Lean Bodies - Noel Clark

What is this?  It is derived from cornstarch, usually a combination of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent sucrose. Treated with an enzyme that converts glucose to fructose, which results in a sweeter product. Used in soft drinks, baked goods, jelly, syrups, fruits and desserts.

 Now do you realize 1. how bad this is for us and 2. how many products that you have in your pantry that probably contain this?  I have been doing a lot of reading this past week on HFCS.  No it isn’t new, but I was just shocked to find out all of the foods that it is in.  I think that when it comes to me eating certain things, I tend to overlook some of the negative health habits, but now that I see how much of this is in my kids stuff….well, there really is no turning back.  I am now revamping my pantry and I can tell you, the girls aren’t to excited. LOL.

In case you are unaware:  Fructose is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar.  It has been linked to diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolic Syndrome.  Fructose also contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and it leeches micronutrients from your body. Unbound fructose, found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with your heart’s use of minerals such as magnesium, copper and chromium. 

(this was taken from our forum..www.leanbodiesfitness.com)  To add even more fuel to the fire, HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns.

GMO corn will radically increase your risk of developing corn food allergies. You can bet dimes to dollars on this one and become very wealthy if someone is crazy enough to disagree with you and take you up on this bet.

The problem with corn allergies are that once you have a corn allergy from GMO corn you will have an allergy to even healthy organic corn products.

On top of that, if you read through the Organic Consumers Association article linked to above, you get a feel for just how bad corn crops are for your waistline and the environment. On average, Americans eat over 14 tablespoons of sugar every day, and a growing portion of that is in the form of corn syrup. Aside from contributing to obesity, the more than 76 million acres of corn grown each year in the United States is hurting the land. Each year:

* Corn crops are sprayed with 162 million pounds of chemical pesticides
* Producing, packaging and transporting these pesticides contributes nearly 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases to the environment each year
* About 18 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers are used on corn crops every year, contributing 35 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions

After reading all of this plus so much more, I have decided to take this out of my kids diet.  I know that all things in moderation are ok, but I am just not going to have it as an option in the house.  From what I have read and seen there are a tons of alternatives in the whole foods sections.  Now I just need to hunt down the ones that my girls will eat.  If you don’t realize how much of this is in your pantry..check out this list
http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct

And here is the latest commercial trying to reassure us that HFCS is fine.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 8:07 am and is filed under Video, diet, life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.