Good Trans Fats vs. Bad Trans Fats

Artificial trans fats are often said to be one of the main "poisons" in our food. Most people do not know that actually healthy natural trans fats DO exist also - as Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer explains. There is a difference which exists between good trans fats and bad trans fats. Many people know that bad trans fats are thought to cause cancer, heart disease, diabetes and the loose belly that everyone wants to get rid of. What people don't know is that good trans fats exists and there is some evidence to suggest that these can help you with fat loss, firming a loose belly, muscle building and even cancer prevention. Those of you who have seen all the news items over recent years about how bad man-made trans fats are for your health will know that they are most commonly found in the majority of of all provessed foods and fast foods.

If you are serious about getting rid of your loose belly then you need to be serious about cutting the bad trans fats our of your diet. Many people believe that they are one of the main contributing factors for the rapid increase in heart disease in recent decades. Mike Geary, leading author and weight loss guru, know a lot about the distinction between bad trans fats and good trans fats. Mike's leading weight loss product, Truth About Abs, is rock solid on getting your diet on the right track and walks you through, step by step, how you can incorporate the good trans fats into a healthy, balanced diet - a diet that banishes the bad trans fats for ever.



Let's get into a litte more detail on what exactly we mean by bad trans fats and how they are different from the good trans fats.

The Bad Trans Fats

Bad trans fats are man made. Generally, when it comes to food, something that is man made and not natural is less likely to be good for you. There is no exception here - man made trans fats are the bad ones! Bad trans fats are artifically hydrogenated oils (the type of oil found in margarine) and are also found in most processed foods deep fried foods and junk foods.

Hydrogenated oils are known to cause inflammation inside the human body and since inflammation is one of the body's signals that there is a build up of cholesterol this is the body's way of saying that consuming hydrogenated oils is bad news. There is increasing evidence that the explosion of heart disease over the last fifty to sixty years is tightly connected with the dramatic increase in the amount of bad trans fats that are being loaded into our daily food supply. Many commentators think, including Mike Geary, that bad trans fats will be banned from our food in coming years - food labelling laws are only the first step. Some countries around the world have already banned hydrogenated oils being used in food manufacturing or else have set dates to phase them out permanently.

Be sure to remember however that as food companies start to cut out hydrogenated oils in their processed foods, they are increasingly replacing them with highly refined polyunsaturated oils (like corn oil and soybean oil) which are still heavily processed oils. Even these refined polyunsaturated oils are known to hproduce inflammation in the human body and are a long way from natural sources of healthy fats. Nutritionists recommend that your best path is to avoid highly processed foods entirely and always choosing whole, natural, minimally-processed foods. Your body will thank you for cutting out over processed foods and focussing on natural food products instead. Mike goes into the specifics of how to get your food intake right in his acclaimed The Truth About Abs.



The Good Trans Fats

Ok, after we've said a lot of negative things about bad, man-made trans fats let's be clear that there are healthy natural trans fats.

A world away from the man-made bad trans fats, natural trans fats are created in the stomachs of animals such as cattle, sheep and goats. These animals are called ruminant animals and healthy trans fats are found in the fat stores of these animals. The fat found in milk and in the meat of these animals therefore provides a source of healthy trans fats. Nutritionists are increasinly talking about the potential benefit that is natural trans fats are thought to have to those wanting to build muscle or lose fat. The expert commentary around this thinking recognises that the greatest potential benefit comes from eating the meat and drinking the milk of animals produced in a low-intensity, free-range environment This is because dairy and meat products derived from grass-fed, free-range animals tend to have significantly higher quantities of beneficial trans fats as compared with products from mass-production agriculture.

If you have heard of a natural trans fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) - which has been marketed by many fat loss companies, you should bear in mind that CLA is a man-made pill and is not necessairly the best way to source CLA in your diet. This is because these pills are made from plant oils and not from the natural processes that occurs in ruminant animals. As many nutritionists say- man made products do not usually compare to the benefits of naturally sourced foods.