How would your life change if you knew that half the groceries you were buying had poison in them?High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
Harvest time
It's an ingredient that's seen in hundreds, if not thousands of grocery store items North Americans buy and consume everyday. It's literally hidden in what seems to be everything you pick up from the packaged food isles.
From foods that you wouldn't think contain it like breakfast cereals, stovetop stuffing, bread, yogurt, cough syrup, cottage cheese, relish, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and salad dressings (just to name a few), to the more apparent foods like candy, cakes, ice cream, pies, chocolate bars and processed food items, HFCS has injected half of the supermarket.
What is HFCS?
There has been many debates about whether HFCS is no different from regular sugar. They say: "The sugar from corn is still sugar. Sugar is sugar and the body processes that sugar equally and sugar in moderation is healthy". Sugar in moderation may be ok but only when it's raw form in very small quantities.
HFCS is not a natural form of sugar but is extracted from the stalks of corn in such a secret way that journalist and author of The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollen, was refused investigation of the process by Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.
Dr. Mark Hyman also explains that the biochemistry of sugar and fructose are not the same and that the body processes them very differently. Here is just a portion of his explanation about glucose vs. fructose:
Regular cane sugar (sucrose) is made of two-sugar molecules bound tightly together– glucose and fructose in equal amounts.The enzymes in your digestive tract must break down the sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body. HFCS also consists of glucose and fructose, not in a 50-50 ratio, but a 55-45 fructose to glucose ratio in an unbound form. Fructose is sweeter than glucose. And HFCS is cheaper than sugar because of the government farm bill corn subsidies. Products with HFCS are sweeter and cheaper than products made with cane sugar. Since there is there is no chemical bond between them, no digestion is required so they are more rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol) this is why it is the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver” which affects 70 million people.
You can read more about HFCS from Dr. Mark Hyman through the article 5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You.
Natural vs Unnatural Real Against Fake Arrow Words
Long of the short, HFCS is not natural and it cannot be processed by the liver. Consumption of HFCS will indeed lead to fatty liver disease, diabetes, cancer, and a host of other medical issues that I'm fairly certain you wouldn't like to experience.
If you struggle with your weight, I highly encourage you to start reading your food labels and getting acquainted with ditching any food products that contain HFCS.
What foods are you consuming right now, either unaware or aware, that contain HFCS and are they necessary for you to be eating them?
How do you feel after eating these particular foods?