Trans Fats: Point that fat finger of blame somewhere else

I just read that Starbucks is going to discontinue using trans fats in their products. Full Story. All I have to say is thank goodness for the nanny state of today which helps us all to continue along our self destructive paths and never requires us to make an educated decision on our own.

We as Americans just love to point fingers and place the blame on anything and everything other than ourselves. The stipulation is that the thing being blamed cannot be an individual. It always has to be an entity without a voice. And in this case the entity presents itself as trans fat.

I understand that trans fat is not the best thing in the world for you. Webmd.com has an interesing article on the subject by Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD. And while I'm not opposed to forcing food manufacturers to start thinking of their consumer's health over their product's shelf life, there is something about the Starbucks article that made me angry. The second paragraph reads:

""I like my arteries, and I like theirs," French said Tuesday, as Adele Matter, 6, and her sister Daphne, 5, munched on a chewy rice cereal square in a Starbucks store here."

Excuse me? Did I read that correctly? As they munched on a CHEWY RICE CEREAL SQUARE?! The same cereal square that, according to Starbucks' nutrition facts contains 380 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat? That's the same amount of calories as a medium french fry at McDonalds and one less gram of saturated fat. That chewy rice square also contains 430mg of sodium as opposed to 220mg of sodium on those fries.

My point? I don't think trans fats are the thing we should be worrying about. What we need to worry about is what we eat and how much of it we consume. There's nothing wrong with having a treat when you go to a place like Starbucks or even McDonalds. But it drives me nuts that most Americans refuse to believe that their eating habits are contributing to clogged arteries and instead blame the trans fats.

Zelman's article lists the 10 items you are most likely to find trans fats. The list reads like your typical American's shopping list: Packaged foods, frozen foods, candy, cookies, chips, crackers, dips and condiments. What’s the common thread among all of these products? They're all 'convenient'. Every one of them is prepacked in a nice 'convenient' container and has 'convenient' preparation instructions.

In this case 'convenient' can be a synonym for 'I'm too damn lazy to cook myself a decent meal with fresh ingredients.' Everybody claims they're so busy these days and don't have the time to cook a proper meal, yet we watch more hours of TV and log more leisure hours on the computer than ever before. We need to stop skirting the real issue which is that Americans, while not necessarily lazy, just don't have their priorities straight.

To me, removing trans fats is sort of bittersweet. All that means for some people is that they will consume more of a product because they will think they are in the clear. If you look at some of the products that are being marketed to us, you will find that many of them are items that will seemingly allow us to be irresponsible and lazy. Pills at the convenient store counter that claim to eliminate your hangover. 5 airbags in an SUV so you can drive like a jackass. Diet pills that let you eat like a glutton and still burn fat and get those six-pack abs.

When will people realize that most things in life aren't easy? If you want to be a healthy person, eat healthy and exercise. It's that simple. Don't whine and moan for a ban on an oil that's been chemically altered. After all, nobody is forcing you to consume it.