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

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 :)

Cheers,
Michelle

Florence

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.

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.

Carla

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

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

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.

Florence

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.