High Fructose Corn Syrup
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup is something I am really passionate about.
I studied it a little in school and have since made the effort of eliminating it from my diet and trying to educate those in my life about the dangers of it.
Check out the labels on the food you eat. It is almost in everything. Don’t believe me? Check out your ketchup bottle. When you don’t think you are giving your kids sugar you are.
Anyways check out this link and educate yourself. It is the best way for you to understand. Ignorance might seem like bliss now but later on you will regret it.
i.e.: diabetes, obesity, infertility, etc, etc, etc.
The best way to eliminate it is to stop buying products that carry it. A stupid tax is not going to work. Start reading the labels on your food. Remember the ingredient order is most to least. (BTW, food with about a hundred ingredients you have never heard of is not a healthy choice.) If you can support organic on any products do it!
Yes, this is me caring. Don’t you feel warm and fuzzy?
Seriously, take the time to educate yourself so you and your family can stay healthy and make good decisions.
Thanks for the link Tacy!
have you read “animal, vegetable, miracle”? if you haven’t, do it. i’m listening to it on audio, and it is changing my life.
i really love ketchup.
Heinz makes ketchup without HFCS now, it is labeled “Organic” Ahhhhhh, squeezed right from the ketchup tree.
In Micheal Pollans book The Omnivore’s Dilemma he explains that Americans are almost literally walking tortilla chips because there is so much corn in our diet. It is making an imprint on the carbon composition of our bodies.
I share your passion… and frequently get irritated driving through the corn feilds of the midwest becuase I just know where it’s going to end up.
HFCS is a safe ingredient which is even labeled as “natural” by the FDA. People blame things like HFCS for them being over weight when they really just eat too much and exercise too little.
The American Medical Association stated that, “Because the composition of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that high fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.”
According to the American Dietetic Association, “high fructose corn syrup…is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.”
Education is great, but I think you should keep on studying Tammy.
Jesse,
I’m sure we could debate for a long time on this issue. But since you commented I will respond.
Calling HFCS “natural” is like calling Prozac natural. It has gone through so much change it isn’t natural anymore. Just like a lot of our processed foods. I am definitely not looking for an excuse for out obesity issues and being a very active person I endorse exercise but sugar and all forms of it are not good for the body. The more processes a food goes through the worse it becomes. Keeping to the government and FDA endorsed websites is sticking to only one side of the debate. Who said sucrose was good for us anyways? Even if it is absorbed in the same way does not mean the absorption is good. We don’t need to add sugar to everything we eat, that does help cause obesity. Some people don’t read labels. Some people are completely unaware and they trust the FDA to keep their foods healthy. Stupid but true. But I commend you for looking into it and as long as you feel good with what you are eating then that is what is important. We just don’t agree on this issue and only time will tell what the long terms effects of HFCS are. As I will not stop studying I hope you will not as well.
Thanks for the comment.
But it’s made from corn and like sugar, it’s fine in moderation…
I’m with you on this Tammy!!
FYI… the FDA ruled HFC as NOT Natural in April of 2008 and then changed their mind in July of 2008. The debate over HFC at the FDA has far more to do with market power (corn industry vs. sugar industry) than anything else.
More extensive scientific studies have been done on HFC and its reaction in the body. Testing blood sugar after absorption is kind of lame. Any sugar, (or carb for that matter) turns into the same substance once absorbed by the body. It’s called “glucose”. It’s the amount of fructose that liquid forms of HFC contain that are really alarming as you see in the soft drinks that we love so much. Research has shown that it DOES cause increased weight gain.
It’s very hard to avoid over consuming HFC, because it is in EVERYTHING. Tammy is right that to keep it out of your diet, you have to read labels. Both Sugar and HFC have negative consequences to your health. It’s just strange to see so much of it added to the food supply. Why add sweeteners? Why make a food unhealthy? Why trick people into tasting sweet when they don’t know they are eating sweet?
We all have a choice and until we start demanding it, our choices will be fewer, because the corn industry wants to make money. It isn’t healthy, people are too ignorant to choose differently and the corn industry is investing a lot of money in PR to create a positive association with HFC so that when people see it on the label, they don’t put it back on the shelf. I think it is disgraceful.
Jesse, how overweight are you?
Ooh, Have you seen Food Inc.?
It will blow your mind. If you have Netlifx, you can get it.