The Graceful Skinny

A homeschool mom of one sharing my thoughts, curriculum reviews, organization techniques, and planning ideas with others in the homeschool community.

Cautionary Tales and Reading Between the Lines February 24, 2011

Filed under: FYI,Revalations along the way — The Graceful Skinny @ 3:34 pm
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Caution diet "Weight loss" "Thyroid issues" "medical issues" hernia IBS PCOS "Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome" blog life lifestyle "corn sugar" myths "diet myths and facts"

 

 

So here on my blog I have no problems sharing my view point and all that I have learned. This is especially true when it comes to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  But recently I was watching some tv with one of the kids that I nanny and yet another of those stupid “Corn Sugar” adds came on.  Well, this ad and my skeptical annoyance at it raised the curiosity of the teen and she decided to poke around and investigate further.

 

In her poking she found the following website that can be found HERE .

 

At first glance my alarm bells started going off. It is very apparent that this is a commercially produced blog like sight. Yet when we looked for a name to see who runs the site we found that it is run by some official looking agency called The Center for Consumer Freedom. Their website can be found HERE .

 

They raise interesting claims that all of the hype about HFCS is false.  And on the Sweet Scam site under the Myths and Facts Section there are a lot of very broad statements about what is myth and very specific word bending with the counter point facts.

 

Still the sites do bring up the question, who in the end is right and how much of what they say is indeed true?

 

The big key for me is both sites repeated statements of any sweetener is fine moderation.  But the big issue here is, HFCS has found its way into every food imaginable.  It’s in so much that if you don’t do your very best to avoid it you quickly become inundated with this said harmless “Corn Sugar”. To avoid this junk all together you either have to spend a fortune buying expensive high end organics or you starve.  And for someone on my kind of budget high end anything really just isn’t an option for daily life.  You have to fight for moderation.

 

So dear readers, what are your thoughts on sites like these? In your opinion who is indeed the real “sweet scam”?

 

I for one will take the words of caution from my many doctors and my nutritionist as well as the many articles I have found myself, including an article done by Princeton. (If you missed that Blog post, you can find it HERE . The more I look into these new sites the more I see the falsity in them.

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A New Discovery for Those Days When You just really Want a Soda! February 17, 2011

Filed under: Road Blocks — The Graceful Skinny @ 2:48 pm
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Graceful Skinny "Mexican Coke" "High Frutose Corn Syurp" "Corn Sugar" "Cane Sugar" soda "weight loss" diet

One of the first things that I learned when I started on this weight loss journey was to be weary of anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup (a.k.a. Corn Sugar). There are more and more studies that are finding strong addictive tendencies in this evil substance.

Princeton did a study on the substance and the results that they came up with were enough to raise eye brows. You can find the article that talks about this study here:  http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

It is definitely an article worth your read.

In the study, they found that the rats who were given High Fructose Corn Syrup laced water gained significantly more weight than the rats who were given table sugar.  Not only that but they also found that the rats who had the High Fructose Corn Syrup ended up not just gaining more weight than the table sugar group but that the animals in the High fructose corn Syrup group ended up gaining 48 percent more weight!

When I stumbled across this information I started to try to do my best to avoid it, only to come to the realization that it is found in almost everything we eat.

It’s not practical to think that you can avoid ever eating it again. And the saying is always true, Everything in Moderation.  The problem however, is getting that into moderate amounts of your diet.

So next time you decide to go pick up that soda can or candy bar think twice! Rid yourself of the constant craving for it and you will quickly find that things that are loaded with it are overly sweet.

After only a month I got to the point were most sodas and soft drinks are just revolting to me.  Just try to go a while without the processed foods and then taste them again. They just aren’t as tasty as we thought.

But there will be days when you will miss that soda. And for those days, my husband and I have found a great compromise.

This bottle of coke isn’t any normal coke, and you more than likely are not going to find it on your regular soda aisle.  No folks, this coke is Mexican coke! What makes it better than the normal stuff you ask? Let’s turn the bottle around and take a look.

"Mexican Coke" Coke Graceful Skinny "Weight Loss" diet Soda "Cane Sugar" "Corn Sugar"

The red box believe it or not is the ENTIRE ingredients list.  That’s right there are only 6 ingredients in this bottle.   And let me tell you, there is a huge difference in flavor alone to justify the extra cost.

All of that being said, you should be aware that there is a bit of the “Corn Sugar” that may find its way in here.  I went on to coke’s website and found a Ingredients Glossary. According to their website  Caramel Coloring is defined as:

Caramel Color

Caramel color is made by a process involving the heating of corn or cane sugar and other carbohydrates to achieve the desired color.

http://productnutrition.thecoca-colacompany.com/ingredients

Because they don’t clarify if its indeed Corn Sugar or the better option Cane Sugar you should still take caution and limit the amount you drink it. But if you are just looking for a special treat every now and then, I would have to say that is a great way to go.

So as you go about your day, be weary and warned. Keep your eyes out and pay attention you might just be amazed at just how much of the High Fructose Corn Syrup is making its way into your diet.