The good news: You’ve decided to eat healthier, maybe even cook home-made MLA (Make Lots Ahead & freeze) meals so you'll know what's really in them. Then you go to the supermarket. 

Have fun studying the labels. No trans fats! they proclaim, but their Nutrition Facts list hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrogenated sunflower oil, on and on. One buttery spread proclaims it’s “non-hydrogenated and has no trans fats.” Guess they think we don’t know it’s the same thing.

Trans fats are still there. Or if they’ve taken some out they’ve replaced them with saturated fat. The FDA guidelines instituted in January of 2006 have failed, because – loophole! -- food manufacturers can actually claim that their product is trans fat-free as long as it contains less than 1/2 gram (500 mg.) per serving.  Worse, THEY decide what a “serving size” is, and make it, like, 1/2 a teaspoon. This labeling trick has allowed trans fats back big time into the stores, fast foods, and your home. “That’s extremely disturbing,” said Michael D. Ozner, M.D., chairman of the American Heart Association of Miami, “since as few as three daily servings of these supposedly safe foods can increase one’s risk of heart disease and diabetes by thirty percent.”

According to the USDA, over 42,000 food products on the market still contain trans fats, including forty percent of all prepared foods such as margarines, baking mixes, desserts, spreads, chips, crackers, cereals, and frozen foods. 

Be skeptical. If the snazzy package says No Trans Fats, don’t automatically believe it and toss it into your cart. Double-check the ingredients for words like “hydrogenated,” “partially hydrogenated,” or vegetable shortening. (Some have gone back to that old-fashioned term.) “Heart Healthy! 0 trans fat!” says one brand of cracker. But what’s their “serving?” Two crackers? And if those two crackers add up to 499 mg., which makes it legal to say they have no trans fat, and you’re happily chowin’ ‘em down because you think they're ok…where does that leave you? Sicker on the inside. Which isn’t even counting the saturated fats -- another artery clogger -- snuck in when they were forced to decrease the trans fats.

Do the math. Count the number of saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fat grams on the Nutrition Facts label. If the “Total Fat” number is higher than those three combined, the difference equals what they’re hiding. Which is trans fats. The National Academy of Sciences has announced that the only truly safe intake of these harmful fats is zero.

Are you reminded of the nicotine industry’s conspiracy of ten years ago?

The upshot is that many people have stopped buying processed foods altogether, and have replaced margarine with canola and olive oil in their recipes. Others are sticking to the outer edges of the grocery store, where the fresh produce, fat free ground turkey, skim milk, yogurt, and eggs are located. Well, maybe duck into a center aisle for some Cheerios or Wheaties or canned good veggies, but that’s it. And watch out for “power,” “nutrition,” and granola bars, they can be loaded with fats and hidden sugars.

BE WARY TOO OF PROCESSED "DIET" MEALS. A recent raid on a local supermarket turned up:

1. A frozen Beef and Broccoli with Noodles “Diet” dinner, whose package (1 serving) read Total fat 14 grams, Saturated fat 4 grams and…surprise…no mention of trans fats. Again, do the math. Where are the mystery 10 grams of fat? If they were “okay” mono- and polyunsaturated fats, they’d say so. This meal also contained 34 grams of carbs and 9 grams of sugar. For one teeny serving. Other “diet” meals with names like HEALTHY THIS and FIT LIFE THAT turned out just as bad. Read the labels. Judge for yourself.

2. “Low Fat Waffles,” unfortunately, were loaded with carbs (38 grams) and sugar (6 grams). Too much. I’ll teach you to make healthy pancakes & waffles. They’re easy.

3. 3.A No-Sugar Fudge Topping contained 24 grams of carbs in just 1 1/2 tablespoons -- and who eats just 1 1/2 tablespoons? This product is fattening!