My daughter has a new swim coach and last week she came home with a new label obsession - High-Fructose Corn Syrup. This immediately removed 2 snacks from her list of 8 that she can eat, it actually takes a long time to read all the ingredients but it is essential for good health.
When I started this blog I got a few suggestions on writing about Food/Nutrition labels and diet restrictions. Of course my daughter and I are already very well trained in reading labels to look for Tree Nuts. If you have ever looked, it is difficult to find cereal, cookies or energy bars that don't have nuts. I would have to say, she is much better than I am at reading labels because she can actually see!
Swimmers are already on top of their nutrition and a large part of my daily life is making sure my athlete gets enough calories and in the correct form. She does cheat on rare occasions and has a soda or fast food. Even Gatorade contains High Fructose Corn Syrup, so it is really only safe to drink water, well more safe than the soda and gatorade. What is in your water will come in another blog!
Above is a food label from a loaf of Bread. You should be able to click on it.
When I first moved to the USA I was shocked at the breakfast foods that people eat here. Doughnuts, pancakes with syrup, huge over-sweetened muffins! Of course, all some of my favorites now! When I lived in England I was definitely much healthier, especially before I had kids. Some of this had to do with the amount of walking people do there, compared to driving everywhere. Obesity has become a huge problem in children in the UK also now, because people have adopted the "fast food" life.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is derived from corn, and used primarily to sweeten beverages. It is linked to childhood obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
HFCS is not to be confused with Fructose, which is a natural sugar found in fruits and vegetables.
HFCS is found in:-
- Soft drinks
- Fruit-flavored beverages
- Fruit canned in syrup
- Ketchup and BBQ sauces
- Jam and syrups
- Frozen foods
- Popsicles/ice pops
- Salad dressing
- pasta sauce purchased in a jar
- Canned soup
- Highly sweetened breakfast cereals
- Bread
- Fruit flavoured yogurt
- Frozen yogurt
- Many processed foods
Trying to lead a healthy lifestyle is not easy, working full time or care taking full time and trying to provide a home cooked meal without processed foods can be a challenge. Using Organic foods, fresh vegetables and fruits and whole grains can make this process a little less complicated. Plus, it saves time reading all those tiny labels - which personally gives me a headache!
Next time you are at the store see if you can find anything without High Fructose Corn Syrup, I bet when you do you are standing in the produce section or the pharmacy.
here is an interesting link on it too:-
thanks for reading!
I will share that I know that Cadbury's Chocolate, Skippy Peanut Butter, Breyer's all natural mint chocolate chip ice cream and Life Cereal are all HFCS free! Yeah I know, back to the produce isle.
ReplyDeleteYes! Down with HFCS. The only way that this problem will ever go away is for us to vote with our dollars and not purchase these products. As a Jew, I can tell you it is VERY difficult to find products without HFCS. I have to go on a quest for such products every year because Corn and corn derived products are not Kosher for Passover.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I purchased a breadmaker on a whim a couple of years ago, and now we exclusively make all our own bread, for this exact reason. I now KNOW exactly what is in the bread we are eating, and it ain't HFCS. If you want a loaf, let me know & I'll be happy to make some for you!
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