The deadline is approaching…

Starting July 1, 2007 all New York City restaurants will have to start preparing foods with oils that contain LESS THAN 1/2 gram per serving of trans fat.  That means those tasty cannolis….warm doughnuts…and even that famous cheesecake you like to order when you’re eating out…will have to be prepared with something other than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. 

What exactly does this mean?

This means that magarines and shortenings that have been used for decades and even centuries to make the most delicious, calorie-rich and over-the-top decadent desserts and other foods are now getting a make-over thanks to the New York City Board of Health.  The NYC Board of Health is taking a stand against the rising number of heart attacks and deaths associated with high cholesterol and just plain old poor eating habits which have become custom in our American diet. 

So why is trans fat getting singled out as the bad seed in the bunch when it comes to how restaurants prepare foods?

Trans fat gets it name from the actual chemical structure of the fat molecule.  It finds it’s place somewhere between butter—which is a saturated fat and canola oil, olive oil or soy oil which are polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils.  Trans fat—like shortening—have been shown to raise your bad (or LDL) cholesterol and lower your good (or HDL) cholesterol…which together spells double trouble when it comes to your heart and your risk for having a heart attack or dying from heart disease. 

The Food and Drug Administration got on board with educating the consumer with the content of trans fat in prepared foods by adding Trans Fat to the Nutrition Label in 2006.  Foods that contain less than 1/2 gram of trans fat per serving are labeled as having zero grams of trans fat per serving. 

So where can you find trans fat?

The majority of foods that contain trans fat are your cakes, cookies, pies, breads, biscuits…anything that you can remember your mother or even your grandmother making with a measuring cup of shortening to make your favorite dessert light and fluffy.  Trans fat can also be found in some margarines, french fries, some potato chips, candy and even some cereal.  So check those Nutrition Labels!

This mandate is not going to change the way your mother makes her famous cookies or pies but it will affect the way chefs and bakers around the city prepare their signature dishes.  This new rule is aimed right at our hearts and our waistlines to try and help get the city of New York on a healthier track. 

But regulating trans fat alone won’t change your overall health status if you don’t also work on controlling the amount of calories you eat and the amount of exercise you get. 

The Institute of Medicine recommends that we get 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise on all, if not most days of the week.  That means walking the dog doesn’t count unless you’re taking a real brisk walk and get your pulse rate up.  You could also try incorporating the At-Home Workout or the Backyard Workout into your exercise regimen to meet your weekly exercise goal. 

And don’t think that New York City will be the only place where trans fat will be regulated.  All eyes are on NYC to see how successful this regulation will be in curbing the city’s rising death rates from heart disease and may even cause a ripple effect when it comes to regulating what we eat when dining out.

So….NYC…..we’ll be watching out for you this summer.

To your wellness,

The Health and Wellness Queen

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.