February - Second thing you can do to improve your diet

On a message board I frequent, some ladies and I are going on a health journey based on this article - 10 Things you can do to Improve Your Diet We're taking one thing each month and making it a habit.

February is eliminating Partially Hydrogenated Oils

Fats are good for you. They help you have healthy skin and hair, regulate your metabolism, and support your nervous system. However, oils and fats are difficult to transport because they go bad quickly. So someone devised a way to chemically alter oil so it would last much longer. Thus, making vegetable oil in to Crisco. The problem is, that while regular oils and fats do good things for your body, Partially Hydrogenated Oil does nothing for you, and your body can not use it for anything (execept more padding on your bum, I guess). Plus, it has been linked to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Unfortunately, this stuff is so hard to avoid. I went grocery shopping and had to read every label. It was in every cookie, snack cracker, baked good, bag of chips, and frozen convenience food that I picked up. Also I found it in macaroni and cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and cake mix. After lots of reading and putting stuff back on the shelves, I was able to leave with a PHO-free cart.
Here is a link to a list of foods that commonly have Partially Hydrogenated Oils and foods that don't.

It's going to be a long month...