Not all fats are created equal. There's evidence that some fats do in fact reduce the risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke. But before you break open a pack of chips to celebrate, a warning – the foods you buy or make yourself often contain the nastiest fat of all.
A diet including trans-fatty acids can increase your bad cholesterol levels, decrease your good cholesterol levels and increase your risk of heart disease.
Many packaged foods like potato chips, cookies, cakes and margarine all have trans-fats but currently, only food manufacturers who claim their product has 'no cholesterol' or 'low in saturated fat' are required to list trans fatty acids on their nutritional labels. This means a lot of trans-fats in our daily food intake can fly under the radar.
So to reduce your intake of trans-fats and saturated fats, here's what you need to do:
If you want to boost the amount of "good" fats, opt for a more Mediterranean style diet and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, together with fish, olive oil, avocadoes and nuts.
Check out this month's calendar items for more information on nutrition or ask your Health and Safety Advisor for how to balance your diet and avoid those bad trannies.
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