French Fry Memories

French Fries. I could smell them when walking down the street after high school. I am on the way to the Soda Shoppe to meet my friends. I'm sure you know the drill, we gather up pocket change to buy french fries and drown them in ketchup. With a coke it was a cover charge, paid so we could sit in the booths, laugh, talk and occasionally smoke a cigarette.

Later, I enlisted in the Navy and was sent overseas. "No french fries joe!" On a Mediterranean cruise we longed for french fries. I couldn't find them. Until I followed British tourists on "holiday." Fish and chips, chips were close enough to french fries and the Nationals made them for the Brits. I tolerated the fish to get the chips. But where is the ketchup? The British sailors explained, that's what the malt vinegar is for--mate.

Grateful to finally be home I indulged in french fries, cheeseburgers and icy cold coke. All was right in the world. Of course, it's only lunch (again).

With all the nutritional debauchery I indulged in over the years, french fries were the most basic. The cornerstone of my unhealthy practice. French fries go with everything. Warm, greasy, and laden with salt, I just loved them.

Alright, I know they are not good for me, and I try to be careful . . . but look at a headline today on My Yahoo: "What's more likely -- death by auto accident or death by french fries?" Julia Layton explains that the old way of making french fries, using beef tallow - i.e. my school days and the Soda Shoppe, was better! Saturated fat molecules (I can just taste them!) found in beef (yes!) butter (yes!) and doughnuts (yes!) tend to increase bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol (oh no!), and trans fats do the same, but WORSE! (This doesn't sound good.)

And of course there is a chart, listing items before trans fat awareness. Potato chips = 3 grams. Doughnut = 5 grams. French fries = 8 grams of trans fat!

So the expert says: "We're far more likely to die from over consumption of trans fat. In the United States, people have a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a car accident, and a 1 in 5 chance of dying from heart disease."

I wonder how it affects the statistics if you have the accident coming back from the fast food joint loaded down with french fries, cheeseburgers and doughnuts?

IF IT TASTES GOOD SPIT IT OUT, it is not good for you. But if you want to know why, you can find Julia's article on Yahoo.com. And the article: "Murder by French Fry." The articles link up to "How Things Work." Just be sure you really want to know.