Know what you mean-
tough out there on we label readers-lol
be easier if we couldn't read-taste better also.

It's absolutely amazing how much it is used, and where! And it's not only the HFCS, but the partially hydrogenated stuff too.

Honestly, I have mostly come to the conclusion that I need to cook from scratch (and eat at home much more often!). It's the only way to monitor what is going in my body.

Lisa

If fructose is listed in the first three ingredients on the label of something I might eat/drink daily or even weekly....I'll skip it and find another product.

But it's in so much these days, it's hard to avoid fructose entirely. Ketchup for example, but then I probably don't consume but about 8 tablespoons of ketchup a year :)

I have tried over the long term not to eat it, or the partially hydrogenated bad stuff. That alone seems to help me maintain my weight long-term (though I would love to be a few # lighter, of COURSE).

Cheers,
Michelle

Been an on and off label reader since I was a kid both parents had high BP and I cook a lot from scratch and am afairly low sodium high spice person. I used to gross people out at work eating salt free potato chips cause I couldn't stand the salty ones. I always felt the same about alot of frozen foods & chain restaurants too salty for me I guess it's what your raised with. My one big salt intake is a piece of smoked salmon every week alway been a favorite treat. Lately though I was eating less and still not losing anything an my sister told me it was the high fructose corn syrup in evrything I ate so I did some research on line and most of the reports are saying the same thing I was particularaly interested in it's affects on the bodies use of copper as I've had back problems on and off for a year now. Low copper levels in the blood are associated with heart problems and slipped and herniated discs and there has been some connections between high fructose corn syrup and copper being metabolized. I went through 10 loaves of multi grain whole wheat breads( good for the heart) and all of them had it. My cranberry juice that I thought was good for the kidneys has it, I don't drink soda but the fat free cool whip had it gimme a break.
End of Rant!

Labrea, I hear ya.
I've been trying to eliminate it and the hydrogenated stuff for the past 2-3 months or so. My husband and kids hated the new wholemeal bread and other changes I made, but I made it clear it's not up for negoiation. Now they like the new foods. I saw Dr Oz on Oprah and he said that hydrogenated oils lead to inflamation in all the arteries and heart and organs, leading to aging quicker and dire heath issues. I've always been a healthy eater, but this made me REALLY look at labels. Spend time doing it and you'll be shocked.

I've always been a sometime label reader but I did learn something new here today------thanks ,

Florence

I found that just reading the labels made me fat. And depressed.

Yeah, no HFCS for me.

There was a good article in the NYT recently by Michael Pollan, about the modern food industry--I think it is from a new book he wrote--and he summarized how to eat healthy in 3 sentences:

Eat food. Mostly plants. And not too much.

When he said "food", he meant non-synthetic, non- manufactured type of food. For example cheese is food, but a "cheese product", is not. Corn is food, high fructose corn syrup is not.

There was a book I read ages ago called The Good Calorie Diet and it warned of HFCS and touted watching the glycemic index of foods. I've been a granola girl ever since. I'm borderline diabetic and have a raging sweet tooth, so I was trying to read up on what is helpful.

Cool Whip has an extra-creamy that's mainly milk, thank God.

I eat what I jokingly term 'rabbit food' most days all day, with gooey marvelous food out for one meal or snack every 2-6 days or so.

What I've mostly realized is A] I crave rabbit food. B] Gooey rich food out is so delectable eaten infrequently and in small portions that I'd never go back to eating it more often.

Besides, I crave the rich stuff too much if I eat it more often.

It is sad how many things have HFCS in them... I can't figure out what it should be used for.

So basically sports people who do drink the drinks could eat some spoons full of sugar with flavoring?
What's also weird is the thought that when you're sick you should drink those drinks. I have heard that sugar can make diarrhea worse.

Carla

I'm a habitual label reader too, and couldn't resist this thread :)

From what I understand, ordinary sugar isn't off the hook because one molecule of sucrose breaks down right away into one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. So it's better than HFCS, but still not great.

I do the same thing with partially hydrogenated oils (maybe even more extreme since I have a zero-tolerance policy for them). I was happy to discover that some tortilla makers are using unaltered oils, and even happier to find that some were using expeller-pressed canola instead of the ordinary stuff which probably contains measurable traces of hexane.

I just can't get over how much of this un-food is in our food supply.

Stefan

Michael Pollan 's book "Omnivore's Delimma: A Natural History of Four Meals"

Great read, as well as informative. I've long felt our food system was somewhat off track but wow - I just didn't realize the extent. Mr. Pollan really has me thinking - and looking for real food.

Mary

In case anyone missed the PBS special The Botany of Desire based on Michael Pollan's book which premiered Wednesday, October 28, 2009, you can still watch the entire program online. It's incredible.

BOTANY OF DESIRE is a documentary which tells the utterly original story of everyday plants and the way they have domesticated humankind. An interpretation of the relationship between plants and people. This two-hour documentary explores plant evolution and takes viewers from the potato fields of Peru and Idaho, the apple forests of Kazakhstan, and the tulip markets of Amsterdam.

View online in it's entirety: here

This is another related program by the same presenter on LINK TV (a cable access channel) which is timely:

Deep Agriculture
Traditional methods of agriculture in most developed nations have long ignored environmental concerns. Factors such as soil erosion, water shortage and the impact of chemicals on bio-systems have been overlooked in favour of massive crop yields and cheaper food. But what impact does this have on our health and our environment?

View online in it's entirety: here

__________________________

Sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and witness the evolution of an Organic Kitchen Garden.

thanks for this new information----

Florence

Lots more information on this topic is available in the films Food, Inc. (Michael Pollan) and King Corn. I saw them in the last several months and radically changed my food purchasing focus.

It's no longer a matter of reading labels for me; instead, we're looking for ways to grow our own food, preserve them without HFCS, and limit animal proteins. Organic all the way now.

It's outrageous to think of corn by-products being used as filler for everything from beef (used to fatten them in the last 30 days but no longer because they begin to sicken and die)to nearly everything we eat (the majority of 47,000 items in any grocery store) and drink (juices and sodas) except water. And what does it say that poor people must choose foods loaded with corn, sodium and fat from fast-food companies because they can't afford fresh fruits and veggies? We're losing bio-diversity and throwing all milk into the same distribution plants, so that if anything is contaminated, thousands of people suffer now. We aren't complaining enough.