Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Peanut Butter, Jam, and Banana Sandwich

How hard can making a PB & J sandwich be?  Even a little kid can make one in his sleep.
I made this entry to let you in on a little big secret: bananas.   I also want to fill you in on a health secret.

Peanut butter is definitely healthy but you could easily be poisoning yourself with the wrong kind of peanut butter.  Many brands at IGA contain a harmful fat: TRANS FAT, which is a chemically altered and is known to cause cardiovascular problems.  Luckily, IGA has a couple of brands that have none at all (one shown in picture below).

Food manufacturers add hydrogen atoms to vegetable oil by a process called "hydrogenation".  They do so to increase the shelf life of their products.  Why?  They want to maximize profit and in order to do that, they need to avoid fast spoiling foods.

Because of shaky FDA rules, food companies are able to label their products with "no trans fat" even if their product does contain trans fat.  How?  FDA decided that if Trans fat is below a certain amount, it's okay for food manufacturers to say there's none at all.  These fats can easily accumulate into harmful amounts.  What would happen to someone that normally eats trans fatty peanut butter everyday?

Click here to read up on the effects of Trans Fats.
Article about banning trans fat.
 FDA Consumer Magazine cites major sources of trans fats are contained in:
1. cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, breads, baked goods
2. animal products prepared in partially hydrogenated oils
3. margarine
4. French fries
5. potato chips, corn chips, popcorn
6. shortening
7. salad dressings
8. breakfast cereals
9. candy

Reading Labels:
If "partially hydrogenated" appears at or near the top of the ingredients list on the nutrition label, you should find a comparable item that uses canola or olive oils. Become familiar with the other names of trans fats when you are watching your labels. These include margarine, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening, and shortening.

*Click HERE for a cooking dictionary. 

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