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Trans fat is on the ropes.

The informed consumer does not want it on anything we eat, and rightly so. It is the worst of the worst, the king of food processing gone too far.

You may you look for it on food labels, but do you know what it is? Hydrogenated oil is heated vegetable oil with added hydrogen to give it a longer life and a more stable texture. It’s why cookies on store shelves stay fresh for months and why fast-food French fries stay crispy under heat lamps. It simply doesn’t break down.

That means it won’t break down inside of you either. Consumed in quantities, trans fats clog your arteries, which can slowly kill you.

Trans fat is no more to blame for America’s unhealthy eating habits than refined sugars and carbs, and whatever is the next demonized food.

The blame is on the individual.

If you eat too much whole wheat pasta and veggies with olive oil and parmesan cheese and you don’t work to burn off those calories, your rear end will grow just as quickly as if you were whacking down a bag of trans-fat-laden cookies. OK, maybe not quite as fast.

Reality is a bitter pill. Portion control and lack of dietary balance are as much to blame as movie popcorn and French fries. If you didn’t take your kid to McDonald’s five days a week for dinner, your kid wouldn’t be 20 pounds overweight.

The menu at my restaurant is 100% trans fat-free. That doesn’t mean fat free—in fact, we offer a wide variety of items with various fat contents so you can make balanced choices. Overeat on my menu and you will gain weight. The onus is on you to choose, which is where it should be.

If people fail to take personal responsibility, just as it happens with most health fads that demonize one type of food or another, it will hardly matter at all.