'cause New York Cares

Going to weigh in on this proposed transfats ban in NYC. First off, I'm going to start off with the controversial statement "I don't like trans fats."

That said - this entire thing doesn't necessarily remind me of Big Brother or even Demolition Man (Jesus, that's a horrible flick), but rather our ability to constantly try to fool ourselves into making stuff that isn't supposed to be healthy - healthy.

In the '80s - 'fat' - didn't matter if it was the 'good fats' - was bad. So, out came the fat-free stuff. Hence, Snackwells cookies. Only problem was those Snackwell cookies were loaded with refined sugar to substitute for fat.

Now, Doritos and Oreos are sans-trans fat. But they just replaced trans fats with sunflower oil. Hopefully, people will know better, but most likely, people are going to reason "well, I can eat Oreos now, because they're low fat AND have no trans fats." Yes, trans fats are horrible and part of me is glad that government is going after the producers of obesity with a fraction of the zeal they go after tobacco companies. Yes, tobacco puts a huge strain on the health care industry, but the fast food and the snack food industry have to put at least an equal strain on health care with the crap they produce.

To sum up - remove trans fats in New York. It'll make the New Yorkers feel better. But that's not going to change the fact that no matter what type of oil TGI Friday's cooks with - a two-thirds pound burger with a large order of onion rings STILL isn't healthy.