Feeding Your Family: Stay Away from Trans Fats!

For Healthy Hearts...

Recipe Link: Breaded Tilapia Fillets

By Larissa Phillips

It's not that I don't love Valentine's Day. Who can be against flowers and chocolate and luscious red hearts, and did I mention chocolate? But there is something missing from the overall picture, when so much of the delicious symbolism of this holiday - chocolates and cookies - contains a substance that has been all but outlawed in some countries, and has been implicated in the deaths of thousands of Americans every year. I'm talking about trans fats.

I know you already know this. My friend Diane already knows it, too. When I was at her house the other day and she caught me sneaking a glance at the ingredient list on a carton of crackers she'd just opened for our kids, she practically shouted, "I know, I know, it has trans fats. I know they're so bad." Then she shrugged helplessly. "But my kids love these crackers!"

We all know trans fats are bad. But just how bad they are seems to be eluding many of us. I don't believe anyone could understand the charges that have been leveled against trans fat and still continue to feed them to their children - or to themselves.