An Apple A Day - Trouble with Trans Fats

trevor.kenney — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:14:50 +0000

Are you used to grabbing a muffin for a quick energy boost? How about munching on a donut to fill your stomach until you can get home to eat? You may be filling up on trans fats and increasing your bad cholesterol (LDL).

Trans fats increase our bad cholesterol (LDL), and decrease our good cholesterol (HDL), making them the worst kind of fat for your heart health. According to Health Canada, Canadians consume about 8.4 grams of trans fats daily. That's bad news according to the World Health Organization and the National Academy of Sciences.

Trans fats are very useful in the fast-food industry because they are a very stable fat for repeated bouts of deep-frying. Trans fats are also found in processed or packaged foods because they increase product shelf life.

Their abundance in our food chain makes it almost impossible to consume no trans fats. The goal is to reduce trans fat consumption. Here are some tips to decrease your trans fat intake:

Eat less processed foods

Bake your own muffins using healthy oils such as olive, canola or sunflower oil.

Enjoy fresh rather than fried

Choose wraps, pitas, subs and sandwiches made with whole grain breads.

Limit fast food

Pack meals and snacks from home and avoid the inherent trans fats in most fast food products.

Smart snacking

If you want crackers, choose low fat crackers such as WASA bread, Ryvita crackers or Stone Wheat Thins. And keep nutritious snacks handy. Try eating nuts, seeds, fresh fruit, yogurt, homemade muffins, fig newtons, graham wafers and air-popped popcorn instead of doughnuts, cookies, chips, microwave popcorn or chocolate bars.

Diane Britton is the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's on-campus registered dietitian

For an individual nutrition appointment, call the Health Centre (SU020) at
403-329-2484. Initial sessions are $40.

For a look at the February issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Learning to snack the right way

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:27:46 +0000

Canadians eat 60 per cent of their daily calories from snacks. If you choose wisely, healthy snacks help control appetite, cravings and give you an energy boost. Be aware of portion size no matter what snack you choose.

Little changes make a big difference

• Pretzels (30 ml/100 calories) instead of corn chips (30 ml / 150 calories) saves 50 calories

• Low fat microwave popcorn (250 ml/70 calories) instead of buttered (250 ml/140 calories) saves 70 calories

• Frozen yogurt (125 ml/115 calories) instead of ice cream (125 ml/349 calories) saves 234 calories

Plan for success

• Buy healthy snacks when grocery shopping. It's easy to stay on track if you have them available.

• People are less likely to pack healthy foods in the morning rush, so plan and pack snacks each night for the next day. Packing healthy snacks with you helps avoid impulse decisions to purchase low nutrient/high calorie snacks. It's also less expensive.

• Eat no more than 40g of sugar a day (not including natural sugar (fructose) found in whole fruit) – read labels to see where sugar is hidden in foods.

• Compare nutrition information labels to choose the best snacks for you. Look for brands lower in fat and salt, and higher in fibre.

• Portion snacks out before you start eating. It's harder to keep track of how much you've eaten and easier to overeat when you eat right from the bag or box.

• Vegetables and fruits have no labels and always make a great snack! Each day, at least one of your snacks should include vegetables and fruit.

Diane Britton is available for individual nutrition consultations at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Health Centre (403-329-2484)

UNews - energy boost

An Apple A Day - Trouble with Trans Fats

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