Trans fats in Australia

Came across an article this morning in the smh, regarding the fact that Krispy Kreme still uses trans fats in their doughnuts here in Australia.

Unfortunately, in this country, labelling laws don't make it mandatory to list if there are trans fats in the ingredients. So if the manufacturer doesn't put it on their labels, you have no way whatsoever of finding out if their products contain trans fats. This pisses me off no end, trans fats are nothing but bad, I have no desire to have food that has them in it.

Let me make it clear ... there is no safe level of trans fats that you can eat. No matter how little you eat of it, it is harmful. So much so, that "trans fats have been either gradually outlawed or restricted in Britain, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and several US states"

And it's not like Krispy Kreme don't know that trans fats are harmful, they've had to overhaul their operations in places where trans fats are banned.

Hopefully at some point Australia will do something about this harmful substance.

**Update

Just been doing a little research to see what is being done at this point.

According to the Food Standards website for Australia and New Zealand, they have found the following:

"Australians obtain only 0.6 per cent of their daily kilojoules from trans fatty acids and New Zealanders only 0.7 per cent. This is well below the World Health Organization recommendation to consume no more than 1 per cent of your daily kilojoules from trans fatty acids and well below many other countries."

While I understand that this is a very low percentage of what we eat, if there are no nutritional benefits whatsoever, then surely a total ban is the only way to go.

And the part "well below many other countries" bothers me. Which countries? They don't say. These other countries may be ones where there is a very high level of trans fats. And really who cares if we are below other countries, surely this isn't a competition, surely the goal is health and wellbeing for ourselves, and regulating for ourselves, rather than comparing to other countries.

So what is being done at the moment ...

A group was formed in 2007 called "The Australia New Zealand Collaboration on Trans Fats". This group's aim is to help reduce the amount of trans fats in our food supply. They will report back in early 2009 with their result. While it is good to reduce trans fats, I don't believe this is enough.

A total ban is necessary. If this takes time, if manufacturers need some space to reorganise their practices, then in the meantime there needs to be an amendment to the food labelling laws to make it mandatory to declare the presence of trans fats in foods. That way, we can make informed choices about what we are putting into our bodies.

Movember

Movember - the month of November sees more than your usual number of guys sporting more than the trendy amount of facial hair above their upper lip. It's an annual charity event where guys can get sponsered to grow mustaches, the money garnered goes to benefit men's health, specifically prostate cancer and male depression.

One of our friends has met the challenge head on (boom tish!) and has quite the mo now.

So, if you've seen quite a few mo's around town and been wondering if the 70s fashion had made a comeback or if there was a porn star convention happening, now you know.

Tag-o-rama

Caltechgirl has a blog called Not Exactly Rocket Science, which I've been reading for years. We've known of each other's blogs and commented back and forth (not withstanding the blog droughts I go through from time to time) since back in my aussiewife days. Caltechgirl gave me encouraging support the time I found a lump, which meant a lot to me (obviously as I still remember it 3 years on).

Anyways, today she has tagged me for the following:

The rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Tell 7 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag.

Here goes the randomness ...

1. I don't know why but it annoys the living crap out of me when people comment on me being left handed, as in "Oh, you are left handed?" It's not like I am right handed, but I am just writing with the other hand to give myself a challenge lol. Or another favourite, "I didn't know you were left handed!" Am I supposed to send out a memo making an announcement? It's not that unusual people!

2. My blood type is O negative which means I am a universal donor. Which means I can give to everyone, but can only receive blood from other O neg people. However, I don't give blood because the last time I did I almost passed out, and I'm a big sooky la la. Yes, I know, I should give blood, I have to suck up my courage and go back.

3. I don't have Panic Attack Disorder, which I thought I did. Apparently the official guidelines for it state that I wouldn't be able to work or socialise, both of which I do. So that's nice. While I don't have the actual disorder, I do have an over active anxiety response thing going on, which means I am susceptible to panic attacks, something I am working on with my psychologist.

4. I get very attached to characters in shows I love. I'm still pissed that Josh Whedon killed off Wash in Serenity and that we'll never know the whole back story for Shepherd Book. And that there is only one season of Firefly ... grrrr .. And if you don't know what I am talking about, check out the series Firefly, and the movie Serenity .. best .. series .. ever! Mind you, now that I have told you that Wash gets killed off, that might have spoiled it a touch for you ...

5. I'm going to see John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow in concert on Friday night, with my husband. First time seeing either of them, looking forward to it. There may be massive crowds in the area though, as I've just found out there is an Andre Rieu concert in the stadium next door to where we are going, on the same night. That smug smile of his tends to do my head in, smug bastard with his expensive castle.

6. We're planning to get in the Christmas mood this weekend. Plans are to put the tree up and decorate, get off our butts and write and send out cards for a change, and do some Christmas shopping. Add to that a spin class on Saturday morning, followed by morning tea with some of the girls from work, and I've got a fairly full weekend coming up. Must find some time to relax somewhere in there.

7. This song has set up camp in my head and refuses to leave. Just the chorus mind you, so shake shake, shake, shake, shake it is on a loop. I do spin twice a week at the gym, and the instructor plays this song each time. For the next few days it sticks. Had a quiet word with the instructor last night to plead her not to play it anymore, so hopefully this song will go bye byes sometime soon.

And now to pass on the tagging love ... to Helen, Bou, Beth, Melody, Harvey, Snoozen (please come out of blog retirement), and Shauna.

New blog to read

Beth over at She Who Will Be Obeyed has added a second blog, called The Farm at Castle Argghhh!!! (love the title). Looking forward to reading about all the goings on at the farm, particularly as a) I love anything to do with animals, and b) I've got a new found interest in growing veggies myself. Beth's entries are always entertaining, I highly recommend a read if you haven't been there before.

A simple meme

Helen over at Everyday Stranger posted a meme, and invited others to join in if they wish. The rules are simple: go to the 6th file of photos on your computer. Choose the 6th photo. Post it.

Here is mine:


It turned out to be a picture of me, Christmas 07. We had both families to our place for Christmas lunch, and this picture was taken fairly early on when I wasn't absolutely exhausted and wondering why we'd offered to have lunch at our place.