Visit your local donut shop

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

A new California law effective January 1st will bar restaurants from cooking with trans fat. This new public health law is designed to crack down on the substance tied to clogged arteries, strokes and coronary heart disease.

Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acids. Eating trans fat increases your risk of coronary heart disease by increasing your bad cholesterol (LDL) and decreasing your good cholesterol (HDL).

Trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation enhances food flavor and increases its shelf life. It's found in baked goods, crackers, snack foods, fried foods and other items. Unlike other dietary fats, trans fats are not essential and, therefore, do not promote good health.

Regular readers of Pierini Fitness may have read my list of my seven forbidden C foods – cakes, cookies, candies, chocolate, ice cream, chips and crackers - which, if avoided, will reduce unhealthy trans fat consumption.

Bakeries do not need to comply with these new law until January 2011. Therefore, if you need an outside the home daily fix of trans fat in your diet, visit your local donut shop.

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