She Says: Corn - The E True Hollywood Story.
I am really excited that other people want to participate in the HFCS challenge this month! My interest in doing this particular challenge came when I started reading In Defense of Food (which I haven’t finished yet) and I learned more about the nastiness and abundance of refined foods in my own diet. One of Pollan’s recommendations is to avoid products with HFCS, not because HFCS is necessarily harmful in and of itself, but rather because its presence in a product means the product is so processed that it “may no longer be what it purpots to be.” (p 151). Using bread as an example, Pollan examines the ingredients to show that the end products contains a whole lot of stuff other than “bread.” It’s really quite fascinating how far away from “food” what I eat on a daily basis is, and I’m fairly healthy!
Now, I am just a regular consumer of information so it was important for me to investigate HFCS further in order to fully understand why I think this is an important food challenge.
First, I didn’t really know about the different kinds of sugar. Pollan (p. 105) quickly defines the various types of sugar as follows:
- Glucose: sugar molecule that is the body’s main source of energy.
- Fructose: a different form of sugar usually found in fruit.
- Sucrose: table sugar made of a molecule of fructose and a molecule of glucose.
Second, I wanted to know exactly what HFCS and Corn Syrup are. Both are processed sweeteners.
- Corn Syrup is a liquid obtained from corn that is a combination of maltose, glucose, and dextrose.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods. It is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose.
Third, I wanted to know why HFCS is so bad for me. VeggieGirl and Caitlin each provided great links which can be accessed here and here that have lots of great info.
I also found this link which discusses some information from YOU on a Diet by Dr. Oz of Oprah fame. According to the site:
“HFCS is found in most processed foods today. It is six times as sweet as cane sugar, very cheap to produce, and therefore very cheap to use in food manufacturing. It aids in shelf life so it is found in most convenience foods, frozen foods, processed foods, and is present in foods labeled as “low-fat”. It is especially prevalent in sodas and low-fat salad dressings. HFCS is not processed by the brain as regular food.
What happens when you eat foods with this ingredient is since your body doesn’t “see” the fructose, you keep eating because your brain doesn’t get the signal that you’re full! The HFCS doesn’t turn off the hunger signals in your brain, therefore you can end up consuming large amounts of these low-fat labeled foods (or any food containing HFCS), while taking in a high amount of calories.
One step that you can take to aid your brain in telling you that you are full is to avoid eating foods that have High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, or Fructose listed as one of their top four ingredients. If you presently don’t read labels, you will be surprised to discover just how many foods contain these ingredients. If you make only this one change in your eating habits, you will be knocking out a large percentage of foods that are not only unhealthy for you, but that you will more than likely overeat since you will continue to feel hungry and want more and more.”
I am assuming this recommendation does not mean avoiding an apple, which contains fructose, but rather things in a box with an ingredient list. In light of this information, I am stepping up my challenge. My goal is to avoid HFCS, CS and F all month. In doing so, I will probably be avoiding most processed foods, which is my ultimate goal. I think it would be silly of me to avoid HFCS while giving CS the green light. I think that is one themes of In Defense of Food: think for yourself and make reasonable decisions. Just because someone says HFCS is bad or good or Corn Syrup is bad or good doesn’t make the food containing that ingredient magically wonderful or magically the devil (well, maybe the devil).
Even without knowing anything about HFCS or CS what makes more sense: eating an apple or eating a package of Twinkies?
EAT THE APPLE!!
02 Sep 2008 at 9:18 pm
Wow - that was interesting. That explains why kids can drink a whole case of Hi-C! Or in my case, Tropicana Twister!
03 Sep 2008 at 12:43 am
this is a really great post. thank you for all of the information, and i look forward to seeing what kinds of things you come up with. i wonder if you will simply find other items that exclude hfcs or if you will have to resort to making your own foods (as in bread and such).
03 Sep 2008 at 12:02 pm
Hi Heather,
Thanks for recommending my post about Dr. Oz’s, “YOU On A Diet” to your readers.
I’ll give you that clarification….there is a HUGE difference between refined sugar and the natural sugar in an apple. The refined stuff has absolutely no nutrients and it actually leeches valuable nutrients from the body in order to be processed by your body, since it comes in with nothing.
So absolutely, eat fresh fruit, I sure do. With that being said though, I always eat a protein with the fruit unless I am doing a mono diet to cleanse my lymph system, which if you’re interested in that you can learn more about here. I only mention that as an aside however, that’s not how I eat as a lifestyle. And, the reason it’s not beneficial to eat fruit by itself all the time is because it will effect your blood sugar levels.
Hope that helps, all the best with getting off the refined sugar!
03 Sep 2008 at 12:28 pm
Wow, HFCS is a sneaky little thing! Thank you for all the information.
03 Sep 2008 at 3:13 pm
this was such a great read - thank you! i learn so much from other blogs. and what do you know, your challenge made me look through the cupboard out of curiosity and i found HFCS in sushi vinegar?! what??
03 Sep 2008 at 4:17 pm
It really is scary how much processed sugar ends up in food.
May I ask why you are avoiding fructose? Most products sweetened with fructose aren’t that sugar-laden in my limited experience. And fructose is more slowly absorbed by the body than white table sugar. I’ve never heard anybody complaining about fructose. Do I need to be hunting for that on labels, too?
03 Sep 2008 at 9:36 pm
Hil, Good question! It’s so confusing, isn’t it. I think what I am trying to do is avoid fructose in “not natural” foods i.e. fruits and vegetables. I am honestly not sure that “fructose” itself is a common ingredient on nutrition labels, but I will keep a look out.
I still feel like there is soooo much to learn, and honestly, sometimes the internet is a a bit overwhelming - espcially when I find conflicting information. If anyone has any good links discussing the various types of sugar, please share.
Here are a couple links I found discussing fructose.
http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/fructoseqa.cfm
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/fructosedangers.htm
(no i am absolutely not going low carb)
03 Sep 2008 at 10:00 pm
I know I am late, but thank you for all the information. I am going to try to take up the challenge as well and make sure to pay more attention to ingredient lists of foods that I eat.
I’ve seen the commercials - I kind of felt the same way when people asked why HFCS was bad because I didn’t know the facts. I just knew it wasn’t good for you. Now I KNoW!
Any food item that has to have a commercial suggesting that it isn’t bad in moderation can’t possibly be great for you and that’s easy to prove after doing the research or reading your results from the doing the research:) THANKS
06 Sep 2008 at 9:56 pm