Did you know that pretty much all of us are made of corn now? Seriously. Corn is in everything from tomato sauce to hamburger. Everything is a product or byproduct of corn. Why is this not good? High Fructose Corn Syrup. Probably one of the most unhealthy things we can put into our bodies is this stuff {that and hydrogenated oils, but that's another post...} Sugar {refined sugar} is what is making us fat people, myself included. Knowing this {I've always known...just ignored it...} John and I decided to eliminate HFCS from our diets. It's been 3 whole days and I wish I could say I've lost like 5 pounds or something like that, but I haven't. I can say that I feel better about knowing I'm not drowning myself and my family in sugar every day.
Here's what I'm talking about. Yesterday we wanted to have grilled cheese & tomato soup for dinner. Not the most healthy, but whatever. So break open a can of Campell's, right? Wrong! It's filled with HFCS! I didn't even know. I actually read the label. So I made my own...but not after I had to go through 3 different brands of canned tomatoes to find one that didn't contain HFCS. {why did I have 3 different brands? sheesh.} Anyways, making my own was super good and didn't even take too long. And I must say much healthier.
If you have known me long enough, you may know that I used to eat vegetarian. It was before I met John {not that John was my "meat eating" enforcer or anything...} but back when I was a college student, only feeding myself. It was a nice way of eating and I weighed about 125 pounds all of the time. I felt great. I had been taught healthy eating habits from my mother, thanks mom, for trying so hard to keep crap out of the house! Anyways, when I got married and started having babies, my grocery budget dwindled. More people to feed + different eating {meat} = less money. I started to spend my money on foods that were less nutritionally sound to save a buck. All these years later, I realize that saving a dime has created a sugar addiction that keeps that tire around my tummy, and keeps us in this endless cycle of unhealthy eating.
I'm not saying that I want to be a vegetarian again. I like my meat as much as the next gal, but we here at our house are doing our best NOT to put any high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils into our mouths. It can be done, and for the sake of my children's health I think it's time we made the change. I took my current weight statistics and in a month I'll let you know if I've even lost anything by eliminating it. I've also been monitoring my energy levels when I wake up in the morning, I'll let you know how that goes, too.
I really just can't beleive how much corn is in our lives. It's such a phenomenon as to what it's used for other than just corn on the cob.
It's everywhere, and I'm hoping to not let as much of it in this house.
graph from here.
One of these days I'll have to do a post about America's food industry. It will make you sick. Literally. But for now, I don't want to be too much of a psycho.
Here's what I'm talking about. Yesterday we wanted to have grilled cheese & tomato soup for dinner. Not the most healthy, but whatever. So break open a can of Campell's, right? Wrong! It's filled with HFCS! I didn't even know. I actually read the label. So I made my own...but not after I had to go through 3 different brands of canned tomatoes to find one that didn't contain HFCS. {why did I have 3 different brands? sheesh.} Anyways, making my own was super good and didn't even take too long. And I must say much healthier.
If you have known me long enough, you may know that I used to eat vegetarian. It was before I met John {not that John was my "meat eating" enforcer or anything...} but back when I was a college student, only feeding myself. It was a nice way of eating and I weighed about 125 pounds all of the time. I felt great. I had been taught healthy eating habits from my mother, thanks mom, for trying so hard to keep crap out of the house! Anyways, when I got married and started having babies, my grocery budget dwindled. More people to feed + different eating {meat} = less money. I started to spend my money on foods that were less nutritionally sound to save a buck. All these years later, I realize that saving a dime has created a sugar addiction that keeps that tire around my tummy, and keeps us in this endless cycle of unhealthy eating.
I'm not saying that I want to be a vegetarian again. I like my meat as much as the next gal, but we here at our house are doing our best NOT to put any high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils into our mouths. It can be done, and for the sake of my children's health I think it's time we made the change. I took my current weight statistics and in a month I'll let you know if I've even lost anything by eliminating it. I've also been monitoring my energy levels when I wake up in the morning, I'll let you know how that goes, too.
I really just can't beleive how much corn is in our lives. It's such a phenomenon as to what it's used for other than just corn on the cob.
It's everywhere, and I'm hoping to not let as much of it in this house.
graph from here.One of these days I'll have to do a post about America's food industry. It will make you sick. Literally. But for now, I don't want to be too much of a psycho.
9 comments:
I want you to post about America's food industry! I am interested to see how you feel after you have been doing this for a while :)
So now you can teach me all about this on our walks. I love it!
That's crazy about HFCS, it seems to be in almost everything, including Gatorade & Powerade which is suppose to be good for you...NOT! We too have been trying to eat healthier! Good Luck!
I totally did that. Go back and find my post about it. I got rid of everything in my pantry with both of those ingredients. And it is harder to find products that don't have it but they are out there. I have lost 7lbs. Just from cutting out the bad stuff and being forced to eat better because the stuff I would normally grab for a snack...has HFCS or hydrogentated crap in it. So stick with it. You will feel better!
If you want an awesome site that has a ton of healthy recipes and suggestions on food with no HFCS, go to the enlightenedhomemaker.blogspot.com. She is AWESOME and she has a ton of good stuff on her blog. Awesome post!!! I LOVE IT! I did a research paper for school on HFCS it actually has traces of mercury in it too! It's AWFUL stuff!! Good luck!
i'm the naysayer here. yes, i believe in eating healthy and making healthy choices. but i disagree that high fructose corn syrup is any worse for our bodies than any other form of carbohydrate, honey included. it all converts to glucose in the body's metabolic processes. calories are calories. i saw a print ad once by the corn industry. the husband was saying, "hfcs made me fat." and the wife said, "no, going back for seconds made you fat." having said this, i do strongly feel that we should make every choice the best choice for our bodies, with the highest nutrient density. this effectually eliminates many foods with hfcs.
but i do agree that trans fats are toxic for our bodies. they are not naturally digested. Our bodies incorporate these fats into our cells, altering our body's cellular processes. bad. very bad.
yes yes, i know...i'm simply saying that sugar {in the form of hfcs} is in almost everything we eat and we should do our best to avoid it and find things to eat without it if we can. Sugar is sugar, but there are some things that shouldn't have it in the list of ingredients. And, yes...the second helpings of everything doesn't help. ha ha. :)
i am BIG on healthy eating and HFCS and sugar...i am glad you are making better choices for you and YOUR family!! America's food industry is a HUGE thing and i could talk about that too, but i wont get on a soapbox...but it makes me angry...:)
I'd be interested in learning more about this. So what foods are you not eating and what foods can you eat? How did you make your own tomato soup - I didn't even know that was possible! Tell me more.
I would be interested in going on a walk with you and Kelli sometime. Our evenings are nuts but every once in awhile might work.
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