Real Food

I think we can all agree that what we strive to eat here in the healthy living world is real food.

So what does that mean?

It means food that can be found in nature.  It’s unprocessed and it’s simple.  If you looked at the ingredient list of a real food it would be short and you would know exactly what the ingredients were and how to pronounce them.

You know what’s not real?  Trans fat.  You get trans fat through the process of hydrogenation which turns liquid oil into solid fat.  This is huge for processed foods because hydrogenation increases shelf life.  Guess what?  It also increases your risk for cardiovascular disease, increases the amount of LDL or “bad” cholesterol in your body, decreases the amount of HDL or “good” cholesterol in your body and increases inflammation.

I don’t know about you but I’ve heard enough.  No trans fat for this girl.  By the way, companies are allowed to claim their product has 0 trans fat if it has .5 grams or less per serving but don’t be fooled, if the ingredient list contains the word “hydrogenated” there’s trans fat in the product.

So why am I getting all heated about trans fat?  Besides the obvious, I’m frustrated because I constantly come across vegan recipes that call for some kind of Tofutti product and guess what the second ingredient is?

HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL

I’m frustrated because I look to the vegan cooking community for healthy/real food recipes and I find it problematic that many blogs promote the use of a product that contains trans fat.  **Note that I don’t mean this to be an attack on ALL vegan food blogs.  I have found SO many wonderful recipes that are both vegan and Tofutti-free**

So tell me, am I wrong to be upset or am I missing part of the story here?  Enlighten me.

I think I’ve ranted enough for one day.  How about some pictures of real food?

I’m supposed to be getting my blood drawn in the morning and we’re expecting lots of snow tonight.  Getting to school is going to be a disaster…

Happy Tuesday!