Fructose Watch...
Jan. 24th, 2006 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redneckgaijinOne other consequence of the flea market experiment, apparently, has been me gaining a few pounds back.
A year and a half ago, when I hit 245, I decided to take a simple step to cut back on calories- switch from soft drinks to a zero-calorie drink mix such as Crystal Light. Unfortunately, this only works at home; when I'm out for extended periods, it's damn near impossible to find a cold drink that isn't a carbonated and/or sweetened beverage. Tea is about the only option, and I can't stand the taste of boiled leaves.
There's also another factor: virtually every soft drink made that isn't a "diet drink" is sweetened not with sugar, but with high fructose corn syrup. Sugar (sucrose) turns into glucose (blood sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar) in the stomach at about a 50-50 ratio; HFCS is usually heavier on the fructose, either 55/45 or 90/10 depending on the product it's in.
Unlike glucose, fructose doesn't really digest properly. Instead it's metabolized in the liver, usually turned direct into fats (specifically, "bad cholesterol" VLDLs). In the process the syrup scars the digestive system, the fructose scars the liver, and most of all, fructose triggers hormones which INCREASE, not decrease, hunger. (And on top of that, fructose doesn't trigger the production of insulin, which is one reason why fructose increases the risk of diabetes.)
Bear in mind that high fructose corn syrup is not the same as plain old corn syrup, which is nearly all glucose. Corn syrup is about as good a sugar as there is, although all sugar is bad in anything more than small doses. HFCS is made through an extensive processing system- and this is the part that galls me- SUBSIDIZED BY OUR FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS. In other words, Washington is paying Archer Daniels Midland and three other companies to poison us, and we gobble and guzzle it down happily and ask for more.
If y'all could do me a favor? Check the stuff on your shelves and what-all, as you use it. Look in the ingredients. Look especially to see if the words "high fructose corn syrup" appear BEFORE "sugar." Sugar might not be in there at all. I'm going to avoid future purchases of products which are sweetened primarily or entirely with HFCS. Satisfying a sweet tooth is one thing, but HFCS is another.
(Happily, Blue Bell ice cream seems to be primarily sugar sweetened, with some corn syrup but not HFCS.)
OH- and you know how many states, including Texas, are forcing schools to abolish sodas in favor of fruit juices and drinks? Most fruit drinks have HFCS added- or even pure fructose- making them in MORE FATTENING THAN COKES.
I shit you not.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
A year and a half ago, when I hit 245, I decided to take a simple step to cut back on calories- switch from soft drinks to a zero-calorie drink mix such as Crystal Light. Unfortunately, this only works at home; when I'm out for extended periods, it's damn near impossible to find a cold drink that isn't a carbonated and/or sweetened beverage. Tea is about the only option, and I can't stand the taste of boiled leaves.
There's also another factor: virtually every soft drink made that isn't a "diet drink" is sweetened not with sugar, but with high fructose corn syrup. Sugar (sucrose) turns into glucose (blood sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar) in the stomach at about a 50-50 ratio; HFCS is usually heavier on the fructose, either 55/45 or 90/10 depending on the product it's in.
Unlike glucose, fructose doesn't really digest properly. Instead it's metabolized in the liver, usually turned direct into fats (specifically, "bad cholesterol" VLDLs). In the process the syrup scars the digestive system, the fructose scars the liver, and most of all, fructose triggers hormones which INCREASE, not decrease, hunger. (And on top of that, fructose doesn't trigger the production of insulin, which is one reason why fructose increases the risk of diabetes.)
Bear in mind that high fructose corn syrup is not the same as plain old corn syrup, which is nearly all glucose. Corn syrup is about as good a sugar as there is, although all sugar is bad in anything more than small doses. HFCS is made through an extensive processing system- and this is the part that galls me- SUBSIDIZED BY OUR FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS. In other words, Washington is paying Archer Daniels Midland and three other companies to poison us, and we gobble and guzzle it down happily and ask for more.
If y'all could do me a favor? Check the stuff on your shelves and what-all, as you use it. Look in the ingredients. Look especially to see if the words "high fructose corn syrup" appear BEFORE "sugar." Sugar might not be in there at all. I'm going to avoid future purchases of products which are sweetened primarily or entirely with HFCS. Satisfying a sweet tooth is one thing, but HFCS is another.
(Happily, Blue Bell ice cream seems to be primarily sugar sweetened, with some corn syrup but not HFCS.)
OH- and you know how many states, including Texas, are forcing schools to abolish sodas in favor of fruit juices and drinks? Most fruit drinks have HFCS added- or even pure fructose- making them in MORE FATTENING THAN COKES.
I shit you not.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 08:03 pm (UTC)I've had flavored water, black cherry and lemonade flavors, and it's not bad... but nobody around here chills it. It's only available off the shelves alongside the cases of canned soda, BYOrefrigeration.