The Chemical of Evil...

[acroyear]

...continues to haunt me.

"High Fructose Corn Syrup".

Evil.

and Everywhere.

Its in all but 2 of the "nutritious snacks" that my company gives its employees for free.  And one of those two is "Cheetos".  Its in Animal Crackers.  Its in Nutter Butters.

The real pisser: its in the supposedly best for your health "Nutri-Grain" Cereal Bars from Kellogg's.  Three times.

"Ingredients: Filling (high fructose corn syrup, apple preserves [high fructose corn syrup, apples], ...)..., high fructose corn syrup, ..."

So its the #1 ingredient of the "filling", and the #1 ingredient of the #2 ingredient of said filling, AND it shows up in the main ingredients list on its own.

I just can't stand it.  I didn't used to care, but now that I do, I am still at that state where I am shocked at all of the food items that incorporated this processed calorie factory.

Someday, I won't be shocked to see it.  When that happens, I might as well just quit. 

I'm pretty sure its a key ingredient in Budweiser, only the mega-breweries refuse to submit to a "list your ingredients" regulation from the FDA, something the micros have been pushing for over a decade, for that very reason. ;)

Items that have that poison, and more of it than you might think...

• breakfast syrups are now more corn syrup / high fructose corn syrup than maple, and the major brands all have no maple at all.  pure maple syrup should have this as its one and only ingredient: "sap".
  
• whole wheat breads
• Caesar salad dressing and Yoplait Yogurt.
• every (non-organic) prepackaged sweetened tea (often its in the ingredient list above tea itself) including lipton and nestea
• peanut butter (not all, but the cheap stuff they stick in crackers from keebler or lances certainly does).  most american-made jellys, jams, and preserves.
  
• most condiments (ketchup, bbq, yellow mustard)
• white bread products like low-end hamburger and hotdog buns (particularly those used at McDonalds)
  

simply inescapable...but i'm gonna keep trying as best i can.  I won't worry about it in the things I eat in relatively small doses (condiments and salad dressings, and my favorite apple jelly), but otherwise if i see a snack that lists it as an ingredient (and certainly something that claims to be nutritious and yet lists it 3 times, including the first two items on the list), then its something I will, quite literally, live without.

Comments

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

Yes.

The best sugars for you are actually honey and molasses... The body has to work to process them, thereby burning more calories than it takes to absorb (like celery taking more calories to break down than it actually gets absorbed). White sugar is already processed and refined, and therefore is easier for the body to absorb than honey or molasses. HFCS is already FAR more processed than even sugar is, and therefore the body doesn't really have to work to break it down at all.

Empty calories. The body doesn't have to work to break it down. Celery has calories (admittedly few, but some). However you actually burn more calories to process it than it contains.

Three quarters of what we eat out there is processed. The same reason that honey and molasses are better for you than sugar and corn syrup is the reason why whole grain bread is better for you than processed whole wheat bread, which is better for you than bleached white bread. The body has to work less to process the bleached white bread. It has to work a whole lot harder on the whole grains, therefore it's actually healthier for you.

In terms of the amount of work involved, think of it like honey being like taking the stairs up a tall building, sugar as taking the escalator and possibly stepping up a stair or two on the escalator, and HFCS as taking the elevator. All three take you to the same place, but you get a whole lot more exercise out of the first than out of the last.

[capi.livejournal.com]

I knew this about honey and molasses, from my own research when i was so ill. SUGAR is an immune system depressor. Unfortunately, i can't *stand* what honey does to most things. *shudder* I tried, really i did! *L*

But wait, you're equating "healthy" with caloric results. Whole grain breads may be better in terms of weight maintenance or loss, but the main benefit of those breads is not about calories at all. It's about nutrition.

The whole thing is very tricky, and there are always new things being discovered. The humor i find is that so many of these new discoveries were known to the ancients. *L*

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

Whole grain breads may be better in terms of weight maintenance or loss, but the main benefit of those breads is not about calories at all. It's about nutrition.

I know that... :) Fiber, nutrients... the bleached white stuff bleaches all the nutrition out of it, and whole grains have more fiber than processed crap. But I was using one portion of it as an example.

Joe adores honey. We came back from Wales with three or four more bottles of honey he hadn't had before... :) At least when he sweetens his tea and coffee (IF he sweetens his tea), he does it with honey...

The healthy isn't just the caloric results, but also how much work the body does on it. Like exercising your insides. Give it stuff it doesn't need to work on, and your body gets lazy. Give it stuff that it has to work on, and it's healthier because it's exercising itself. The body needs exercise inside and out you know. ;)

Kind of like the immune system. You won't do a kid any favors if you sanitize his world... Because if his body doesn't get used to handling the tough stuff in small doses, it won't be able to handle it in large doses... Personally, I think that's true in anything from viruses to emotional health to external health to internal health.

The sugar thing is just one example of it. :)