According to the Heart Foundation, trans fat is "a type of unsaturated fat that behaves like a saturated fat because of its chemical".
There are two types of trans fats.
One is the naturally occurring fats and the other is the artificial or manufactured fats.
While the former types are caused by the way that animals digest their food, the latter types are caused by the way foods are processed.
Trans fats are bad fats and can be found in both natural and manufactured food.
However, the level of naturally occurring trans fats in natural sources including milk, sheep, beef, veal, and lamb, is quite low compared to that of artificial trans fats found in manufactured or processed food.
Foods which are major contributors to bad kind of fats are those that use hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats in the production process.
These foods include baked goods, such as pastry, pies, biscuits, and cakes.
Other foods are snack chips, cookies, crackers, and deep fried foods such as French fried potatoes and fried chicken.
Nowadays, take away food has become another major source of bad fats.
Dr Chavarro of Harvard School of Public Health suggested that trans fats have negative effect on ovulation in some otherwise healthy women.
He further stated that "the product can claim it has zero trans fats if it has anything less than half a gram".
So, make sure that you avoid these fats by looking at the ingredient list and stay clear of "hydrogenated" and "partially hydrogenated" items.
If a label does not clearly list trans fat, look for total fat and subtract saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated from total fat.
This should roughly give you the amount of trans fats.
Because of the production process, vegetable oil may contain these unwanted fats.
So, if you need to use oil, either sesame or olive oil is the way to go.
If possible, you should choose the cold-pressed type of olive oil as it has not been through heating process that may result in the bad type of fats.
Another tip to avoid the bad type of fats is to replace butter with fat-free margarine.
Experts suggest that the softer kind of margarines is better than the harder one.
Also, if available, you should choose the spreads that are made from canola, sunflower or olive oil.
Virtually, every health authority wants us to cut down all bad types of fat intake as avoiding bad types of fats will not only reduce the risk of heart attack but also improve your general health.
Hopefully, the tips in this article will help you avoid the types of food that hinder you from conceiving; so you can get closer to your dream of getting pregnant.