One of the proposed issues with keto is that it raises your cholesterol. What the heck is that? Is higher levels of cholesterol good or bad? Why does keto affect it? Is it true that keto can harm your heart? In this series, we have looked at the basics of cholesterol so you can make your own informed decision on whether keto will make a negative or positive impact on your health. What does fat have to do with cholesterol? Weâve discussed saturated fats, unsaturated fats, and now we look at trans fats on keto diets.
What are Trans Fats?
We saved the most evil of the fats for last: trans fats. If saturated fats are the witty, joke cracking villain, trans fats are the horror movie villains with no redeeming qualities. They are simply out to kill you. Can you do keto with trans fats? And should you?
To make trans fats, you heat liquid vegetable oils. This is a process called hydrogenation. Why would you do this? There are several reasons. Firstly, the hydrogenated oils are less likely to go rancid. The shelf life is longer. Secondly, it makes an oil into a solid. A bucket of oil is difficult to carry and transport. A solid block is much easier. And, trans fats are ideal for frying food.
Where to Find Trans Fats on Keto
If you read a label and it says something is partially hydrogenated, it contains trans fats. They are most often found in commercially baked goods (like cookies, cakes, and pies) and fried foods. Stick margarine is partially hydrogenated. Some other places you may find trans fats include microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, refrigerated dough, and non-dairy creamer.
Luckily, these items are not really keto-friendly. You can have the occasional fried food, but we donât eat a lot of it because you canât have anything breaded. The rest of these items are things you avoid on keto, so thatâs a win. You can also find trace amounts of trans fats in some meats and dairy products. These donât appear to have the negative effects of the added trans fat.
Are Trans Fats on Keto Really Bad?
Well, yes. While there is controversy over whether saturated fats are bad for you, trans fats have no such advocates. The article from Harvard says that if 2% of your calories from trans fats daily, you are 23% more likely to be at risk of heart disease. There are no health benefits to trans fats.
I try to eat foods that are âwhole,â meaning that they are what they started out as. Obviously, I like in western society and I have a busy life, so this isnât what I do all the time. But, I like eating vegetables and meats that arenât modified. Other than the trace amounts found naturally, food companies usually add trans fats for the benefits we listed above.
The Ban on Trans Fats
There has been a lot in the news over the past few years about governments banning the use of trans fats. Some governments have banned adding trans fats. Others have just banned them all together. I remember McDonalds had to change from using trans fat oil to using canola oil. There was a lot of hype about this. The goverment does not require it, but many companies have adopted the policy. The jig is up – trans fats are not good for you.
Final Word on Trans Fats on Keto
Just by being keto, you will naturally avoid a lot of trans fats. But, like we always say, read the labels. Trans fat is a separate item under fats. Also read the ingredients of a product. If it says partially hydrogenated, that means it contains trans fats. This is true even if the percentage reads zero. If the trans fat equals a certain amount under a percentage, the company can list it as zero.
While unsaturated fats are good and the jury is out on saturated fats, everything I have read states that trans fats will just kill you. They donât even taste better – they just keep things on the shelf longer. A good rule of thumb – if a cookie has a shelf life of over a year, maybe you shouldnât eat it. Just my opinionâŠ
Wendy
