Am I fat?

A long time ago I was grocery shopping - finding a big conflict between my budget consciousness and my health consciousness - deciding between the butter I held in one hand and the margarine I held in the other hand. A woman leaned towards me and said that margarine was about the worst thing I could put in my body - hydrogenation involved making oils, naturally liquid at room temperature, into something that would stay solid; that this process left traces of nickel - and who knows what else - which was used as a catalyst in the margarine.

She said that margarine actually worsens cholesterol (I confirmed the science on this subsequently) compared to butter which at least is a real substance in nature and if eaten in moderation, not bad. As I was interested, she further explained, hydrogenated oils make cell receptors rigid, and unable to function properly.

Tragically partially hydrogenated oils were typically found on every processed food label I came across at the time, not just on margarine labels.

Now there is this “fat free” craze which I have found to be completely misleading, but more on that later. Suffice it to say that the “process” in processed food is sketchy at best.

I think the woman in the grocery store was key to my development with regard to foods, health, food safety. She caused me to question what I was told, especially by the sellers of products.

This is how it was done back then.

Nowadays you hear all about trans fat and hydrogenated oils - that they are “bad” and should be avoided.
Things do change. Yes your decisions do make a difference. But we consumers must never let down our guard. Now there are every day new processed products that are labeled “fat free” or “no trans fat” or what have you. And along side these often offered by the same companies (or the same companies under different names) are the old products - crackers, candy bars, etc. - that still contain the old hydrogenated oils. Why? because all of these products sell. If they didn’t sell, they wouldn’t get made. Change comes slowly, but I do believe it comes.

I have now come to the subject of “good fat” and “bad fat.” Here is an example of why we feel so overwhelmed and disgruntled about products, health, food, labels. I started researching this subject and found totally contradictory information about what constitutes the good fats as opposed to the bad fats. Necessary fatty acids/unnecessary fatty foods. Well my dears, you’ll have to check back for the summary and assessment on that. That fat. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.