Interview

On this day, we met with the nutritionist Alejandro Martinez, a specialist in eating habits, and we made a couple of questions about trans fat and about diet in general that a person should have, this is what he told us .

Q: How many fruits we have to eat in a day?

A: 5 fruits and vegetables per day, ideally of different colors.

Q: How many days we have to do exercise in a week?

A: Between 3 and 4 days in a week, cause is important to have a rest.

Q: I’d like to know how many liters of water we need to drink in a day?

A: We have to consume between 1 and 2 liters for day, this measure could change in each person.

Q: Do you know what trans fats are?

A: There are two broad types of trans fats found in foods: naturally-occurring and artificial trans fats.

Naturally trans fats are produced in the gut of some animals and foods made from these animals (e.g., milk and meat products) may contain small quantities of these fats.

 Artificial trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.

Q: I’d like to know how trans fats affect my health?

A: Trans fats raise your bad cholesterol levels and lower your good cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Q: Which foods contain trans fats?

A: Trans fats can be found in many foods – including fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, and stick margarines and other spreads. You can determine the amount of trans fats in a particular packaged food by looking at the Nutrition Facts panel.

Q: What are the foods that contains more trans fats?

A: French fries, anything fried or battered, pie and piecrust, margarine sticks, shortening, cake mixes and frostings.

Q: Do you have any idea of how much trans fats can I eat in a day?

A: The OMS recommends cutting back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet and preparing lean meats and poultry without added saturated and trans fat.

Q:Could you tell me how can I limit my daily of trans fats?

A: Read the Nutrition Facts panel on foods you buy at the store and, when eating out, ask what kind of oil foods are cooked in. Replaces the trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.

Q: How can we avoid them?

A: Cut back on fried, processed and commercial foods, choose liquid vegetables oils and soft tubs of margarine that contains little or no trans fats, buy all-natural peanut butter, because a main source of trans fat comes from non-natural peanut butter.