sneaky little high fructose corn syrup hiding in food!!

Okay---so I LOOOOOVE special k protein plus...and for like 2 months ate it hard core for breakfast before WHAMMO realizing that it's got high fructose corn syrup not too far down the list of ingredients, therefore STOPPED....also noticed the apple butter I use it's like the 2nd ingredient!! OH MY GOSH---I HATE THIS STUFF!!  but to buy organic EVERYTHING where it is sweetened with like cane sugars etc. is always SO expensive. I'm a college student living on my own...
     so here's my question. Are there any OTHER foods that you
       &nb sp; guys discovered contain this CRAP and didn't realize it before..
 AAAND
     what have you found that is BETTER!!
 SHARE your ideas :) I'm totally waiting to hear!! :) ha ha

I'm an obsessive label reader now, so I'm rarely surprised by something I've been eating anymore. A year ago I finally took a peek at the ingredients list for Vector cereal and was annoyed to find that it's chock full of sugar... but not terribly surprised, the taste sort of gave it away. Anyhow, I am now continually surprised by what they add sugar too! Salsa, tomato soup, lunch meat and tomato sauce are ones that I just can't get over. Who wants sweet salsa? That sounds just nasty to me! To work around the salsa & lunch ,eat I just read labels until I find one that doesn't have sugar (Pace), and I make my own tomato sauce & soup.

The one that really bothers me is ketchup (maybe the sugar is why I like it so much?).  It doesn't bother me so much what kind of sugar it is so much as that I have to count ketchup calories because of the sugar.  As a result I use more salsa and Tabasco.

HATE that a perfectly good and healthy salad can be completely RUINED HEALTH WISE because MOST dressings are so LOADED with terrible stuff!!
 Made any good ones?
  Bought any healthy ones?

I thought I would make pecan pie this holiday season--- until I realized the recipe is loaddddded with high fructose corn syrup! Have you ever seen the stuff in the bottle?.... nasty!

Honestly, when I make salad for myself I use just plain and simple balsamic vinegar... less messing around with fat and calories.  Newman's Own makes nice 'Light' ones though.

i have the Exact Apple Butter you talking about i think. i noticed that before i bought it but i thought that HFC wouldnt be THAT big of a deal. after all iam only using a table spoon of it on a PB sandwhich.       ;       is this okay or .. iam i  going to die lol?

well my serious question is , is it okay to have HFC? it cant be as bad a transfats. dang if i cant have ANY HFC or transfats you might as well feed me lettuce 24/7

The HFCS thing is kind of overblown.

It has just as many calories per gram as cane sugar, brown rice syrup, or any other fancy name for sugar you can come up with. Just remember the F in HFCS stands for Fructose - the same sugar found in fruit. Except in HFCS, the fructose comes from corn, and is super concentrated to taste sweeter than an equivalent amount of conventional fructose.

Since it was made in a lab, some people think it's inferior to sugar. The bottom line is if you eat too much sugar in any form, you're going to gain weight because you'll be eating too many calories.

 

You just found the reason I cook from scratch so much.  I've banned HFCS from the house along with partially hydrogenated oils and other trans fats.  When buying the few processed foods I use, I read the labels very carefully and go for things with fewer ingredients. 

My cereals are Uncle Sam and plain oldfashioned oats, rolled, steel cut or whole.  I have been known to buy a generic brand of flakes that are vitamin enriched for times when I feel I need those extra vitamins.  Kashi cereal are ok too.

You might find this article from the Mayo Clinic interesting

High-fructose corn syrup

The book "You on a Diet" addresses the whole HFCS thing very well. It's not just that it's high calorie, it fills you up with empty calories, your body doesn't process it like natural foods, and then you feel hungry a lot sooner, making you crave more of the stuff. It's a vicious cycle.

I like to eat a bowl of Cheerios in the morning with 1/2 a banana sliced on top. The banana gives me the sweetness that I'm missing from sugar.

Original Post by lileberly:

HATE that a perfectly good and healthy salad can be completely RUINED HEALTH WISE because MOST dressings are so LOADED with terrible stuff!!
Made any good ones?
Bought any healthy ones?

Go to the oriental market and ask for "Ponzu" or "Aji-pon".  It's delicious (tart-tasting) and almost non-caloric, but not "fake" or "diet".  It's a traditional Japanese sauce.