We liked yesterday's column in the NYT featuring killer Girl Scouts…or at least, their killer cookies. Finally, someone coming down on Mom and apple pie! While initially, terrorism and Girl Scouts seemed an unlikely comparison, quickly it became clear that it actually is pretty apt and the comparison ultimately emerged as a highly effective one. The main takeaway? The delicious cookies sold to us by the cute girls in cute uniforms contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, trans fatty acids that clog our arteries, lower our good cholesterol, and make bad cholesterol levels rise faster than gas prices. Sick!
Columnist Nicholas Kristof admits that we can’t just pick on the Girl Scouts as "trans fats are all around us, from French fries to some brands of ice cream" but we should be as wary of them as we can. He gives us some statistics regarding trans fatty acids that stop us in our boots... Consider. Trans fats cause 228,000 heart attacks and 30,000 deaths in the US annually thus "killing far more Americans than Al Qaeda manages to." An excellent comparison in our opinion, as many fear another 9/11 but very few of us stop and think what these mysterious ingredient labels on our favorite snacks contain. Hard to accept that every time we have between meal cravings we are killing ourselves much quicker than the terrorists are, right?
Mmmmm. At least the Scouts have begun to make their cookies healthier, Lemon Coolers and Tagalongs are safe and trans fat free. (We wonder, does anyone order these? How many are willing them not to change the thin mints?) Although the authorities won’t be declaring a ‘war on trans fat’ anytime soon we should all think before digging into that enticing box of Samoas sitting in the cupboard. Reference: Killer Girl Scouts; Nicholas D. Kristof; New York Times, May 21 2006
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