high fructose corn syrup

[MosMom]

Eh, the first few posts didn't seem terribly respectful ...

 

[bicker]

I am just curious if this panic is a passing fad?

My people have been eating HFCS for thousands of years... oh wait... no we haven't!

Seriously, it's bad stuff. It has no redeeming qualities not readily available through other means.

 

[My sister's princess]

Eh, the first few posts didn't seem terribly respectful ...

First few posts are about people who literally think that it should be against the law for it to be in food

 

[My sister's princess]

My people have been eating HFCS for thousands of years... oh wait... no we haven't!

Seriously, it's bad stuff. It has no redeeming qualities not readily available through other means.

Bicker, I notice that your siggie says you are a vegetarian, would the above train of though mean you should be eating meat?

 

[Sparx]

I wouldn't worry about what a very few posters on the Dis say. My doctor says it's fine for you though to try to limit how much you eat. This can be hard but I have found if I cut down on soda and eat less processed foods then I am ok.

Though I will say personally...I do prefer soda sweetened with sugar, though that can be hard to find.

Jones soda is made with cane sugar.

http://www.jonessoda.com/

FuFu berry is my favorite.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

a recent study by Princeton seems to indicate all sweeteners are not the same:

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

we avoid HFCS as much as possible. We do sugar in moderation. e don't do artificial sweeteners at all. I would like to see Stevia in more products. Sprite, I believe, is going to be using Stevia soon. We also like Jones, Stewarts, and the "throwbacks " when available - though, again, we really limit our soda drinking.

as for parties and such: I don't sweat what I can't control. I just have the peace of mind that our diets are healthy overall and a little of something or an exception is not going to kill us. I am not going to make a scene or a fuss at someone's home or get together.

 

[My sister's princess]

Jones soda is made with cane sugar.

http://www.jonessoda.com/

FuFu berry is my favorite.

Jones soda is YUMMY! However, it is expensive

 

[bicker]

It has no redeeming qualities not readily available through other means.

Bicker, I notice that your siggie says you are a vegetarian, would the above train of though mean you should be eating meat?

Precisely the opposite, actually. There is no imperative to eat anything specific, except things for which there is a specific imperative to eat those things specifically. One principle many vegetarians live by is that there is no need to eat animals because we can get everything we need to live happily and healthfully without killing animals to do it.

 

[minniebeth]

Read the labels. Seeing it in everything processed is what upsets me. I don't need mechanically altered sugar in everything I buy. Bread? that's the one that surprised me. I make bread. I don't put sugar in it. Why would I need HFCS in there? It's the sneaking it into everything that bugs me.
Do my kids have an ice pop with HFCS? sure I am not saying never ever. I will just buy a non-hfcs product when there is an option.
I don't push it onto anyone else- It's just what works for my family. If you don't care don't worry about it.
I don't know if it's a fad- for us it's not going to be. I'll opt out of it whenever I can.

This is exactly how I feel about it...

 

[PollyannaMom]

I'm in the moderation camp. I don't completely avoid HFCS, but I have switched some products in our house in order to have less of it.

 

[BC]

I know I will be flamed, but if you read Dr Oz's book, You on a Diet, it says to avoid HFCS or any type of "syrup" in the ingredients. It states if you gotta have an artificial sweetener, stay away from aspartame and go for sucralose (Splenda) if you must use one. I know many of you think he is a quack, but I personally like him and trust the findings.

 

[My sister's princess]

Precisely the opposite, actually. There is no imperative to eat anything specific, except things for which there is a specific imperative to eat those things specifically. One principle many vegetarians live by is that there is no need to eat animals because we can get everything we need to live happily and healthfully without killing animals to do it.

I'm sorry, what does that mean

 

[My sister's princess]

I know I will be flamed, but if you read Dr Oz's book, You on a Diet, it says to avoid HFCS or any type of "syrup" in the ingredients. It states if you gotta have an artificial sweetener, stay away from aspartame and go for sucralose (Splenda) if you must use one. I know many of you think he is a quack, but I personally like him and trust the findings.

Wasn't there a Splenda panic at one time too?

 

[bicker]

I'm sorry, what does that mean

You have to have Vitamin A, so don't avoid all sources of Vitamin A.

 

[taylor3297]

We have tried cutting down the amount of HFCS products that we buy. It is amazing of what items contains this stuff. I was really surprised that yogurt contained the stuff. Do I totally ban if, no but I try to keep it to a minimum. Though if I had to choose between HFCS or fake sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose etc) I would choose the HFCS. I had the opportunity to study that stuff and I refuse to eat it.

For those who liked the Pepsi Throwback, Pepsi is going to do another run of it at the end of the summer. Right now I have 20 cases in my garage. Luckily this stuff lasts awhile.

 

[BC]

I don't recall a panic about Splenda as it is suppose to be made from real sugar. I know there has been a long controversy over aspartame and cancer. At any rate, he did not give the green light for Splenda, just stated that the findings are not proven at this time, so for now it is OK if you insist. Of course, we all know Dr Oz probably does not use anything artificial!

 

[My sister's princess]

I don't recall a panic about Splenda as it is suppose to be made from real sugar. I know there has been a long controversy over aspartame and cancer. At any rate, he did not give the green light for Splenda, just stated that the findings are not proven at this time, so for now it is OK if you insist. Of course, we all know Dr Oz probably does not use anything artificial!

Well that makes sense, sorry I wasn't trying to be rude to you, I was just curious




Bicker, I'm sorry I still don't follow.....

 

[taylor3297]

Yes Splenda starts out as natural but as soon as you change the molecular structure it because a synthetic. Aspartame was put into foods without a full study. What is being found with Aspartame, is that it effects everyone differently. There is not one set answer like with sacchrine.

 

[Katie's Butterflies]

I became allergic to corn 2 years ago, so I have to avoid it. It really isn’t as hard as one might think… after you get used to not having any (cheap) sweet processed foods.

However, my parents can and do eat HFCS filled foods. My dad is diabetic and if his blood sugar goes low, we do not give him HFCS. It does not act the same way as sugar. It will not raise his blood sugar immediately. Instead, it will cause his blood sugar to spike several hours to days after he eats it. (making it look like his blood sugar is rising randomly) .

This reaction makes me not believe those commercials. HFCS does not equal sugar.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am just curious if this panic is a passing fad?

I have read on here a several times a few people who seem obsessed with avoiding it. Yet, when I try to find information about if it is really that bad for me, I mostly find kooky websites with unsupported information.

Not a fad in my household. It's a necessity.

First realized that DS can't have it, nor can he have corn syrup or even corn syrup solids (a Dole Whip at Disneyland solidified that one for us!). We wondered if it was an overall corn problem, but he can have normal corn, cornstarch, and even dextrose (corn sugar). So it's just a problem when corn is turned into syrup (and beyond).

I realized this when we were having a fabulous day at a festival, just having a grand time...he asked for his very first lollipop, I allowed it (remembering visits to the post office when the postmaster would give me and my brother lollipops). Within 20 minutes he was losing control, hitting and kicking me, trying to squeeze my face HARD, tring to bang his head on my head, trying to bite me, screaming...it was so horrible. While this was happening I was just trying to control him, which was hard as I am short and he has been tall from the moment he arrived, while NOT hurting him...tears were streaming down my face...and I looked in his eyes and saw fear, not hate...

After I got him controlled, I put him over my shoulder, got our backpack, and started the walk home...he passed out and slept for a good 4+ hours.

Over the following year I thought back to reactions where he would lose control, and saw new reactions, and noted the foods he had had. It was ALWAYS something that, it turned out, had one of the three things we have to avoid. HFCS is absolutely the worst.

Realized the reason for all those bad endings to zoo trips....Smuckers Uncrustables have both corn syrup and HFCS in them...those were his big treat at the zoo. In addition, normal ketchup (on fries to go with the sandwich) has HFCS. Many cheap ice creams have it...heck, some expensive ice cream flavors have it too, like some of Haagen Dasz and Ben and Jerry's flavors. I thought of the zoo in Seattle, where we would have ketchup on veggie burgers, and their cheap ice cream...the behaviour changes after lunches...the difficulty in controlling him, the ANGER that spewed from him that made us question sanity b/c he was having a great time and then flipping out at fun places...

The tantrum at the end of the night at Disneyland...we thought he was just tired, but we had JUST let him have an Uncrustable. It went on and on.

About 6 months or so after figuring this out, DH and I shared a small Coke. It was around noon but I'd only woken up an hour or so before, and DH was driving to wherever we needed to go b/c I was tired. So we had the Coke and I started to wake up, and I looked over, and DH was asleep. On the highway.

And we realized that he had reactions, too. The Dole Whip moment at Disneyland? While I was dealing with a huge problem with DS after he and DH had their treats, DH had basically passed out on the bench going into Adventureland and was of no help. That was the corn syrup solids as well.

Very opposite reactions.

Later on, DH was dramatically diagnosed with diabetes. When he has too much cane sugar, or even a touch of HFCS, his readings spike and he'll pass out. Well, he generally will pick an argument before doing that...fun!

He has completely controlled his blood sugar now, with ONLY diet and exercise. He CANNOT have the same 3 ingredients DS cannot have.


My MIL has diabetes too. Years of the American diet after growing up in Korea caused it. She was in the hospital for gastroenteritis last year. DS and I spent a lot of time with her there, and we had a very hard time finding food at their cafeteria, b/c they use Franz bread. The consumer sort of bread touts "no HFCS", but their more institutional bread, like what was served in the cafeteria and to the patients, has it all over the place. You have to read EVERY label that Franz has.

So one day MIL was extremely pleasant. She was being given insulin instead of her usual metformin (her doctor diagnosed her with type 1, but she refuses insulin, and is usually around 150 blood sugar, which is drastically high for DH but her average), and she was hitting 120s and below.

She ordered lunch, some sort of sandwich on the Franz bread that we knew, from reading the ingredients in the cafeteria, had HFCS.

Within minutes of finishing that sandwich (from the diabetic menu, by the way) she was almost like Regan in the Exorcist. Trying to rip out her IVs, screaming at me that I was keeping her there, that it was horrible, etc etc etc. The change in her was astonishing. And I know what caused it.



Most other countries don't have HFCS. They use cane sugar in their sodas, and don't use the nonsense we do. There is one grey area...DH got me some chocolates in Australia that had "glucose syrup" in it, and in America, "glucose syrup" is generally HFCS. I do not know what it means in Australia. Other than that, they just don't have that crap.

And look at the health of Americans compared to other countries!

I don't give a rip if anyone else thinks its a fad. It's SURVIVAL for our family. And other countries are far healthier, and they don't have it. Seems really easy to see that we should be on the side of the healthier people, not on the side of the junk food industry!