Really Really High Fructose Corn Syrup

I have no idea how many of you are soda drinkers, but even if you don't touch the stuff, we all know people who do. Here's an interesting topic for discussion:

Researchers discover soda beverages have higher than expected amounts of fructose. The typical range of fructose in high fructose corn syrups is approximately 45%-55%. However, researchers recently found as much as 65% fructose in sodas, including Coke and Pepsi.

Gross.

What's the problem and who cares? Too much fructose is linked to serious health issues, including metabolic disorders. Marion Nestle of Food Politics says:

• Fructose: increasing evidence suggests that the metabolism of fructose–which differs from that of glucose–is associated with abnormalities. This means that it is best to reduce intake of fructose from table sugar as well as HFCS. -Click here for full post
  

If you're interested in reading more about the latest on high fructose corn syrup and sodas, go to the following links:

Los Angeles Times article

Food Politics Blog

"How did I turn off the part of me that knew better?"

Interview with Special Guest: Michelle

Self-proclaimed Soda Addict

The other day at a local coffee shop, I had the privilege to interview this bright, witty, fun woman. Like many of you reading this blog, she has an interesting history with sugar.

Michelle was 19 years old when she first began getting the headaches. They got so bad she threw up. Repeated doctor visits, scans and tests showed nothing other than a possible sinus infection. She was given prescription drugs and steroids and took them...because she was desperate. The pain was unbearable. She dealt with this for 4 years, feeling like the diagnosis and treatment wasn't right, but not sure what to do.

A friend mentioned that diet could have something to do with the headaches. So Michelle visited her doctor and asked if diet could be the culprit. The doctor said no. A different doctor finally correctly diagnosed her headaches as migraines, but also told her that sugar had nothing to do with them. Despite this, she decided to change her diet according to her friend's advice and testament. For the first time in four and a half years, she no longer had migraines. So Michelle gave up sugar completely for one year.


During that year her migraines were nonexistent. She felt healthy and happy. When I asked Michelle when and why she began eating sugar again, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "It sort of just happened."

A student brought in her favorite kind of mints (those buttery yellow, green and pink ones shaped like large Hershey kisses), and she figured one wouldn't hurt. She kept them in a jar on her desk and within a week they were gone.

She was back on sugar. She told herself, "Maybe I can handle a little bit here and a little bit there..." Her logic was that most of her food choices were so healthy that a little bit of candy once in a while would be okay. At first she didn't feel bad at all. Then she became pregnant so she quit sugar for good, again. She felt wonderful. Within a year her family moved to Japan and that's when sugar found itself back in her life.

"I started eating sugar again, not knowing it, because I couldn't read any of the food labels in Japan. Then we started eating out a lot and it brought old habits back, like drinking a lot of soda."

With her husband away traveling often and raising two kids at home, it was a treat to drink soda. Her justification was, "Everyone else is drinking soda and it's not bothering them." Her migraines had not returned so she tested the limits by overindulging in soda.

She says the behavior started when she was a child--drinking soda when she was sick, and drinking Slurpee's at 7 eleven. Back then little was known about the adverse affects of sugar. But Michelle says that even recently, her doctor recommended that she give her daughter "jello, gatorade, and popcicles to ward off dehydration." What is a parent supposed to do when these sugary items are recommended by pediatricians, and have been for decades?

Michelle told friends that she kept accidentally shrinking her clothes in the dryer. About a year later she realized she was bigger, her clothes were not smaller. It took a while to admit that her favorite form of sweet might be the cause of the extra weight, but eventually Michelle couldn't ignore that her weight gain was due to her out-of-control soda indulgence.

After two or three times quitting soda and then falling off the wagon, "I realized I had an addiction. It was like I was an alcoholic, except with soda. It was a vice. How did I turn off the part of me that knew better?"

When she began drinking soda and eating a lot of other sweets, the migraines came back. When she was diagnosed with a chemical sensitivity (chronic sensitivity to low levels of chemicals, including scents, food addtitives, etc.), it led to an excuse to eat sugar because she could blame the migraines on chemicals like perfumes, instead of sugar.



Michelle says, "What I firmly and strongly believe, no one would know based on what I feed my family."

So, what is Michelle doing now?

"My goal is to get myself and my kids off of processed foods totally. I'm not going to get my husband to eat this way, and even on the weekends if we go out to eat, that's okay. But during the week I'm going to buy and prepare whole foods, grind my own flour, and keep junk out of the house." In an effort to keep the migraines at bay and encourage her kids to enjoy healthier food, she is preparing her family for some big changes.

On New Year's Day 2010, she took out all of the junk food in the house and spread it on a table. She let her kids (ages 10 and 4) eat as much as they wanted. Then she threw away everything that was left. Now the family eats mostly healthy (her husband isn't buying into this health-streak just yet, however!).

Michelle now brings home delicious naturally-sweetened snacks that she and both her kids enjoy. Soda is a special treat instead of a daily ritual. She has the ability to consume sugar (soda) in moderation, something many of us only dream of having the willpower to do.

She admits that one of the greatest difficulties in eating healthy is viewing foods differently than her spouse. In her desire to avoid conflict, it's been easiest to go with the flow instead of putting her foot down about certain foods. That's all about to change this next year, but she is making small changes and baby steps forward instead of forcing everyone to quit cold turkey.

I applaud her for being a caring, loving wife and mom of two as she seeks balance in her family relationships and at the same time strives to provide healthy food for her household.

Outrageous Physicians' Alliance With Coca-Cola

I'm livid.

Imagine running an animal rights organization, and having slaughterhouses fund your research. Seriously, that would be absurd.

"But wait, if they are offering money for research, why not take it?"

It seems like some of the worst decisions ever made are because of money. But in this case (see below), I can't help but wonder if there is more on the line.

Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.

This is not a joke. Read on:

"The American Academy of Family Physicians has a new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co.

Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won't influence the group's public health messages, and that the company will have no control over editorial content. He said the new online information will include research linking soft drinks with obesity and will focus on sugar-free alternatives.

But critics say the Coke deal will water down the advice.

'Coca-Cola, like other sodas, causes enormous suffering and premature death by increasing the risks of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, gout, and cavities,' Harvard University nutrition expert Dr. Walter Willett said in an e-mail.

He said the academy 'should be a loud critic of these products and practices, but by signing with Coke their voice has almost surely been muzzled.'

Dr. William Walker, public health officer for Contra Costa County near San Francisco, likened the alliance with ads decades ago in which physicians said mild cigarettes are safe,

Walker has been a member of the academy for 25 years but quit last week. He said 20 other doctors who work with his local medical practice also quit because of the Coke deal."

I discovered this disappointing information in several articles, the original source being the Associated Press. The above quote was found in the Topeka Capital-Journal online.

(However, the most thorough article I've found is Huffington Post. Posted after my initial post!)

I had to check out the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP website

The AAFP claims to represent "more than 94,600 physicians and medical students nationwide." Does this mean Coca-Cola Co. just hired 94,600 physicians and medical students?

I will repeat the words of world-renowned researcher, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health, Dr. Walter Willett, "Coca-Cola, like other sodas, causes enormous suffering and premature death by increasing the risks of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, gout, and cavities."

By Coke's dangerous nature and the fact that it provides us with nothing but health risks, these physicians have no business making alliances with Coca-Cola. These physicians are the very people who have the science to know better. What new information about Coke could we possibly benefit from? It's never going to be a product with nutrients we need.

Contact Information for AAFP

Contact Information for Coca-Cola Co.

Humongous is the New Small

Jeff and I were at the theater today and he ordered a small soft drink. (Sigh....)

When he walked up with his "small" drink, I was shocked. I grabbed it and said, "You HAVE to photograph this!"



I asked him if he was going to drink it all even though he wanted a smaller size. He looked at me like I was telling him what to do, not asking. Okay, maybe I was passively suggesting that he didn't have to drink it all. He said next time he'll order this same size and if we are with a group of people who want soda, too, he'll order three or four empty cups. I wonder how that would go over....

He told me that when he stopped in at a coffee shop yesterday for a mocha the cashier asked what size and he said, "Small." He said the cashier asked why he would just want small when for a few cents more he could get a much larger mocha.

Just because you can get more for less, doesn't mean you should. On that note, I can't believe McDonald's is currently advertising all soft drinks for $1. In this case "more" is just more sugar, calories and chemicals that our bodies suffer from. We get NO nutrients from soda!

"Super-sizing" our portions is undoubtedly super-sizing us!

When I did a search hoping to pull up the actual dollar drink ad, I found instead a bunch of blogs of people who are really excited to be getting this good deal....

Federal Tax on Soda Being Considered

What do you think about a tax being imposed on sodas, diet sodas excluded?

On May 12, 2009, CBS News reported as follows:

"The Senate Finance Committee today is hearing proposals on how to pay for President Obama's proposed universal health care plan, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion. Among the proposals, as Consumer Affairs reports: A three-cent tax on sodas as well as other sugary drinks, including energy and sports drinks like Gatorade. Diet sodas would be exempt.

'While many factors promote weight gain, soft drinks are the only food or beverage that has been shown to increase the risk of overweight and obesity, which, in turn, increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and many other health problems,' Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is pushing the idea, said in his testimony. 'Soft drinks are nutritionally worthless…[and] are directly related to weight gain, partly because beverages are more conducive to weight gain than solid foods.'"

The link below to Michael Jacobson's testimony is important. He is advocating for nutritional change across the board, which in turn is proposed to help finance health care reform. In order to address the logistics of health care reform, he believes prevention is the key, and I couldn't agree with him more.

Jacobson's testimony can be read here (PDF). I highly recommend reading it. In it, he states:

"To promote health and reduce health-care costs, health-reform legislation should include strong, specific prevention measures. This testimony focuses on employing five long-neglected, high- leverage, diet-related means of preventing chronic diseases; treating serious diseases in a more economical, yet still effective, manner; and levying taxes that would both promote health and generate revenues that could help fund expanded health-care coverage."


His five proposed preventative measures include:

1. Raising taxes on alcoholic beverages
2. Taxing soft drinks
3. Taking trans fats out of foods
4. Reducing sodium in packaged foods and restaurant foods
5. "Reducing medical costs through lifestyle treatment of heart disease"

"The proposed measures would generate total savings or income to the federal government
of $38 billion to $61 billion per year."

This could help generate a portion of the money needed to finance President Obama's universal health care plan.

Check out the Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI if you haven't already. They are a non-profit advocating for nutrition, food safety and increased consumer-awareness.

*

Coincidentally, I just discovered a video of Dr. Walter Willett, of Harvard's School of Public Health, stating the direct correlations between drinking sugary drinks and serious health problems like diabetes, overweight and heart disease. Hear it from the leading nutrition researcher of our time, here.

More about the taxation on soda, here in Dr. Nestle's post.

A Poem For Your Sweeter Side

I found a little note on my desk the other day. It was folded up with the words TOP SECRET written in red. It was so cute, in light of my anti-sugar fanaticism, I have decided to print it here for your enjoyment.

The note was not signed, so it was either written in disguised handwriting by my husband or by a little elf living in our walls. Either way, it's pretty adorable. I am living with a poet, whoever you may be. Here is the unedited note I received, word for word:

It's the weirdest thing.
I KNOW it's bad
but
my tongue wants it
and
my throat aches for it.
The emotion is just like
when I was a kid
and
had a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.
Pure, sweet badness.
I admit
I drink it because it's there.
I don't miss it when
it's not here.
The cool can in my hand as I sip
(trying not to chug)
my candied beverage.
Is it wrong to enjoy it?
Isn't this part
of modern life...
Is it bad to consume 12 oz of sweetness?
Coke is my vice...
is that bad?

-Anonymous

Desensitized to the Junk Food You're Eating?

My parents' garage is full of soda. Kitchen drawers hide candy bars and giant, Costco-sized bags of M&M's.

How did this come about? I grew up eating healthy and soda was off limits. Not only has soda made its way into their house, it has now become a daily way of life. I do not mean to pick on my parents. I merely use my story as an example of what has changed in society.

My main concern is that the high standards we had growing up have changed dramatically over the years.

Why is it that the standards used to raise us have become lower, instead of higher, as we get older? Over the years, beginning sometime in junior high, junk food was introduced in our home on more and more of a regular basis. By high school, we had cupboards of Oreos and other miscellaneous junk food snacks. We were no longer told to not drink soda. (Perhaps they laid off the "no soda" rhetoric in hopes that we would drink soda instead of alcohol in high school.)

During my college years, I would come home intermittently to visit, and find the garage refrigerator full of soda. Both diet and regular. What?!? Was it because my brother and I had moved out and mom and dad were free to do as they please? Or, more probable, was the fact that soda had become more prevalent in all households. A social evolution, due in part to marketing and desensitization. Being fun party hosts, my parents were sure to have all of the popular, choice sodas that people had learned from fancy television ads, would enrich their lives.

But, I did not grow up with this. We all knew back in the 70's and 80's that soda wasn't healthy. How did soda manage to infiltrate my parents' house after all this time? I guess I have always believed that as we got older, our standards would get higher, not the other way around.

I had an experience ten years ago that sparked my interest in such matters. At the time, I was working at a consulting firm and taking public transportation to get there. One morning, I grabbed my umbrella because the sky looked like it was going to rain. I got on the light rail and enjoyed a book for the 30 minutes or so it took to get to my stop. I jumped off and began walking my beat. Suddenly, I felt empty-handed. I stopped and realized that I had left my umbrella on the light rail. There was nothing I could do. Someone had surely found themselves a new umbrella by now.

Let me back up. This was no ordinary umbrella. I had a bit of an umbrella fetish back then and I had recently spent all of my Christmas money on a ridiculously expensive, wooden handled, plaid umbrella. It was gorgeous and I loved carrying it around with me.

As the realisation hit me that I would probably never see my red plaid umbrella again, my eyes filled with tears. I tried to fight the tears because I did not want to smudge my make-up and I was walking in a very busy part of town. I walked on towards work and suddenly, I had a revelation that changed my world-view.

That morning I had seen on the news how an earthquake had destroyed a city on the other side of the planet, and killed thousands of people. I didn't cry then. I cried over losing a material item, while not feeling much of anything watching the news earlier in the morning. People had lost their lives and their homes and their loved ones and I had not dropped a tear or given it much more than a subconcious, "That's too bad..." while getting ready for work.

I remember being shocked at myself and angry for crying over my umbrella but not giving a second thought to the lives lost in the earthquake. Thus began my search for why and how we have become desensitized over time and why our standards have lowered. It was in those few moments on my walk to work, that I realized I wanted to change. I did not want to be desensitized by the world around me. This eventually led me to question society's standards of health (or lack thereof) and our desensitization to the junk food we continue to buy in enormous quantities.

Get Them While They're Young!

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

"The Process:

1. Cornstarch is treated with bacteria to produce shorter chains of sugar. It is purified then shipped to HFCS manufacturers.
2. It is then treated with a fungus and put in a fermentation vat where one would likely see balls of the fungus floating on the top. The sugar has now turned into glucose.
3. The next process chemically changes the sugars once again to create a high percent of fructose. An enzyme is packed into columns and the sugar mixture passes over it. The enzyme is very expensive so it is reused until it loses most of its activity.
4. It then goes through two more processes to bring it to a fructose level of 90 percent, then back down to the final concentration of 55 percent fructose.

Inside the Body:

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a processed food that wreaks havoc on our bodies.

It goes directly to the liver and releases enzymes that tell the body to store fat. Because HFCS is in the form of a liquid (most commonly soda), the body absorbs it quickly. It slows fat-burning and causes weight gain. It inhibits the production of insulin, which creates a sense of being full. Therefore, people may eat more than they should.

Dangers to the Body:

1. Obesity
2. Heart attack
3. Restlessness in infants
4. see “Counting the Many Ways Sugar Harms Your Health” for a more complete list.

*If you are going to make only one change in your family’s eating habits, eliminate soda!!!"

(Thanks to Krista for contributing this information!)

For more information about high fructose corn syrup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup

How to Establish a Healthy Relationship with Your Kitchen

It's 7:00 am and you find yourself stumbling into the kitchen, eyes still sleepy and stingy, your stomach growling angrily--you must eat. Your brain is still fuzzy and it's hard to decide what to make for breakfast so you open your cupboards one by one, your refrigerator, and even your freezer. Nothing in particular jumps out at you except the Oreos in the cupboard and the Ben & Jerry's in the freezer. "Just one cookie while I figure out what to eat for breakfast," you say to yourself. Before you have swallowed the remains of the Oreo, the entire package is completely opened and you lean against the counter having a great morning stare out the window, devouring one cookie after another. At some point your stomach starts to feel funny or you realize that the row of cookies is gone and now is a good time to stop. Because you are not very hungry anymore, you grab a banana or a glass of juice and that's breakfast.

The sugar digests quickly, you all of a sudden have a lot of energy, but all too soon you start to feel hungry again and perhaps a little tired. After brewing some coffee you decide to have a morning snack. After all, it's nowhere near lunchtime. You peruse your cupboards a little more carefully this time and decide to have a piece of toast with jelly and one bite of ice cream.

When it's finally time for lunch, you resort to spaghetti or frozen pizza because it's quick, filling and really tasty. In no time you've eaten lunch, snacked on some chips while you were waiting, and then had a chocolate covered protein bar at the end because you want to make sure you are eating enough protein. When that's gone, you find yourself still lingering in the kitchen. To solve that problem you grab a soda and finally leave the kitchen.

In less than an hour, you take a break from what you are doing and return to the kitchen. You couldn't concentrate because you really wanted two more bites of ice cream. You eat that and then return to what you were doing with a large glass of juice.

Within the next hour, you start to wonder what to make for dinner. Again, you can't concentrate on what you are doing until you solve the dinner problem. You decide to take another break and look through your cupboards again. It's all still there: crackers, several bags of chips, cereal boxes, packaged rice, bags of store-bought cookies, bread, muffins, trail mix, unopened jars of pasta sauce, cans of spaghetti, soups, and fruits. While you try to decide what to put together for dinner, you open a new package of crackers to try them, and grab a little handful of chips before wandering over to the refrigerator....

Did you know that almost all of the foods mentioned above have sugar in them? How is it possible to eat healthy, balanced meals when you have "junk food" lying around? Of course Oreos are more appealing than oatmeal in the morning! There is only one way to kick the sugar addiction happening in kitchens nationwide. Call your friends or a family member and tell them that you have a bunch of food that you don't want anymore and would they like to come and take it before you throw it away? If no one comes to take away your sugar-laden foods, throw it away yourself! You will be making a big statement to yourself by doing this, and are more likely to stay away from junk food because of it.

Most importantly, replace your foods with healthier varieties that don't contain all that sugar. Buy plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and prepare them for eating ahead of time. (Trust me, if you don't, you will pass over your celery and carrots again and again.) Buy or make healthy dips for your raw vegetables if that will help you eat them. Hummus, yogurt dips and freshly blended nut dips are perfect for vegetables. Also, when you shop to replace your old foods, try a local health food store or ask your grocery if they have a health food section. Read labels and be determined to be picky and not buy foods with sugar. There are so many wonderful alternatives! Juices, jams, breads, dry cereals, peanut butters, pasta sauces and crackers, to name a few, are all very tasty without added sugars! Try several brands and varieties until you find something you really like. Also, alternative milk products like soy, almond, rice, hemp, and oat milks usually have unsweetened varieties. It may take a little bit of extra time to shop, and you might actually decide to bake more foods yourself, but it is very worth it and rewarding to eat right.

It is possible to have a healthy relationship with your kitchen. Once your kitchen is stocked with more fruits and vegetables, and healthy snacks, you probably won't find yourself lingering in your kitchen wondering how to satisfy your sweet tooth. You might grab a bunch of grapes, or fresh strawberries, or a trail mix with dried fruit and feel more satisfied in your snacking and a lot less guilty. Once you kick the sugar addiction, you may even find yourself needing clothes in smaller sizes.

Have fun with this!

American Diabetes Association Accepts Money from Soft Drink Company

Check out this article about the American Diabetes Association accepting a multi-million dollar alliance with Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. This beverage company "is still the third-largest soft drink manufacturer in the world and a major producer of sugary candy."
"In exchange for that sum of money, Cadbury-Schweppes can put the ADA's [American Diabetes Assocation] label on all of its diet soda products."
The American Diabetes Association chief medical and scientific officer, "Khan", denied that there is a link between sugar and diabetes. "Khan's statements denying that sugar can cause diabetes came in the same week that the Journal of Pediatrics published a study blaming much of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes on over-consumption of sugary sodas."

The article mentions the tobacco industry and it's denial of nicotine causing certain diseases. It makes you wonder where people stop caring about health, and begin caring about money.

Keep in mind, this article is from 2005, but still very interesting.
http://www.naturalnews.com/008164.html

To validate this article, I went to the Cadbury Schweppes website and searched for the American Diabetes Assocation alliance. True enough, they have this agreement through 2008. Here is the link to see for yourself: http://www.cadburyschweppes.com/NR/rdonlyres/941D94D0-73F0-4F6B-A519-2AB92A6CC22D/0/Programmes_and_Partnerships.pdf

UPDATE! I just found this video (April 21, 2008).
"Control Your Diabetes By Simply Limiting Your Carbohydrates"
by, askyourholisticdoctor.com

I'm Having a Sugar Craving!

I can't believe that there is sugar in trail mix! All I want are the wonderfully salty nuts and dried cranberries and raisins! Tonight, I was having a sugar craving and I would have gone to the ends of the earth for a piece of dried fruit. All the dried fruit had sugar coating over each piece.
As I sit here in the San Diego hospital, I am amused at all the junk food that is promoted and sold down in the cafeteria. There are 6 vending machines standing shoulder to shoulder in the cafeteria, here. Three of those machines sell soda!
My mother had to have a sudden surgery while on vacation here, so I flew down to keep her company. I was hoping that travelling would help quell my sugar cravings, but instead, I am finding that my sugar cravings have increased. I need to find out where the nearest health food store is. It is so easy to eat "bad", especially when travelling. I did manage to find unsweetened chocolate almond milk, at a Safeway grocery store called "VONS" and I have really been enjoying that. Daily dips in the hot tub have also motivated me to drink more water, which is what I really crave when a sugar craving strikes.