Cooking oils

While all oils are pure fat, not all fats are created equal. I won't get into details here, but saturated and trans-fatty acids seem to be the culprits if you have health concerns. Margarine or Trans Fat Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils contain TRANS fatty acids. Read your food labels, if it says, "partially hydrogenated," try to avoid them. They are present in all commercially made doughnuts, crackers, cookies, pastries, deep-fat fried foods (including those from all major "fast-food" chains), potato and corn chips, imitation cheeses, and confectionery fats found in frosting and candies. All of them have unsaturated fats which can be damaged at high temperature and converted to a trans fat. Look for fats labeled super-unsaturated (like flax seed) or monounsaturated (like olive and canola oil). Polyunsaturated oils are also healthy choices.