Cutting out High-Fructose Corn Syrup--has anyone?

http://uctv.tv/shows/Sugar-The-Bitter-Truth-16717

If you're worried about how it affects your weight, satiety, and health, then you should cut down on all added sugar, not just HFCS. Fruit gets a pass from Dr. Lustig (famous for the above video). But fruit juice is a no according to him.

Many people think he's an alarmist, but he's a pediatric endocrinologist with credentials in diabetes research reviews (he and another author tied up causation between increased consumption of sugar in populations with increased rates of diabetes in those populations). I'll listen to him before some random internet poster who will come tell you sugar is fine in all forms and quantities. Your opinion may vary. Do your own reading and lecture watching, make up your own mind.

Alan Aragon debated him.....judge for yourselves....


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

The man knows his stuff. But he trains elite athletes. Look around you, how many people qualify and therefore probably don't have to worry about excess sugar consumption?

stopped using high fructose corn syrup 10 years ago...now I can no longer gas out 5 story office buildings!

I moved out of America and now have no HFCS in my diet

Do you consider stuff like bread, ketchup and tomato soup to be "processed foods"? I think they're pretty basic and natural, but the only way to get them without HFCS apparently is to buy an organic brand.

Are you serious or is there something wrong with my irony detector?

Unprocessed food for me is what I'm buying from the fresh meat/fish counter, fruits and vegetables, and staples like dry rice and beans without additives. Kind of unprocessed for me is a tin of tomatoes which contains nothing but tomatoes.

From a European perspective these are the things most people seem to buy (maybe apart from the UK) for their daily diet. Bread can be a hit or miss, but generally there's not too much weird stuff in it, same with pasta. Cheese and meats for on the bread: not too bad either.

Though I must admit that during those two business trips to the US and Canada I had a seriously hard time finding fresh, little processed food in supermarkets. Seriously! Cheese that doesn't taste like cheese, sweetish bread with lots of salt (and I bought the one with least sugar), even sweet and rather unmeaty tasting meat for my bread. If ever I should be offered a great job over there I will refuse based on the food alone. I just love my food too much.

Of course not everything is great. The Nordic country I used to live in for a while had some marvelous chocolatieres, which all advertise their products with things like 'hand-made with the best natural ingredients'. When I asked one of them what kind of sugar they're using they told me it's HFCS! O.o I guess I rather stick to slightly bigger manufacturers which actually do label their products.

So you had a hard time finding fresh, little processed foods in our supermarkets? Really? Because the one I go to has a fresh produce department, a meat counter, a deli counter . . . that's pretty fresh right there.

And you were probably buying the wrong meat for your breads. You should have asked for minimally processed meat. My deli has an awesome line of minimally processed meat. The turkey breast tastes like carved turkey, the ham tastes like a really good quality ham. I also buy real cheese which, surprisingly tastes like cheese (I'm really not quite sure what else cheese could possibly taste like).

You were obviously shopping wrong because I don't have any problem finding fresh foods and minimally processed items at my local grocery store.

I cut it with a ton of other things. Most of what I prepare now comes from the Farmer's Market or Community Garden. I make all of my own condiments and they are always better than store brands anyhow!

For BBQ sauce the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book has a couple of great recipes for BBQ sauce. I personally love the Tangy one that tastes like Arbys sauce. Sometimes I make my own Ketchup as a base and sometimes I cheat and use Simply Heinz Ketchup that is only supposed to contain "simple" ingredients.

For my taco sauces, pizza sauces, jellys, salsa, etc I usually just look for a copycat of my favorite take out places on google. If they have an ingredient on there that I don't eat I skip it or sub it. Like if something asked for Corn Syrup, I'd probably just use honey. It wouldn't be nearly as sweet, but I don't have a sweet tooth anyway. Someone else might notice, but I don't.

It sounds like a lot of work, but really most condiments take me like 30-45 minutes. I am the laziest person ever and I wouldn't bother if it wasn't easy. I also was given a breadmaker to make my own bread in. They always have a couple for sale at most thrift stores that I have been to. All you have to do is dump the ingredients in and it will mix and bake it for you. Though I do like to set the dough cycle and dump it into my own bread pan because the bread maker loafs can be kind of fat and short and not ideal for the toaster.

As for how I feel, I cut out a lot besides HFCS, but I did lose about 7 pounds in 6 weeks without much exercise. I feel more energy too, but I don't know if that is because I cut out HFCS, something else, or I'm just properly fueling my body with real food instead of soda and white bread.

I didn't try to cut it out… It just happened naturally based on my eating habits. No noticeable effects.

What kind of eating habits do you have where you don't ever encounter it? It's in BBQ sauce, cereal, honey mustard, salad dressing, peanut butter, syrup, pasta sauce, granola bars, crackers, applesauce, yogurt...etc. It's even in medicines like cough syrup.

I guess raw-foods or all-organic would do the trick.

Every single item you listed has numerous varieties made without it.

I'd say 99% of the food I eat doesn't have any in it. I'm a sauce and condiment junky too, just need to buy the right ones. Cooking from scratch helps too.

Of the foods you list, I have every one of them in my kitchen, and the honey mustard is the only stuff with it, and only because I love that particular honey mustard.

I don't buy products with it but know that it's in products I eat at restaurants. When I KNOW it is I let management know I would rather they choose, say, tortillas, without it. And then order accordingly. Tortillas don't need HFCS.

http://uctv.tv/shows/Sugar-The-Bitter-Truth-16717

If you're worried about how it affects your weight, satiety, and health, then you should cut down on all added sugar, not just HFCS. Fruit gets a pass from Dr. Lustig (famous for the above video). But fruit juice is a no according to him.

Many people think he's an alarmist, but he's a pediatric endocrinologist with credentials in diabetes research reviews (he and another author tied up causation between increased consumption of sugar in populations with increased rates of diabetes in those populations). I'll listen to him before some random internet poster who will come tell you sugar is fine in all forms and quantities. Your opinion may vary. Do your own reading and lecture watching, make up your own mind.

Alan Aragon debated him.....judge for yourselves....


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

The man knows his stuff. But he trains elite athletes. Look around you, how many people qualify and therefore probably don't have to worry about excess sugar consumption?

Ad hominem.

Judge the data and the arguments, not the source. Lustig is a moron, and Aragon ate him for lunch.

Not an ad hominem at all. He simply works with people who are far from the typical American.

I don't know if you can out exercise a bad diet, but I can't, and believe me, I tried!

I go for pure sugar or cane sugar.

Yes I have cut off from HFCS and no one question me why. It's my story and I'm sticking to it with no explanation.

This content has been removed.

http://uctv.tv/shows/Sugar-The-Bitter-Truth-16717

If you're worried about how it affects your weight, satiety, and health, then you should cut down on all added sugar, not just HFCS. Fruit gets a pass from Dr. Lustig (famous for the above video). But fruit juice is a no according to him.

Many people think he's an alarmist, but he's a pediatric endocrinologist with credentials in diabetes research reviews (he and another author tied up causation between increased consumption of sugar in populations with increased rates of diabetes in those populations). I'll listen to him before some random internet poster who will come tell you sugar is fine in all forms and quantities. Your opinion may vary. Do your own reading and lecture watching, make up your own mind.

Alan Aragon debated him.....judge for yourselves....


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/


http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

The man knows his stuff. But he trains elite athletes. Look around you, how many people qualify and therefore probably don't have to worry about excess sugar consumption?

Ad hominem.

Judge the data and the arguments, not the source. Lustig is a moron, and Aragon ate him for lunch.

Not an ad hominem at all. He simply works with people who are far from the typical American.

I don't know if you can out exercise a bad diet, but I can't, and believe me, I tried!

LOL. So we're adding strawmen too, I see.

I see you don't want to consider the issue, you just want to attempt to run me around in pointless circles. You wont' succeed.

If you can out exercise a bad diet (i.e. a lot of added sugar in this case) and if you're convinced added sugar isn't a problem for you despite it causing a rise in diabetes in populations, fine. Eat up.

But if you're convinced it doesn't cause that rise in diabetes at all, I'd like to see some evidence. Even if I could out exercise a bad diet (and this is after all in large part a weight loss forum so it's relevant to our interests) the diabetes link would give me pause.

http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/02/13591/quantity-sugar-food-supply-linked-diabetes-rates


In addition, the food industry seems to want us to continue to consume excess calories largely coming from sugars they add to their foods, then get home from work and burn them off so we don't suffer from obesity related disease and/or sugar consumption related disease.

Even if we could out exercise a bad diet and remain healthy with high added sugar consumption, I find it presumptuous of them to assume none of us has anything better to do than work out for two hours every day if that is not our natural enjoyable inclination.

This content has been removed.

I realize I eat next to no HFCS and that's b/c I eat mainly minimally processed or unprocessed foods. I like the 5 ingredient rule, which might be one of Michael Pollan's. If something I am thinking about buying (like almond milk or yogurt) has more than 5 ingredients, I nix it.

Does eating this way cost more? I'm not convinced. Buying and making your own food may or may not include expensive organics, especially depending on your access to farmer's market produce that may be grown w/o pesticides even when it's not certified organic. (Consult this list for a recommendation on what is most worth the extra $$ as far as organic fruits and veg go: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php.)

Also, re: weening processed food from your diet along with HFCS, you can roast tomatoes and substitute them for store-bought catsup, for example. You can even make your own protein shakes and bars for less $$ than most available options, and if you sweeten homemade versions with dried fruit or maple syrup, you're still eating well by most counts.

Maybe the trick is going off not only HFCS but also overly packaged, processed, and commercialized food, including the well-intentioned, often well-marketed health food varieties.

In any case, good luck!

I don't understand the point of cutting something from your diet when others who have freely admit, "I saw no benefits." But to each their own. Good luck to you.

This. I don't actively avoid it, but I had to go through my fridge and pantry and peek at my labels. Hmm, well it's NOT in everything (and I'm no clean eater by any stretch). The only thing I eat that has HFCS is...wait for it...my mayonnaise. Not in my ketchup, or applesauce, or maple syrup (I buy real stuff-I'm in Wisconsin, so you "HAVE" to), nor in my cereal or bread or salad dressings. Hmm, I must be doing "dirty" eating wrong.

I guess I'm just tired of the internet "telling" us, "OMG, it's in EVERYTHING. It's EVERYWHERE, and it's SOOOO bad." It's not, and it's not.