trans fats more prevalent than thought?

deepbluevibes · 09-14-2006, 04:48 PM

I eat fast food every now and then. Primarily KFC, Del Taco, Taco Bell.

Well, I found out something yesterday.

KFC is being sued.

Why?

Because they use Trans Fats in the proces of making pretty much all of their food.

For those of you who don't know what trans fats are, they're the worst kind of fat, and are 99% of the time man-made through processes.

As an example of how bad these fats are, having just a 2% drop in how much you ingest in a day of these HALVES your risk of heart attack.

Having a 10% drop in saturated fat only drops your risk of heart attack by somewhere around 20-30% at most.

Trans fats are usually only found in cookies, meats, dairy, etc. but in small amounts (i.e., a cup of milk has like 0.1 grams of trans fat, and most people consume about 5 grams on a typical american diet daily, although of course any trans fat is bad).

Well, guess how much KFC's shit has? Six chicken strips? 4.5 grams. That's your whole fucking daily allottment right there, and that's guessing that you don't drink milk or any other dairy or cookies or no other fast food either, along with almost no other meats.

I figured KFC was just the only offender here. I looked up Taco Bell; A Chicken Quesadilla has 2.5 grams. A Spicy Chicken Burrito has 1.5 grams.

Del Taco, same thing. jesus christ.

So considering subway has 0.5 grams for a whole 6 incher, and quiznos, togos, and etc. actually don't even HAVE nutrition info, i'm kind of ehh eating anywhere else now.

Ike Turner · 09-14-2006, 07:06 PM

Jesus. I think this just contributes to my "goddamnit eat something nicer" policy of food now. I've been trying to stick to making my own food, but between work and college, fast food's snuck in on occasion. I suspect that will change drastically in the next few weeks.

MC Malicious Gravy · 09-14-2006, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepbluevibes

KFC is being sued.

Why?

Because they use Trans Fats in the proces of making pretty much all of their food.

So, they're being sued for false advertisement? Because I remember that thanks to that insane barage of "OMG MCDONALDS MADE ME HELLA PHAT", they passed a law to prevent those lawsuits.

-mex- · 09-19-2006, 02:37 PM

If the girls could prove that McD's made em fat they could win but I don't think they did.

MC Malicious Gravy · 09-19-2006, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mexicans

If the girls could prove that McD's made em fat they could win but I don't think they did.

Unless someone can prove that the transfats, other fats, or just other ingredients in general actually create a mental addiction, it's all bullshit. Yes, food makes you feel good, and it does stuff to your brain to make you feel good. But unless it's making your body suffer unless you eat it (like drug users lapsing if they don't get their fix), then it's like "Yeah, I'm responsible for your weight? Hahah- fuck you." Besides, the whole shit that came out of the first set of lawsuits against McD's just created a MASSIVE domino effect. While Morgan Spurlock pretty much proved that nothing but McD's food will eventually fuck your body to hell, all the people went by choice. Point a gun to my head and make me eat McDonalds, that's a whole other deal.

Now I can see a valid case if it's like KFC claims that they use no trans fats in their food or preparation of it and it turns out that they do. That's just plain false advertisement, food tampering, and to a degree, even fraud. But I need a source for this to begin with.

ultralowincome · 09-24-2006, 10:08 PM

with regards to Taco Bell, i try to keep it healthy but i think the tortillas do most of the damage. Good thing i had the spicy chicken burrito but threw out the tortilla and put it in a wheat wrap... but methinks the rice inside that thing may not be too good either...

Avskull · 09-25-2006, 08:42 PM

Trans Fats is bad but dont forget about MSG ^_^

Akkaraju · 09-25-2006, 09:57 PM

I would rather kick my own ass for becoming obese off of fast foods rather than blame the companies that make it. i really think that it is your own damn fault that you eat food that's horrendously bad for you, really. I'm not trying to blame anyone or put someone at fault, but the fast food companies make their foods using cheap materials and chemicals to make them tasty and inanely cheap to manufacture. its not like that food like that isn't going to wreak havoc on your innards and stuff.

i know that they are fast and cheap, and that people's lives are too busy to make real food but fast food is just nasty. =\

MC Malicious Gravy · 09-28-2006, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultralowincome

with regards to Taco Bell, i try to keep it healthy but i think the tortillas do most of the damage. Good thing i had the spicy chicken burrito but threw out the tortilla and put it in a wheat wrap... but methinks the rice inside that thing may not be too good either...

Haven't you seen Taco Bell's new "Fresca!" option in the stores? If you want to eat light, you can ask for any item done "Fresca" and they'll replace the junk stuff like sauce, rice, etc. with chopped tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Like a non-spicy salsa.

ultralowincome · 09-29-2006, 08:35 PM

yes. i do that. every time when i order tacos and such. but like i said, the tortillas do most of the damage trans fat wise, i wish they had whole wheat or "sans-taco" available

darkarn · 10-02-2006, 09:17 AM

Eh? Suing companies just because the food they sell you fattens you up.... When you are the one asking for it in the first place???

That's what I call hypocrite...

ultralowincome · 10-02-2006, 09:39 AM

no worse than a burglar suing a homeowner for cutting themselve's on the broken window they crawl through...

Avskull · 10-02-2006, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultralowincome

no worse than a burglar suing a homeowner for cutting themselve's on the broken window they crawl through...

The difference is tacos aren’t illegal, people need to be told whats wrong

ultralowincome · 10-02-2006, 10:24 PM

if its so wrong, why does it feel so right?

i'd eat a hundred tacos before I smoke a cigarette or take a hit any day...

Nomi · 10-03-2006, 12:15 AM

The idea of suing a company for having unhealthy food makes me laugh. Don't eat it. As long as they didn't lie and say it was trans fat free (read: lawsuit against Oreo cookies, they did lie) stop eating the shit and you'll be fine. If you were eating so much KFC a day that your trans fat intake was disgusting, well, you had it coming; your diet is fucking fast food chicken. I've almost completely gone off of fast food and have been living off of wheat breads, peanut butter, and lots of cereal and some light turkey slices. I'm not at huge risk for trans fat problems, it's just not a huge part of my diet.

Nutrition is fascinating to me, and yeah, all fats are a big problem. The more artificial something is the more dangerous it is, in general. I like how the US went from naturally grown->chemically pumped up 'better' products-> pricey free-range/organics now. For the meats I still think we need chemical intervention as far as medicines for the cows, but not as heavily as some places go now. Produce, fuck, leave them alone. There are safer ways to yield better crops. Now we have a trans fat problem because the average American diet barely includes real food.

If I had an ideal world, I'd be buying organic produce, more natural white meats, lots of lesser-processed grains and breads and simple dairy. That concept doesn't work in college so I'm kind of stuck making due.