Not exactly known for their healthy eating habits, last year Americans began waging war against an unhealthy enemy: trans fat. Fast-food franchises KFC and Wendy’s will only use trans fat-free oil in their restaurants in the US, and Starbucks has been phasing out the use of trans fats in its coffee shops. And New York City became the first city to ban the use of trans fats—starting with trans fat in frying oil in July and then one year later NYC restaurants will be required to be completely free of trans fat.

Good Fat, Bad Fat

There are many types of fat in the food that we eat. Some are good, and some can be dangerous. Trans fat is one of the dangerous ones. A small amount of trans fat can be found naturally in animal-based food, such as meat or milk. But the trans fat we’re talking about is liquid oil that has been made solid by adding hydrogen, as in the case of shortening and margarine. The use of trans fats prolong a product’s shelf life. Trans fats are commonly found in processed snack foods like crackers, cookies, cakes and deep-fried foods.

What Trans-Fat Will Do to You

Trans-fat increases lipoprotein (a.k.a. LDL or bad cholesterol), tyglycerides and insulin levels, while it decreases HDL (good) cholesterol in your body. According to many studies, large amounts of trans-fat increase your chances and severity of coronary heart disease, heart attacks and diabetes.

Avoiding Trans-Fat

Most industrially-processed foods are huge sources of trans-fat. In some countries, food labels will warn you when a product contains trans fat. Consumers should also look out for: “hydrogenated vegetable oil,” “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “shortening.” Unfortunately in Thailand, the law does not require such detailed labels.
With the help of Nantaya Jongjaithet, a medical nutritionist from the Nutrition Division of the Ministry of Public Health, we came up with a few suggestions.

Avoid:

• Margarine
• Mass-produced cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread
• Deep-fried food (there are 3.5g of trans fat in a small portion of McDonald’s french fries), potato chips
• Creamy salad dressing
• Instant noodles (most contain trans fat)
• “Bad” Oils like coconut, palm

Stick to:

• Vegetables and fruits
• Grilled and stir-fried food
• Noodles and soups (but not instant noodles)
• “Good” Oils like corn, soybean, sunflower, olive, canola
 

More Ways to Die Eating

Water

Just when you think you’re drinking the healthiest thing in the world, you could be slowly draining yourself of minerals. According to some researchers, water purified by reverse osmosis (those water machines near condos and mini-marts) is too pure, and to have a devastating leeching effect.

It’s also possible to die from drinking too much water. This happened to a woman in the US following a water-drinking contest.

Salt

Too much salt can cause high blood pressure. High blood pressure can cause heart disease, strokes or kidney disease. Pass me pepper, please.

E. Coli

Most people don’t realize how important it is that restaurant workers wash their hands after going to the toilet. E. coli (a bacteria found in human feces) can cause urinary tract infections, meningitis, peritonitis, mastitis, septicemia and gram-negative pneumonia—people die from eating contaminated food every year.

MSG

This one won’t kill you but some bored researchers in Tokyo shot up rats with MSG and they went blind. Wow, we knew it gives some people headaches (which others argue is purely psychological) but we’re happy to have a new excuse to fight the chefs’ angel dust.