*Vent Warning* High Fructose Corn Syrup

It's in EVERYTHING! Everything! My sister told me about this movie she saw "King of Corn" something like that, how the corn industry and Cargill figured out an awesome way of using their product as a filler in unsuspecting products. High Fructose corn syrup is one of the worst things for you and it slows down your metabolism and adds a ton of calories to foods. She told me to watch out for it in the stuff I buy. "OK, no problem" I thought. WRONG! Went to the grocery store yesterday and it took me nearly 3 HOURS because I had to spend an extra 20 minutes in each aisle finding products that didn't have it in there. And I'm not talking junk food. I'm talking Whole Grain bread. And Cranberry Juice. And Pita Bread and Tortillas. And, well, just EVERYTHING!

It drives me nuts!!!! 

Oh yeah...you think that's scary? Try reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. 75% of our bodies is MADE of corn, because of all the stuff it's in (ie, the carbon that makes up all our cells and DNA, 3/4 of it came directly from the carbon in corn we've consumed and not from other food.) And don't forget that when you're eating chicken or beef, you're basically eating corn as well, because that's what they feed them.

I know!! I have been avoiding it myself and it is hard. I only by very limited processed foods because almost all of them contain it.  It is worth the time to look at the labels. Good Luck :)

 

Cranberry juice cocktail has it (that's why it's so sweet), and like, any other juice out there at all. But you can go with 100% juices (it says 100% right on the label) which are still sweet and tasty and SO SO SO much better for you.

Cocktail isn't juice. Not really. Heh. I wish more of my friends realized that.

that's why they say to shop around the edges of the grocery store....not in the aisles

fresh produce, fresh meats, dairy.... and you CAN find bread without it, but you have to read those labels!

the price of convenience = HFCS

I've been recently reading articles about a lot of misconceptions about HFCS:

http://www.fooddrink-magazine.com/content/vie w/446/31/

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/05/s cience-of-sweets.html

That's not to say that you shouldn't avoid it, because it does add calories, but I haven't seen any conclusive "proof" that a person's body can actually tell the difference between calories added by HFCS and calories added by regular table sugar.  Of course, I don't like regular table sugar either - I prefer raw, organic, turbinado or demerrera cane sugar.

As for buying stuff in the store, I personally haven't had a problem with finding stuff without HFCS in it.  The store brand bread (of where I go locally) doesn't have HFCS, and even costs less.  When I buy juice, I make sure that it's the 100% juice kind - they're not that hard to find. 

I read somewhere that corn fed cows produce beef with higher levels of the bad kind of fat, whereas grass fed cattle produces healthier beef, so I try to get grass fed beef when I can find it.  Of course, I've also read that it would be better to not eat as much beef altogether anyway, and not just because of the corn - there's a lot of environmental consequences of beef consumption as well.

This is part of the reason I've pretty much cut bread out of my diet, including bagels, whole grain bread, pita bread, and tortillas. I will occasionally have a tortilla (maybe once a month) and I will eat small amounts of fresh-baked bread when at a restaurant, but that's about it.

Alternatives I've found include: Rice, quinoa, bulger, kasha (buckwheat groats), barley, oats... and even potatoes.

Actually I love the taste of corn but if I'm going to eat it, I want to enjoy it fresh off the cob. ;-) I don't think corn itself is all that evil... the evil is when they process it into oblivion, and then put it in everything.

Yogurt: I buy nonfat plain yogurt in the big tubs, reading labels carefully for one with no sugar added...

Meat: I buy free-range whenever possible, though admittedly sometimes it's just too expensive.

Original Post by fireflyeyes:

75% of our bodies is MADE of corn

 No wonder we're all so corny...

For bread and bagels, you should try shopping at an independant bakery. A good one will never add corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise) or any of the preservatives and dough conditioners you see at the grocery store to their products. In my family's bakery, our aulevain (basic artisan) bread has three ingredients: flour, salt, and water. In comparison, take a look at the list on the back of most commercial loaves. Kind of scary, if you ask me.

I understand what you are saying--vent away! I feel the same way about sodium benzoate--it is a preservative found in soft drinks and other products and it causes damage to the mitochondrion in our cells. (Unlike high fructose corn syrup though, it can be avoided, but still, it's out there a lot). I think if the ethanol boom keeps up, companies will be forced to go back to cane sugar. Or cut it out altogether. Do you have a heavy duty mixer or breadmaker, that you could make your own bread or a juicer to make your own juices? That would be a way to at least cut your consumption of it. Just a thought.

Look for the Organic products - they're made with cane sugar or regular fructose (in the form of fruit juice concentrate) instead of HFCS... I don't worry about it too much, but I hardly eat any processed food! I figure the amount in one tiny little daily snack really isn't enough to worry about or I'd go insane.

To study HFCS in humans, you'd have to have a group of people to consume it at least liberally and another to not consume it at all -- that would be a difficult study to manage since you'd also want it to last at least 6 months, preferably 2 years.

Mayo Clinic on HFCS

just another reason to learn to cook.

http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/732 31.html

jluffner, that was a corny joke... My children would never have let me get away with it...

Anyhoo, I know very well the US food is full of corn syrup. Three years ago our family did a trip to the States for about a month and we basically ate only raw veggies and  fruit all the time... We didn't dare eat in restaurants because we got dirty looks (we ordered one adult meal and one kid's meal for 4 adults and sometimes couldn't finish). So we thought it was simpler to buy bread and cheese, cold cuts and do our own sandwiches... Wrong!!! There is corn syrup even in the dried meat!!!!!

We do a lot of dried meat in Switzerland, but I still have to find someone willing to put syrup in there!!! And what about the rest of your stuff? When I use the food search, I find that most of the foods you have listed there have more cals than the European brands I find here.

Yesterday I ate mozzarella and was too lazy to go down and check the calorie content of my Italian mozzarella, so I looked for mozzarella in the food search. I  staggered when I saw the amount listed (mozzarella is supposed to be a healthy low calorie food). So I did go downstairs and found out that even the part-skimmed mozzarella on your list is almost 100 cals MORE (for only 80g, +/- 2.5 oz)  than my whole milk Italian mozzarella!!!!

I think American people should do something about the lobbies pulling the strings of their politicians. Dig a bit into the way the "Food pyramid" adopted by the FDA was created, and start thinking... But hey! It's not my country... But it's a great country, so I really think a bit of awareness wouldn't be out of order. JMO

you have to have list of atkins approved products to not get a corn syrup in everything!

Santonacci, I read the articles you suggested. The "ten myths" discussed are only saying that HFCS is not worse than fructose and glucose. Being "as bad as" doesn't equate good for me...

Yes, obesity is on the rise in the Western world and the most developed countries of the rest of the world (I wouldn't say the whole world, just the portion of the population that can afford to enjoy our lifestyle and therefore CONSUME OUR PRODUCTS - the Japanese think that Coke and McDonalds are Japanese brands, and the largest KFC in the world is in Singapore...), but only because in those countries people eat the same junk food...

Oh! And the author of the second article is linked to a conservative think tank that defends private enterprise and low governmental involvement. This kind of sponsor tends to support big business as well. Check your sources, it's always interesting to see where the funding is coming from...

 

 

schaufel is right - always check sources and connections.  Food is VERY political because of the money generated by the industry.  American consumers are very naive and uninformed.  This is changing, but not fast enough.

I also agree that it's another reason to learn to cook.  The more I learn about the food industry the more I don't want anyone making my food and I don't trust large corporations to do the right thing by consumers.  I avoid all prepared/processed foods and make most things myself (or just skip them altogether).  I'm also trying to limit myself (budget allowing) to organic/no antibiotic/rangefed meats and wild fish.  I now realize what a luxury it was to grow up with grandparents who had a cattle farm and our family would just get a side of beef from them every 6 months.  We knew where the animals came from, how they were fed, what drugs 'if any' they had, whether of not the slaughterhouse/butcher was a sanitary/safe place to have the meat processed, etc.  But we never had to think about it.  If I ever have room for a large freezer I'm going to find a local rancher and do the same thing.  And don't get me started on chicken and eggs.  You don't even want to know.

I started watching HFCS quite some time ago and was really disgusted by the things I found it in.  They tell you to look for '100%' whole wheat bread, but if HFCS is listed I wonder how good for you it can really be.  And it truly is in EVERYTHING.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to find HFCS in a marketing textbook as a prime example of how to market the heck out of a product that no one really needs.

I haven't seen the movie, but it's on my list of 'must sees'.  Sounds like it will reinforce what I already know.

OK - so I added a little rant of my own.  The subject gets me fired up!

I actually wrote a thesis for a college class last semester on this. It scared the crap out of me so bad that the main reason I am here is to be healthy! I have gone almost completely organic and I'm loving it. My body feels clearer and better.

And the calorie thing being different isn't the main problem. The main problem is the fact that it is everywhere you do not need it to be, and that it is a refined sugar--- and the worst of them. By refined, this entails needing immediate digestion upon ingestion. In order to digest a refined sugar, the body needs to use up it's previously obtained nutrients, in particular chromium. When you eat refined sugar, the sugar eats up your good calories you already ate. If you didn't eat any good calories, what happens? Nutritional deficiency. Besides that, it slows down brain function and is in everything because um, well, NO REASON other than pure profit. It makes otherwise  horrible foods taste delicious, so you really can't tell if something is good often only by eating it. The recommended daily amount is zero, and nobody should technically be eating it (refined sugars, not natural sugars, note the difference) however it is in every packaged food almost that you can think of at borderline unsafe levels (many scientist have ranted.) On top of this it is addictive, so by constantly ingesting it you only prolong it's stay in your diet...unless you want headaches, overeating problems, irritability, inattention....the list goes on.....don't eat it....

 

seriously...

 

organic packaged goods are often lacking in flavor but the more i eat them the better they taste, and a little salt helps. if you make the switch your palette will have to adjust for a little while, but i value my body an awful lot so i don't mind I guess

 

heh, hope i could help.

oh and one more thing...

if your body is made up of 80% water, how is it 75% corn?

just throwin' that in there... I'm sure it is still a ridiculous amount...

also HFCS is a refined sugar just like table sugar is, so they are the same. they go down the same, and yes it is bad. look it up on the 'nets 

Original Post by dearymetalsinks:

if your body is made up of 80% water, how is it 75% corn?

From the same post:  "the carbon that makes up all our cells and DNA, 3/4 of it came directly from the carbon in corn we've consumed and not from other food"