Replacing hydrogenated fats with healthier fats

I recently watched a Dr. Oz show and started paying more attention to my hydrogenated fats. So far the big killer for my diet are- crackers, occasional chips, baked goods and pastries.

Can you suggest some recipes to help replace some of the hydrogenated fat packed  recipes? Please also sure your knowledge of how to more painless ween away from these bad fats.

Thanks a million!

You can buy healthy versions of all foods in a natural foods store. Just read the labels to see if what kind of fats they use.

Another solution is to make your own baked goods and pastries.  If you use good quality dairy butter in cakes, for example, and eat them occasionally they're much tastier and a little healthier than mass-produced products.

I agree that it's a lot simpler to make your own baked goods, and to bake or fry your own chips and fries. Small amounts of saturated fats from good-quality dairy as Jane suggests will not hurt you - and can apparently potentially help with osteoporosis prevention - and healthy fats such as those found in oils like olive and canola, nuts, seeds, avocados, oily fish and so on are always good to have. So you could get a good dose of healthy fats easily by making a multiseed loaf, as one example!

There's a good article on how to simply avoid trans fats in packaged foods here: http://www.healthcastle.com/trans.shtml

you could bake your own crackers, chips, and baked goods, etc.. but use olive oil (healthy fat) instead of canola or vegetable oil (bad fat).

Thanks ladies. replacing shortening in pastries is the tough one. I'm wondering if "Calorie Commando" a long time  pastry chef now healthy cook has some good recipes switching out shortening for a healthier fat? coconut oil, canola etc?  My wondering has gone on long enough I think I'll have to get a copy of diet book by Dr. Oz for the recipes if nothing else. lol  Wonder if they make just a cookbook?

You're right about pastry.  There's no substitute for saturated fat (hydrogenated vegetable oil, butter, or other hard fat) for making flaky pie crust or croissants, and cutting the fat back makes them tough and hard.  For other baked goods, where oil or shortening is there as a tenderizer/moisturizer and not a major part of the item, I've had good luck substituting canned pumpkin, mashed winter squash or sweet potato for the fat.  This works well for pancakes and waffles, and would probably work for at least partial fat replacement in quick bread doughs (such as biscuits) and cakes.

Is shortening margarine? Because I know there are brands of trans-fat free margarines on the market. I believe a british example is Flora - but you'd have to look around where you are.

'nanas' cookies. 0 hydrgenates. yummy.

Skinny: Oh! I bought one of those for my sister just yesterday as she can't have wheat gluten or dairy and felt crummy. They are indeed yummy.