> Those "healthy" pie-crusts made with butter instead of shortening - they contain about 3.12 g TF per stick. A slice of toast with 1 pat (1 teaspoon) of butter - 0.13 g TF. A bowl of organic whole-grain cereal with a cup of milk - 0.25 g TF from the milk. 1/4-lb ground meat - about 1.33 g TF. 1/4-lb cheese - somewhere between gound meat and butter. Other cuts of beef .... Prime grade has more TF than Choice grade .... which has more TF than Select grade.
> 
> Basically - for a zero trans-fat diet you have to give up red meat, milk, cheese and butter from ruminant animals (like cows, buffalo, bison, sheep, goats, venison, etc.).



This is all true, but hydrogenated oils (artificial trans fats) are known to be more harmful than naturally occurring trans fats. Also, the original poster indicated that she had adverse reactions to hydrogenated oils, and not to beef or dairy. I believe she was using the term "trans fat" to indicate the hydrogenated oils that she knew caused these reactions - not completely accurate technically, but pretty clear from the context and from knowledge of the common usage of the term.


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## Russellkhan (Dec 6, 2008)

Actually, I'm reading the definition of trans fat in the FDA regulation now and I'm going to need to call in a scientist friend for help in understanding it well enough to say for sure that it means what I thought it meant.

It's in this document, starting on page 29, if anyone else cares to look at it.


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## Michael in FtW (Dec 7, 2008)

Yep, Russell - it is confusing! Not only do you need a chemist to explain a lot of this - you need a food chemist, nutritionist and dietitian who understands the chemistry of fatty acids, triglycerides, and how they are metabolized. Then toss in an atrifically produced diglyceride oil like Enova oil ... but that's another slippery story.

The old NYT article turns out to have been a response to the original proposed law which simply said "Zero Trans Fat" - with no differentiation between naturally occurring and artificially produced trans fats. Imagine going to Delmonicos to get a steak and being told you can't have one because it contains trans fat!

As far as FDA labeling regulations - as they currently stand, relavent trans fats from both artifical and natural sources (ruminants) are included. 



			
				Russellkhan said:
			
		

> Also, the original poster indicated that she had adverse reactions to hydrogenated oils, and not to beef or dairy. I believe she was using the term "trans fat" to indicate the hydrogenated oils that she knew caused these reactions - not completely accurate technically, but pretty clear from the context and from knowledge of the common usage of the term.


 
Yep - and I was trying to point out that just because something contains trans fat it doesn't mean it's from a hydrogenated source.


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