The trashcan runneth over

This morning my 2 year old daughter asked me for some oatmeal. Nothing unusual...she often asks me for oatmeal. A few weeks ago I purchased some strawberry oatmeal that promised low sugar content. I proceeded to fill the tea kettle with water and turn on the stove. The whistling of the tea kettle is a novelty for my daughter and I think it may be the real reason she asks for oatmeal. I looked for a pack of the strawberry oatmeal and found we only had cinnamon flavor. Not thinking this would make much of a difference, I prepared her oatmeal. She was unhappy her oatmeal was not pink, a feature of the strawberry oatmeal. So, I thought I could just add some strawberry syrup. But first...I read the label. The ingredient list started with "high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, etc...". I grabbed the red food coloring instead and that bottle of strawberry syrup found its way to the trash bin.

Of course, this prompted me to take stock of my pantry. I was not surprised to find the chocolate syrup had basically the same ingredient/nutritional makeup as the strawberry syrup but included cocoa. I'm pretty sure the benefits of cocoa don't outweigh the detriments of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Next, I grabbed my generic box of honey nut cheerios. I was pleased to find there was no HFCS. Sitting next to my cheerios was a box of Keebler Multi-Grain Club crackers. Now, I didn't suspect my multigrain crackers to contain HFCS, but at this point I had made it my goal to check every item in the pantry. Sure enough, somewhere in the middle of the ingredient list included those four little words. To the trash can! Now, I'm worried. Please oh please, tell me the whole grain goldfish aren't polluted too! Whew...no HFCS. My daughter's snack of choice is safe.

I was on a mission to rid my pantry of this poison. So, on to the baking goods section where I found two cans of bread crumbs, regular and Italian style. Surely, these are just bread crumbs. As I turned the can around I was surprised to see a countless number of unpronounceable words. I scanned the list and found those four dirty little words again. I vowed to replace them with panko at my first opportunity as I tossed them into the trash.

Of course, I found a few other items in my pantry that surprised me and a few that didn't. I did find it interesting that the "light" pancake syrup was basically made of HFCS and flavoring. I was even more surprised to learn the Karo Dark Corn Syrup was just dark corn syrup and refiner's syrup (a byproduct of sugar cane processing). Of course, light corn syrup was no surprise with corn syrup sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Molasses was just molasses which was a relief and a bit surprising. The worcestershire sauce consisted of basically three things: vinegar, molasses and HFCS. I never even considered worcestershire sauce to add any calories to a dish much less contain HFCS. My husband might be upset to come home and find there are no condiments for his micheladas (a tasty beer concoction), so I'll hold off on tossing the worcestershire until I find some without HFCS.

This prompted me to ask the question, "What is the difference between corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup?". I found my answer here. Corn syrup is created by mixing the corn starch with a weak solution of hydrochloric acid and heated. Through this process they can create varying degrees of sweetness. Wait a minute, back up...hydrochloric acid? Really? Ok, now I am starting to get a little creeped out. But wait...there's more. Regular corn syrup contains dextrose and must be converted to fructose in order to be sweet enough for use in foods such as soda and catsup. Dextrose, sucrose, fructose....all sugar and sweet right? Well, there are remarkable differences that seriously affect our health and weight. I will try to explain without getting complicated here. Dextrose is basically the same sugar as glucose which is the energy all the cells in your body need to function. Sucrose is basically table sugar and fructose is fruit sugars. Your body breaks sucrose down into two forms: glucose and fructose. We know the glucose is good but what about the fructose? Ask your liver. It carries the task of metabolizing the fructose. In HFCS the glucose and the fructose are not bound together so your body does nothing to separate the two and the fructose goes straight to your liver. Glucose is used by nearly every cell in your body and the fructose turns into fat. That's the basic gist of it, but there is a wealth of scary information in This Addictive Commonly Used Food Feeds Cancer Cells, Triggers Weight Gain, and Promotes Premature Aging. A very informative article and I highly recommend taking 10 minutes out of building your Facebook farm/zoo/cafe to read it. Take special note of the 76 Additional Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health. For men who are not convinced, number 53 was pretty enlightening, "increasing estrogen in men". I guess that solves the mystery of the 'fried egg boob'.

Why is fructose harmful to your liver? Basically, the more fructose you consume the fatter your liver becomes. Think of foie gras made from ducks who are force fed corn to fatten up their livers. I was surprised to learn it can even cause what is called scarring of the liver (a precursor to nonalcoholic cirrhosis). The corn industry was quick to point out that one particular study included several forms of fructose. I guess if that lessens their liability, good for them. But, thankfully, the liver has regenerative properties and can recover if its owner can change their eating habits. That's a relief because my liver has endured its fair share of metabolic tasks over the years, and I shudder at the thought of a medical examiner referring to my liver as pate.

So, what do we eat if everything in the pantry contains this toxin? I don't have the easy answer, obviously. The key is moderation (as is with most things we enjoy), but I think different people define the term in vastly different ways. My solution for my family is this: trash all items containing HFCS, carefully read all labels before purchasing anything and moderate the sugar consumption. I'm not ready to eliminate sugar entirely, but I promise to myself and my family that I will limit the amount of sugar that ends up on our table and I promise to try to eliminate HFCS altogether.