Eating those addictive light and luscious doughnuts made with trans fat is like eating lead: there is no minimum level that's safe.

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Toxic or tasty?By Clare Howard Saturday, October 06 2007, 01:57 AM EDT Views: 36http://www.paramusp ost.com/article. php/200710040857 15206Eating those addictive light and luscious doughnuts made with trans fat islike eating lead: there is no minimum level that's safe."Trans fat is a toxic chemical, and it does not belong in food any morethan arsenic, lead or DDT," said Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of thedepartment of nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. "The foodindustry in this country spends billions of dollars on how to exploit theweaknesses of children.We protect children from alcohol, smoking and firearms, but children arenot able to make good food choices. We need to limit advertising directedat children."Trans fat is a really bad actor, and it's present in the food

supply inlarge amounts."Besides heart disease, trans fat is a culprit in other ailments fromdiabetes to dementia, he said, noting that limiting consumption of transfat would result in 30,000 to 100,000 fewer deaths each year from heartdisease alone.Problem is, the public was pushed to trans fat just decades ago withwarnings to avoid butter and consume margarines, shun lard and replace itwith partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and minimize fat consumption.Now we know:- Fat can be beautiful ... and life-sustaining. Healthy fat reduces heartdisease.- Food manufacturers invented trans fat by discovering a way to solidifyvegetable oils. The process of partial hydrogenation turns good vegetableoils into bad trans fats.- Trans fat is worse than saturated fat.- There is no acceptable minimum consumption of trans fat. The federalgovernment actually allows foods with under a gram of

trans fat to belabeled "zero trans fat.""That needs to be fixed," Willett said. "It causes confusion."Willett is the scientist who criticized the federal government for aflawed food pyramid that failed to discriminate between good fats and badfats. He said the advice to eat margarine and avoid all fat was not basedon science.Willett hopes the New York City ban on trans fats in restaurants spreadsto the rest of the country, but in the meantime, how do we reduce ourconsumption of trans fat? When is the low-fat label more harmful thanbeneficial? Can fried food - french fries, fried chicken, chips - be transfat free? When is a croissant worse for your health than a steak?The answers are well known in the kitchen at 200 Oakbrook Drive in EastPeoria, Ill., but the path to a healthy diet is still a process ofcompromise here as in most other households in America."For a long time I ate things I didn't

want to eat, and then decided Idon't care how hard it is to prepare different food. And it turned out notto be so hard," said Susan Voigt-Reising, consultant and certifiedfacilitator for the Coronary Health Improvement Project at IllinoisCentral College.She and her husband, Mark, sometimes compromise and sometimes clash whenit comes to food and other issues.She is a Democrat and liberal. He is a Republican and conservative. Shegets mail from Green Peace, Union of Concerned Scientists and HumaneSociety of the United States.He gets mail from the National Rifle Association and plays paint ball. Hegave up hunting when he and his wife married 20 years ago.Their kitchen is filled with his and her foods. His potato chips havetrans fat. She rarely eats chips, but when she does it's Kettle Krinklecut chips with no trans fat. She eats natural creamy peanut butter, heeats a low-fat crunchy kind. She eats

Amy's frozen pizza with no cheeseand roasted vegetables. He eats frozen pork sausage pizza. She drinks soymilk. He experimented with and likes hormone-free, low-fat milk."That's great when I'm knocking back cookies," he said."You don't knock back cookies!" she exclaimed."Oh yes I do," he said. "I used to try the low-fat, low-salt food, and ithad no taste. It was like eating sawdust. If it tastes like swill, forgetit. But some of those foods have gotten a lot better tasting lately."Take cookies for example. Many commercially prepared cookies have transfat. Mark Reising often makes cookies with a Betty Crockeroatmeal-chocolate chip packaged mix that can be prepared with optionsranging from light butter, Smart Balance or canola oil to apple sauce orpureed prunes."I like to bake because I like to eat it," Mark Reising said. "I've madecake with apple sauce. It's not bad."There are good fats and

bad fats, but no acceptable level of trans fat,Susan Voigt-Reising said. Saturated fats like meats and dairy should bereduced.Good fats like omega-3 fatty acids, olive oil and canola oil have healthbenefits. Prepared salad dressings that are totally fat-free haveeliminated even beneficial oils, so the "fat-free" label doesn't alwaysmean healthier."Weight is not the only reason to watch your diet. There is cholesterol.There are triglycerides, " Susan Voigt-Reising said. "Watching your dietcan add years and years to your life. According to the most recentfigures, 71 percent of men and 62 percent of women are overweight orobese. That's a life and death issue. We are eating ourselves to death."Amy Lister, former clinical manager with CHIP and now director ofeducation with Optimum Health Solutions, said, "In 10 years, I think we'llview food like cigarettes in terms of how it can affect your health."She

is not opposed to the New York City ban on all trans fat from cityrestaurants."If a doughnut, bagel or bread had lead in it, would you keep the lead infor the taste?" she said. "Trans fat is mainly a preservative to increaseshelf life. It's in cookies, doughnuts, commercial baked goods, muffins,rolls."It is also used in many restaurants and chains to fry food, but morechains are replacing trans fat in the fryer with healthier oils. Theswitch can be made with little impact on cost or taste.A large order of fries from a chain can contain 8 grams of trans fat. Evensome foods labeled low fat can have 4 grams."If you don't know whether a chain uses trans fat, avoid all its friedfoods," Lister said, noting that frozen foods may be just as bad, citing apopular frozen pot pie with 16 grams of trans fat.The New York City ban could help the entire country, she said."Chains want to keep consistent

store to store. Trans fat is an easy thingto change without noticing any difference in taste," she said,recommending people read labels and avoid "partially hydrogenated"vegetable oils.Allison Tran, owner of Lin Hing Food Market in Peoria, said she hasstarted carrying rice oil as well as olive oil, canola oil and otherhealthy vegetable oils.Tran encouraged her friend, Linh Luong, to open a restaurant in Peoria. Inthe eight years Luong has owned the restaurant, no food has ever beenprepared with trans fat."We use very little oil and when we use oil, it is vegetable oil," Luongsaid. "In Vietnam, we used mostly peanut oil, but there are too manypeanut allergies here."Dwayne Greer, vice president and spokesman for One World Cafe in Peoria,said, "We don't even have trans fat in the building. Trans fat isproduced, and there are other fats that are not as bad."He said there are more negative

repercussions from the trend to switchfrom butter to margarines made with trans fat and from sugar to highfructose corn syrup."The body doesn't stop eating those foods," he said, explaining theaddictive nature of foods made with trans fat and high fructose cornsyrup.SIDEBARToxic or tasty?By Clare Howard- Use a small amount of olive oil on bread instead of butter or margarine.- Use canola oil instead of margarine or shortening when baking.- Use natural peanut, almond or walnut butters as a spread on bagelsinstead of cream cheese.- Use olive oil with flavored vinegars in place of regular salad dressing.- Have 1 ounce of unsalted nuts in place of high-fat snacks such as potatochips or snack crackers.TRANS FAT-FREE FRENCH FRIES6 large russet potatoes, scrubbedVegetable oil cooking spraySalt and pepper, to taste (optional)Creole spice, to taste

(optional)Yields 4 to 6 servings.Preheat oven to 475 F.Cut potatoes into 1/2-inch strips or leave thicker if you prefer more of apotato wedge. Lightly spray baking sheet with cooking spray.Lay potatoes in single layer on baking sheet. Spray strips with cookingspray before placing pan in oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, turn and continuebaking until crisp and browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.Nutritional analysis per serving: 150 calories, 3.8 g protein, 0.2 g fat(1.3 percent of total calories), no carbohydrate, 2.9 g fiber, nocholesterol, 207 mg sodium.OVEN-ROASTED POTATOES6 potatoes, peeled1 onion, chopped1 teaspoon dried parsley1 teaspoon paprika2 teaspoon low-salt soy sauceYields 4 to 6 servings.Cut potatoes into slices and line them up on a nonstick baking pan.Sprinkle with onion, parsley, paprika and soy sauce. Bake at 400 F untilbrown and

puffed up, about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn over slices with spatulaand bake 15 to 20 minutes.Nutritional analysis per serving: 162 calories, 4.3 g protein, 0.2 g fat(1.2 percent of total calories), 35.8 g carbohydrate, 3.5 g fiber, nocholesterol, 71 mg sodium.CRISPED TORTILLA CHIPS1 package of 12 corn tortillas1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)1/2 teaspoon onion powder (optional)Yields 4 to 6 servings.Preheat oven to 400 F.Arrange tortillas in stack. Cut all 12 in 1/2 at once, and then cut intoquarters. Lay these wedges on a nonstick baking sheet, avoidingoverlapping. Sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder mixture, ifdesired. Bake in 400 F oven until chips are crisp, stirring and turning tobrown evenly. Remove wedges as they are done.Nutritional analysis per serving: 133 calories, 3.2 g protein, 1.4 g fat(9.8 percent of total calories), 26.7 g carbohydrate, 2.9 g

fiber, nocholesterol, 91 mg sodium.OVEN-BAKED PITA CHIPS6 flour pitasVegetable oil cooking spraySalt, to taste (optional)Creole spice, to taste (optional)Preheat oven to 375 F.Yields 4 to 6 servings.Preheat oven to 375 F.Cut pita into desired size for chips. Arrange on cooking sheet withoutoverlapping. Lightly spray with vegetable oil. Bake in oven until chipsare crisp, stirring and turning to brown evenly. Sprinkle with salt orCreole spice, if desired.Nutritional analysis per serving: 162 calories, 5.5 g protein, 0.7 g fat(3.7 percent of total calories), 33.4 g carbohydrate, 1.3 g fiber, nocholesterol, 518 mg sodium.

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