Watch out for "trans fats" (short for trans fatty acids). The food industry has gotten hip to the fact that heart disease patients and other health-conscious individuals have begun using olive oil and canola oil and look for it on heart-healthy foods. Canola is a good oil to use for salads and cooking because it is high in monounsaturates and polyunsaturates, with just a small amount of saturated fat. Using monounsaturates in your diet will help shift your production of LDL away from deadly small particles to safer large particles. It will also help keep LDL from oxidizing, a major cause of arterial blockage. When you see canola or olive or flax seed oil listed on a food label, DON'T assume that the food is good to eat. Knowing that these oils are a green flag to heart patients, manufacturers have begun using them in all sorts of baked goods and snack foods to lull us into thinking these are healthy foods. Check the food label's ingredient list for the terms "hydrogenated" or "partially-hydrogenated". If manufacturers "hydrogenate" any oil, even a good oil like olive, they change its composition into a "trans fat" which is more dangerous than a saturated fat. Trans fats can stimulate production of the worst kinds of cholesterol far more readily than even saturated fat. Trans fats are like Frankenstein fats constructed to look and feel like butter so they can be used in baked goods and snack foods and to add thickness to salad dressings. It doesn't matter whether the label says "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", avoid such foods.