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Earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement that: “Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHOs) are not Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)” and that the food industry has three years to remove these fats from their products. The part of the PHOs which is not safe is the type of fat known as “trans fats.” Looking at some of the comments that were made from online citizens is that the government should not, and does not, have the right to ban these fats. This is another reality check moment. First, the FDA has been trying to get this done since 2013, so it isn’t overnight.

Let’s look at these “essential (?)” fats. Trans fats are made when any liquid oil is changed from a liquid to a solid during the process known as hydrogenation. Changing a liquid fat to a solid is great, but Mother Nature hasn’t changed us in eons; therefore our bodies have no clue how to properly use these food “gizmos.” A gizmo, if you remember, is a nifty device that you have no clue what it does, but might need someday. This fat gizmo comes complete with blades in that the body stores it and the sharp “blades” damage the body.

Even before 2013, the nutrition community has known that trans fats cause harm. There was rumored that high fat diets could not only lead to heart attacks and stroke, but also were connected to breast and colon cancers. Since then, we have found out that it wasn’t the “high fat” diet that was harmful, but it WAS the trans fats. According to the FDA this month, their concern was the increase in heart and vascular (stroke)diseases. In 2013, Vanderbuilt University conducted a study that demonstrated that reducing trans fat intake to less than 1% total calorie intake (think less than 2 gm per day) could possibly decrease ALL deaths by 7%.

The best way I know to explain the effects of trans fats on the human body is to compare the body to an expensive Swiss watch (the kind without a battery, but keeps working just with the sway of the body). Take that watch, open up the back of it and pour ¼ teaspoon of fine sand into the watch. What will happen? You will tear up that watch beyond all repair. Now you have an idea of what science has told us for more than a decade and what trans fats do to you and yours.

What can you eat besides fried foods, margarine, processed foods and foods made with shortening? Remember something knon as BUTTER? Yes, butter and lard are better for you than shortening and margarine. Oils are great too, just don’t fry in them. No processed or fast foods? You could always try making your own food from scratch like your Mom (or Dad) or Grandma did. During that time in our history, the American population was thinner and had less heart and vascular disease, as well as less cancer.