"And what does that have to do with me?" you ask!
Well, plenty it seems! So, maybe some of you know what they feed cows, chickens, and pigs to fatten them up and maybe you don't. It's grain, mainly from corn!
You might think you don't eat that much corn to be "the fatted calf", but think again. I knew I was consuming more corn because it's one grain I can eat as a celiac, but when I read this article by Dr. Mercola - I was surprised at the amount!
I'm consciously trying to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from my diet because I know the research that shows it does contribute to obesity and messes with your insulin levels, but my total intake of corn will decrease based on this information from Dr. Mercola's site:
*Food and beverage manufacturers began switching their sweeteners
from sucrose (table sugar) to corn syrup in the 1970s when they
discovered that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was not only cheaper
to make, it was also much sweeter (processed fructose is nearly
20 times sweeter than table sugar), and this switch has drastically
altered the American diet.
In 1966, sucrose made up 86 percent of sweeteners. Today, 55 percent
of sweeteners used are made from corn. And while people ate no high-fructose
corn syrup in 1966, they ate close to 63 pounds each in 2001.
HFCS, which is made from cornstarch, is now used to sweeten:
- Soft drinks
- Fruit juices
- Baked goods
- Canned fruits
- Dairy products
- Cookies
- Gum
- Jams and jellies
- Salad dressings
- Some cereals
It contains similar amounts of both fructose and glucose, whereas
sucrose is a larger sugar molecule that is metabolized in the intestine
into glucose and fructose.
HFCS is the only caloric sweetener in U.S. soft drinks and over
60 percent of the calories in apple juice, which is used as a base
for many fruit drinks, come from fructose. The primary source of
HFCS in the American diet is soda and juice--about two-thirds of
all fructose consumed in the United States is in beverages.
Researchers estimated that Americans eat 132 calories of HFCS while
the top 20 percent of sweetener consumers eat over 300. And some,
they say, eat as much as 700 calories per day of HFCS.
And one of the breaking news items on high-fructose corn syrup is that it is frequently contaminated with mercury.
Fast Food is Largely Made From Corn!
A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
looked into the feed sources of animals used for meat at fast food
chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. After chemically
analyzing the food, they found that corn was the nearly exclusive food
source for the beef and chicken served at these fast food restaurants.
In
case you aren’t aware, cattle are not designed to eat corn, and doing
so disrupts their digestive systems. Therefore they’re fed antibiotics
to keep them from getting sick. The corn crops are also genetically modified, and sprayed heavily with pesticides that get transferred to you when you eat the meat.
Corn
is not only in meat, it’s in one-third of the products at an average
supermarket, along with fuel and countless consumer products like
paint, cosmetics and plastics.
There are over 35 years of hard empirical evidence that refined
man-made fructose like HFCS metabolizes to triglycerides and adipose
tissue, not blood glucose. The downside of this is that fructose does
not stimulate your insulin secretion, nor enhance leptin production.
(Leptin is a hormone thought to be involved in appetite regulation.)
Because
insulin and leptin act as key signals in regulating how much food you
eat, as well as your body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose
may contribute to increased food intake and weight gain. Further:
• HFCS is metabolized to fat in your
body far more rapidly than any other sugar, and, because most fructose
is consumed in liquid form (soda), its negative metabolic effects are
significantly magnified.
• Recent research, reported at the 2007
national meeting of the American Chemical Society, found new evidence
that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS may contribute to the
development of diabetes
because it contains high levels of reactive compounds that have been
shown to trigger cell and tissue damage that cause diabetes.
• HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented
side effects and health concerns, such as increasing your risk of developing a food allergy to corn.
So there you have it! Are you one of those being fattened up by all the corn and corn by-products you eat? I was - and am still weeding out the bad stuff now!
"Now what do I do?" you might ask. Good question! I'm buying all natural or organic salad dressings with just plain old sugar, and making sure that the sugar level is low. I'm buying only organic, non-gmo corn chips and products - many of which are finding their way into my regular super market. And while the gluten free diet relies on flours and starches like corn starch, I don't have to consume so much in my every day diet! More veggies with whole grain rice is probably a better choice for me.
And if I just have to have a soda - there are some healthier choices at the whole foods markets that have regular sugar and not HFCS. I just use them sparingly as a treat.
One toxic "food" down, a few more to go . . . . next we'll deal with lab rats!
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