I'm going to talk about something today that most
of you have probably never heard... that there is a distinction between
good trans fats and bad trans fats. There is some evidence that the
good trans fats can help you with fat loss, muscle building, and even
cancer prevention, while the bad trans fats have been shown to cause
heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the general blubbering of your
body.

I'm sure most of you have heard all of the ruckus
in the news over the last few years about just how bad man-made trans
fats are for your health. If you've been a reader of my newsletter and
my Truth about Six Pack Abs e-book program, then you definitely know my
opinion that these substances are some of the most evil food additives
of all and are found in the vast majority of all processed foods and
fast foods on the market today.

In my opinion, man-made trans fats are right up
there with smoking in terms of their degree of danger to your health.
After all, they are one of THE MAIN factors for the explosion of heart
disease since approximately the 1950's.

As you may have heard recently, the FDA has
mandated that food manufacturers include the grams of trans fat on all
nutrition labels starting back at the beginning of this year. This
means that as inventory is replaced in the grocery stores, you should
start to see grams of trans listed on all packages from now on,
providing you with an easier way to avoid them.

With all of the talk about trans fats in the news
these days, I wanted to clarify some things, particularly regarding bad
trans fats vs. good trans fats. If you've never heard of good trans
fats before, let me explain in a bit.

The Bad Trans Fats

First, the bad trans fats I'm referring to are
the man-made kind. These are represented by any artificially
hydrogenated oils. The main culprits are margarine, shortening, and
partially hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods, junk
foods, and deep fried foods.

These hydrogenated oils are highly processed
using harsh chemical solvents like hexane (a component of gasoline),
high heat, pressure, have a metal catalyst added, and are then
deodorized and bleached. A small % of the solvent is allowed to remain
in the finished oil. This has now become more of an industrial oil
rather than a food oil, but somehow the FDA still allows the food
manufacturers to put this crap in our food at huge quantities, even
with the well documented health dangers.

These hydrogenated oils cause inflammation inside
of your body, which signals the deposition of cholesterol as a healing
agent on artery walls. Hence, hydrogenated oil = inflammation = clogged
arteries. You can see why heart disease has exploded since this crap
has been loaded into our food supply over the last 5 to 6 decades.

As time goes on, and science continues to unveil
how deadly these oils really are, I feel that eventually they will be
illegal and banned from use. The labeling laws were just the first
step. In fact, certain countries around the world have already banned
the use of hydrogenated oils in food manufacturing or at least set
dates to phase them out for good.

However, keep in mind that as companies are
starting to phase out the use of hydrogenated oils in processed foods,
they are replacing them, in most instances, with highly refined
polyunsaturated oils. These are still heavily processed oils using high
heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleaching agents. Even refined oils
are known to produce inflammation in your body...a far cry from natural
sources of healthy fats.

Once again, for the best results, your best bet
is avoiding highly processed foods altogether and choose whole,
natural, minimally processed foods. Your body will thank you!

The Good Trans Fats

Ok, after having trash talked the man-made trans
fats, let me clearly state that there is such a thing as healthy
natural trans fats. Natural trans fats are created in the stomachs of
ruminant animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, etc. and make their way
into the fat stores of the animals.

Therefore, the milk fat and the fat within the
meat of these animals can provide natural healthy trans fats. Natural
trans fats in your diet have been thought to have some potential
benefit to aid in both muscle building and fat loss efforts. However,
keep in mind that the quantity of healthy trans fats in the meat and
dairy of ruminant animals is greatly reduced by mass-production methods
of farming and their grain and soy heavy diets. Meat and dairy from
grass-fed, free-range animals always have much higher quantities of
these beneficial fats.

One such natural trans fat that you may have
heard of is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and has been marketed
by many weight loss companies. Keep in mind that these man-made CLA
pills you see in the stores may not be the best way to get CLA in your
diet. They are artificially made from plant oils, instead of the
natural process that happens in ruminant animals. Once again, man-made
just doesn't compare to the benefits of natural sources.

Here's a great site I found that I use to order all of my healthy grass-fed beef and other free range meats.
The service is impeccable and they deliver right to your doorstep in a
sealed cooler. It's worth it to know that you and your family are
actually eating meat that's good for you instead of the normal grocery
store junk.

Now that all of your labels should be listing
grams of trans fat, keep in mind that if a quantity of trans fat is
listed on a meat or dairy product, it is most likely the natural good
trans fats that we've discussed here. Otherwise, if the quantity of
trans fat is listed on any processed foods, it is most likely the
dangerous unhealthy crap from artificially hydrogenated oils, so stay
away!

Here's some more great reading material about eating a truly natural and healthy diet for you and your family:

Nourishing Traditions - by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig

Eat Fat, Lose Fat - by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig

Also, if you haven't read it yet, be sure to read this eye-opening article about saturated fat truths by Dr. Mary Enig.

I hope you've enjoyed this interesting look at
good trans vs. bad trans fats and use the info to arm yourself with
more healthful food choices for a better body.

If you have yet to check out my internationally best-selling program,
Truth About Six Pack Abs,
clickety-click on over and see how this program will blast fat off of
your entire body, leaving you with abs that your friends will envy!