FDA orders food manufacturers to stop using trans fat within three years

[Bro. Curtis]

Thanx, Gina. I have successfully cut out fructose-based drinks. I buy lots of fruit at Costco, and fresh lettuce, celery, carrots, and I serve raw fruit or vegetable salad with every meal. Tonight's a big celebration, so I have rubbed & roasted pork loin, mashed russets with gravy, and steamed broccoli, with a pear/apple/strawberry salad.

We have to pack lunches for the folks who work, so I get Dole 100% fruit cups for them. And Capri Sun 100% juice bags. They want their individual bags of chips so I give them to them. I also have to surrender on the cheese they want for their sandwiches, so I'm stuck giving them those yucky individually wrapped cheeses.

I have a person who's limited to 1200 calories a day. An 8 ounce glass of 100% apple juice is 110 calories. It does not give me much room. An all-beef hot dog without the bun is 90 calories. A serving of mashed potatoes is 220 calories. I'm learning this stuff. Bananas are also a killer. Then you factor in grains, which we all need, it adds up very fast.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

OK, for instance would you consider government action to eliminate smallpox or polio an encroachment? To me, this ban amounts to government action to fight heart disease.

The numbers aren't close to comparable. Second, not everyone who eats trans fat gets heart disease. Third, heart disease is not a communicable epidemic. Fourth, what choices were removed form folks when fighting the diseases you mentioned ?

 

[Gina B]

I've watered down juice. LOL But they do sell the little boxed ones for toddlers that have less than normal Capri-Sun style pouches. Do you think they might go for replacing the bigger juice with a small one and a water bottle? I've added flavors (unsweetened, no artificial sweeteners, just pure flavor drops) to water. Some people do flavor infusions with fruits/rinds to replace juice. Sometimes to replace soda, we add a bit of flavored syrup to soda water. It is sooo much less sugar than soda and refreshing.
Just thoughts based on what we've tried.
Still, no matter what, nothing replaces Oreos. Nothing. I made those myself but nope, not the same. I will be sad if they go...or change.

 

[kyredneck]

Trust me BC, I share your concerns about government infringement on any of our rights, but it seems to me this 'infringement' is going to be basically painless.

From 2013:

Hunt is on for the last surviving trans fats

"....But what foods have trans fats these days?

I took $4 to the vending machine and tried to buy some trans fat. Jumbo honey bun: no trans fat. Cinnamon roll: no trans fat. Cheez-Its: no trans fat.

I wandered around the office, asking people to study their snacks. I checked out pretzel chips, protein bars, granola bars – no trans fats.

“There’s been tremendous progress in the food industry getting rid of trans fat,” says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “I’d estimate that roughly 75 percent of the trans fat is gone."

He says you can still find it at restaurants, especially non-chains. You can also find partially hydrogenated oils in some microwave popcorn, piecrusts, refrigerated biscuits and frostings. A listener pointed out on Twitter that tootsie rolls have trans fats.

UC Davis food science professor Bruce German says, in some cases, companies struggle to find just the right replacement. Other times, it’s about cost.

“The majority of food in the marketplace competes to a very substantial extent on price," he says. And trans fats often cost a little less than replacements.

The most common substitutes are palm and coconut oil.

“The investors in those are smiling,” says German. And, so am I, because now I can eat those Cheez-Its without any partially hydrogenated guilt...."

But NOW the problem is the stress we're putting on the Orangutans by switching to palm oil!

From the comments:

"...Please do a follow up story on the true costs of the palm oil industry. The orangutans need all the help they can get....

...Glad to see others have mentioned the horrific effects of the palm oil industry on endangered orangutans. I got chills when the reporter ended this story with "Now I can eat my .... guilt-free." For the conscientious citizen, the food industry in this country leaves very few guilt-free options....

...PLEASE, there is more to the story and you should cover it. Where is the Palm Oil coming from? Forests in Indonesia are clear cut and the orangutans are killed indiscriminately by these "farmers."
I'm afraid you really can't eat those cheetos guilt free. Eat whole food--good for the body, good for the planet...."

But this comment I thought was profound:

"...Having a spokesman from the Center for Science in the Public Interest comment on trans fats was beautifully subversive. Decades ago CSPI lobbied heavily for trans fats as a healthy substitute for deadly saturated fats such as coconut and palm oil. Now trans fats are deadly and coconut oil is not...."

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Hey bro KyR, I gotta go to work. I have enjoyed this. Have a great afternoon.

 

[Gina B]

Kyr, I ran into that issue recently as I've started studying candle-making. I wanted an oil to mix with beeswax that would work for jar candles and could be sold as organic and good for the environment. Palm seemed the way to go until I read on environmental websites.
Technically, nobody will ever be okay with anything. Just being on this earth has a negative environmental impact if you look at it a certain way.
I guess all we can do is try. The only solution I see would be if people lived according to what their local area provides to sustain life, but humans are too advanced to go back to common sense...

 

[kyredneck]

"For every action there is a reaction". Gina, I think that applies to just about everything, and not only to the laws of physics.

In the bureau I retired from it was, ""For every action there will be an overreaction".

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

If it's rendered and canned correctly it will keep for decades.

Yea but you can open up crisco, use some then put a lid over it & tuck it away. can you do that with lard?

 

[kyredneck]

Yes, but it keeps much longer, a year or more, if refrigerated after opening. The inconvenience is NOT in having and using it, it's in putting the time and labor into making and preserving it yourself. After that it's a piece of cake.

 

[kyredneck]

Ummm, for supper I just had a big bowl of kilt lettuce, fresh straight out of the garden. Thank you Lord. The confit is perfect for this. 52 calories per TBSP.