Corn Sugar: As tasty as it is healthy!

[Cyrrex]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100914/ap_on_bi_ge/us_corn_syrup_image

NEW YORK – The makers of high fructose corn syrup want to sweeten up its image with a new name: corn sugar.

The bid to rename the sweetener by the Corn Refiners Association comes as Americans' concerns about health and obesity have sent consumption of high fructose corn syrup, used in soft drinks but also in bread, cereal and other foods, to a 20-year low.

 

I fucking hate these people.  

[Nebu]

Eating HFCS is fine.  Eating it in the quantities that Americans consume it, isn't. 

Moderation people. 

[dusematic]

Still, you gotta love it.  Re-branding.  It's not an escalation, it's a surge.  It's not a bailout it's an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  People don't like high fructose corn syrup?  No problemo.  It's now called corn sugar.  Problem solved.  And for the most part, it is.  For them.

[Cyrrex]

Eating HFCS is fine. 

While there are those that dispute this (and really, I'd still prefer the natural alternatives), I'd tend to take your word for it.  

What really bothers me is the metric fuckton of the stuff they put into everything.  Go to the supermarket and look at non-soda beverages (vitamin drinks or whatever you like) that are sweetened with HFCS and those sweetened with cane sugar.  Seems to take FAR less cane sugar to make something taste good.

[Hawkbit]

HFCS is in nearly everything, so it's not entirely stupid Americans faults'.  I didn't realize how much it infiltrated our average diet until I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes early this year and had to start watching every single thing I put in my system.  Granted, I could have been doing a lot more to help myself prior to being diagnosed, such as being more active and working in a place that doesn't have me sitting all day long.  But food manufacturers don't help matters.  

Once I started looking at nutritional readouts and ingredients, I started to get things under control.  Right now I'm only two points above my AC1 goal to be 'free' of diabetes and I should hit that next month.  

Eh, so yeah.  HFCS is fine - as with everything, moderation is key.  

[Engels]

Forget sodas, just go to the bread isle of any big chain supermarket. 90% of the bread there is made with HFC.

[Hawkbit]

Forget sodas, just go to the bread isle of any big chain supermarket. 90% of the bread there is made with HFC.

Even most of the low calorie, 'diet' breads are made with it. 

[Samwise]

I've gotten fairly militant about not buying shit with HFCS in it, and it's amazing once you start reading labels how many packaged foods that stance disqualifies.

[Nebu]

While there are those that dispute this (and really, I'd still prefer the natural alternatives), I'd tend to take your word for it.  

It's fructose.  Sucrose (sugar from cane and beets) is a disaccharide of glucose + fructose.  Fructose is the half that gives sucrose its sweetness.  To demonstrate the utility, fructose-6-phosphate and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate are intermediates in glycolysis.  Fructose is a kinase away from being utilized.  

The danger with HFCS is that people like it.  They consume a lot more of it than they would get from natural sources.  I think of it like cooking already fatty foods in oil.  It's just excess when compared to a natural food source.


Edit: I don't mean to come off as an ass.  Please don't mistake my enthusiasm for teaching this stuff for my being a "know-it-all"

[SnakeCharmer]

I've gotten fairly militant about not buying shit with HFCS in it, and it's amazing once you start reading labels how many packaged foods that stance disqualifies.

If you start looking for HFCS and/or stuff with insane amounts of sodium, it pretty much narrows down your shopping list to just about nothing.  We're (much) healthier for it, but it makes shopping pretty frustrating.

[Teleku]

How the fuck can they rename it Corn Sugar?  We already have Corn Sugar!  You can go buy bags of it in stores!  They are two distinct things!

[Nebu]

It's got what plants crave. 

[Samwise]

Edit: I don't mean to come off as an ass.  Please don't mistake my enthusiasm for teaching this stuff for my being a "know-it-all"

You know, you could save time by putting these (unnecessary IMO) disclaimers in your sig.   

[HaemishM]

Eating HFCS is fine.  Eating it in the quantities that Americans consume it, isn't. 

Moderation people. 

You can't moderate it, that's the problem. It's fine in small doses, but EVERYTHING uses it these days. You have to do some serious searching to find a product that doesn't use it as a sweetener, and you generally have to pay more for the privilege. Lower-income households, where the obesity, diabetes and other health issues really come into play, don't have the option to not eat HCFS.

[Nebu]

You can't moderate it, that's the problem.

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

[HaemishM]

Americans don't cook. Especially those low income, have to take 2 jobs to make ends meet or both parents have to work and can only afford the time for processed foods or fast food) people. You know, the ones who can't afford health insurance so have to clog up our ER's with emergency conditions they can't pay to treat?

IT'S THE CIRCLE OF LIFE!

Also, that lovely American tradition of willful ignorance. 

[Mrbloodworth]

You can't moderate it, that's the problem.

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

Where are you at? lol. They charge extra for that shit here.

[Nebu]

Where are you at? lol. They charge extra for that shit here.

Where do you live?  Alaska?  Hawaii?

[dusematic]

Farmer's markets are generally more expensive than a grocery store in my experience.  However, I will say that the overall point is patently and obviously true.  If I was a poor parent, instead of sending my kid to school to eat shitty pizza and hamburgers, I'd buy a 55 gallon drum of rice and beans for seven dollars and thirty-two cents from Costco.

[01101010]

While there are those that dispute this (and really, I'd still prefer the natural alternatives), I'd tend to take your word for it.  

It's fructose.  Sucrose (sugar from cane and beets) is a disaccharide of glucose + fructose.  Fructose is the half that gives sucrose its sweetness.  To demonstrate the utility, fructose-6-phosphate and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate are intermediates in glycolysis.  Fructose is a kinase away from being utilized.  

The danger with HFCS is that people like it.  They consume a lot more of it than they would get from natural sources.  I think of it like cooking already fatty foods in oil.  It's just excess when compared to a natural food source.


Edit: I don't mean to come off as an ass.  Please don't mistake my enthusiasm for teaching this stuff for my being a "know-it-all"

I'll say it anyway... show-off. Though its good to know someone putting that education to use in contexts other than work.

And who cooks in oil? Fuck that, butter, lard, or fat back or nothing at all... what? you wanna live forever?  

[SnakeCharmer]

Also, that lovely American tradition of willful ignorance.  

Which goes along nicely with 'it's everyone else's fault but mine and I expect someone else to do everything for me'.

[Brogarn]

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

I started doing this about a year ago and dropped 40lbs, 102 (264 to 162) points on my cholesterol and 151 (200 to 49) points of triglycerides. Along with my good cholesterol being in the 90's. It hasn't been difficult at all. My wife enjoys cooking, which helps, but I cook breakfast and prep the meals when I get home while she's still at work. We also walk whenever we get a chance.

[dd0029]

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

There are several assumptions here.  First and foremost that the time spent acquiring and preparing these foods is free.  Lets take the example of the man I see on very sad occasions twice a day.  First working the grill at the Hardee's when I stop in for a completely inappropriate breakfast.  Then, I can see him again if I want working behind the counter at the Boston Market if I decide that making my own meatloaf is not worth the time.  Where's that guy going to find the time to find a farmer's market and then cook the food?  Remember that farmer's market is generally only open in the afternoons when he's at one of his jobs.

In this guy's case, he's an immigrant so he might know what to do with that fresh food.  In the case of my cousin, an electrician, he has no clue what to do with that stuff.  The "institutional" knowledge is gone for him and a lot of people.  Granted, it's not that hard to pickup, but it does take time and effort.  Additionally, the most common source of information, the television offers little in the way of simple cooking information, things to do with "chicken, eggs, beans, and rice".

[Yegolev]

If you want to know why a tomato from a farmer's market is more expensive than one from a grocery store, try growing some yourself.  Grow enough to fill up a folding table and then ask yourself how much you'd charge a health nut for a pound of them.

I'd especially challenge you to do this without use of pesticide/fungicide.

[Sky]

Please don't mistake my enthusiasm for teaching this stuff for my being a "know-it-all"

I may have mistaken it for being "awesome".

I cook fresh food and it takes me about as long as most things except maybe some really quick microwave foods. We eat a lean protein (chicken/turkey/fish), a veg (mixed/corn/peas/green beans/broccoli) and rice (whole grain and wild) every night. I change up the herbs and spices, maybe a quick vinaigrette or marinade. Usually takes fifteen minutes to make dinner, with only ten of that being cooking time.

We ate very well when we were poor. As mentioned, rice and beans are wicked cheap. Learn to cook inexpensive cuts of meat properly, even the shittiest cut of meat had been tamed thousands of years ago. Every region of the world has some great peasant food, no matter where you are you can eat cheaply and well.

I also buy my meats fresh every day from the butcher, it's another fifteen minutes added to my commute home, but I find it's well worth it to get great cuts of meat cut to order and on sale every day. There's also the personal interaction with the people processing the meats. I'm additionally spoiled by living a half mile from a farm that has a great produce stand, and we just got in a couple pecks of freshly-picked honeycrisps. Quality of life, it's an amazing thing that's so easy to integrate, just change a few habits and the time invested is negligible.

Another thing is diligence in reading and understanding food labels. An indispensable skill for everyone, imo. When you start to learn to eat properly, you can eat more volume of a variety of food types and flavors, be healthier and stay trim. To bring it back to the topic, HFCS isn't evil, but it is a good indicator of low-quality food production.

[Samwise]

If you want to know why a tomato from a farmer's market is more expensive than one from a grocery store, try growing some yourself.  Grow enough to fill up a folding table and then ask yourself how much you'd charge a health nut for a pound of them.

SF has a bunch of farmers' markets and I've been to most of them; they are not all created equal.  The ones in poorer neighborhoods where a quarter of the signs are in Chinese or Spanish are where you go to get fresh (if unwashed and of varying quality) produce for way cheaper than at the supermarket.  Wealthier farmer markets (which cater to health nut yuppies rather than working immigrant families) have good stuff and nice selections but you pay out the ass for it.

[Nebu]

There are several assumptions here.  First and foremost that the time spent acquiring and preparing these foods is free.  Lets take the example of the man I see on very sad occasions twice a day.  First working the grill at the Hardee's when I stop in for a completely inappropriate breakfast.  Then, I can see him again if I want working behind the counter at the Boston Market if I decide that making my own meatloaf is not worth the time.  Where's that guy going to find the time to find a farmer's market and then cook the food?  Remember that farmer's market is generally only open in the afternoons when he's at one of his jobs.

In this guy's case, he's an immigrant so he might know what to do with that fresh food.  In the case of my cousin, an electrician, he has no clue what to do with that stuff.  The "institutional" knowledge is gone for him and a lot of people.  Granted, it's not that hard to pickup, but it does take time and effort.  Additionally, the most common source of information, the television offers little in the way of simple cooking information, things to do with "chicken, eggs, beans, and rice".

Is this a troll?  

1) You don't have to go to a Farmer's market to get rice, beans, chicken, and eggs.

2) It takes zero skill to boil water & chop vegetables.

3) Your health determines your time and the quality of that time to a significant degree. Taking care of your health is a minor investment in a country where being sick will bankrupt you.    

Seriously, what is your point?  Eating processed food is always a bad idea.  You do it as part of a cost-benefit analysis.

When you start to learn to eat properly, you can eat more volume of a variety of food types and flavors, be healthier and stay trim. To bring it back to the topic, HFCS isn't evil, but it is a good indicator of low-quality food production.

I love the "more food" part.  It's amazing how much more food you can eat when it isn't laced with fat and HFCS for the same caloric value.  Your colon also thanks you.  Colon cancer rates are skyrocketing in the US due to low fiber consumption. 

[Soln]

I was already on the look out for HFCS and we're lucky we live in a place with so many farmers' markets and boutique butchers.  We can pick and choose.

What gets me about the US is why they still allow BPA (Bisphenol-A) in everything, like the lining of cans.  So you can have a can of apple sauce with HFCS + artificial estrogen.  Great for kids and newborns!

FDA update on BPA


EDIT: also processed foods -- which I guess is everything pre-made and pre-mixed -- usually has tons of sodium.

[Riggswolfe]

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

 In the case of my cousin, an electrician, he has no clue what to do with that stuff.  The "institutional" knowledge is gone for him and a lot of people.  Granted, it's not that hard to pickup, but it does take time and effort.  Additionally, the most common source of information, the television offers little in the way of simple cooking information, things to do with "chicken, eggs, beans, and rice".

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

[Nebu]

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

[Viin]

Take a class, they are actually a lot of fun. Grilling is a good class to take - you can do almost all your summer cooking outside.

[Riggswolfe]

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

We have a crock-pot, a wok, one of those counter grills and a George Foreman grill. I'd love to learn how to at least make stew or something in the crock pot. I'll look into that rice steamer. I love, love rice. Of course I drown it in soy sauce and kill the health benefits!

[Trippy]

We've had this argument before in a thread I can't find at the moment but essentially healthier food costs more on a per calorie basis than processed foods (or really food "products").

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/135/4/900

[dusematic]

I mean, when people say that they "aren't cooks." I don't know what that means.  I'm "not a cook" in that I've never had any training whatsoever, but it's just a life skill, like tying your shoelaces, that you tend to pickup.  Especially with the internet now, I don't see what the big deal is.  Simple cooking isn't an art or a science.  Everything doesn't have to be Alton Fucking Brown.  If you can read, and you aren't a completely incompetent fuck, you can cook.

[Mrbloodworth]

Where are you at? lol. They charge extra for that shit here.

Where do you live?  Alaska?  Hawaii?

Virginia.

Farmer's markets are generally more expensive than a grocery store in my experience.  However, I will say that the overall point is patently and obviously true.

Yep I got it.

Wealthier farmer markets (which cater to health nut yuppies rather than working immigrant families) have good stuff and nice selections but you pay out the ass for it.

That's what I deal with. Yuppie gougers.