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Sugar:The Bitter Truth


Mensan

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It was requested that I post this video.

 

This is a documentary describing the effects of sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup on our health. It is roughly an hour and a half. There is a lot of information and completely worthwhile to view. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

High Fructose Corn Syrup has become a staple of most every western diet on the planet and so many things are predicated on that. Our food supply has become inundated with the stuff as a result and now we're starting to reap the consequences of such a terrible product.

 

This video was part of a lecture that was done at UCSF by a pediatrician who specializes in endocrinology and more specifically childhood diabetes. He thoroughly goes through the basics of the agribusiness, and how Nixon essentially managed to help in creating this obesity crisis that we have today in an unforeseen consequences sort of a way. He goes through that of the 7 countries study that most American food policy is based around is essentially bunk and that the regressive metanalysis (sic) that was done didn't account for other significant factors such as high consumption of sucrose or fructose sugars. The 7 countries in question were primarily not just high fat consuming countries but also diets that were incredibly high in sugar. It was a classic example of a correlation =/= causation, but still the USDA and dietitians based their low fat diet campaigns on this study and we're seeing the end results of that today in society.

 

There are other issues such as HFCS's are processed in a completely different fashion versus regular glucose which our body's (sic) were designed to handle, and as a result we're starting to see a dramatic rise in obesity. The chemical processes are fascinating and what is disturbing is that fructose is pretty similar to ethanol in how it's handled by the liver. The writing is on the wall, but the FDA has no ability to regulate this as the FDA can only slap down food or beverage additives that are acute in how they are handled, like ethanol. Any substance that is chronic in nature the FDA has no authority to handle or band it outright. Combine this with the need for agribusiness in this country to sell food, and processed food products to other nations is crucial.

 

The whole thing is a multifaceted system and everybody is left with an interesting paradox to deal with. To create healthier foods you need to increase fiber content to something that is more normalized and eliminate HFCS's. But on the other hand agribusiness will not be able to sell our food products as readily or quickly to other nations as it would be more prone to becoming spoiled, and it would be a death knell for other major businesses such as fast food restaurants. It would wreck some major aspects of the economy because of this.

 

The ultimate question is whether a healthier society through the taxation of HFCS's or outright banning of HFCS's and related products are worth it or not, or are we too dependent on them as a society to ever go back?

 

edit:

 

Watch the lecture in its entirety before commenting.

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I'll watch the video later, but have heard quite a bit about this. My wife and I are going to make a HUGE effort in 2010 to cut this shit out of our diet. We already push the kids hard and it's not easy as they are surrounded by stuff made of crap. We keep them pretty safe by buying healthy holistic foods, but it's a struggle everyday to insure they have good choices to make.

 

Thanks for posting.

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I have not watched it yet. However I not to long ago stopped frinking diet pop as I found out what kind a nasty shit Aspartame is. It it is also used as a sweatiner and holy hell there needs to be a warning label on it.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html

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In the video he recommends not drinking anything but milk and water.

 

Clay, I knew there was a reason I didn't buy sushi from Kroger...Well, at least one reason. ;)

 

Edit:Also, watch out for pre-packed sushi rolls often found in grocery stores. The rice is usually dressed with high fructose corn syrup.

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I am on the road so im not watching that right now, however in this past year i have made great efforts to lower our our cornsyrup. I have started making our applesauce and bread and read alll the labels of anything we eat. Pepsi is still my weakness, as well as sprite. Im not as much worried about granular sugar, i dont know why. When i make the applause i use NO sugar at all, i just use sweet apples and real applejuice.

 

Readi g labels is very eye opening to your food ingrediants and how hfcs is in sooo much food especially "value" brands

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Good luck, that shit is in EVERYTHING.

 

It's not in food you make. One piece of advice I got was to stick to the 'outside' of the grocery store. All of the processed food is in the middle aisles. Sugar or HFCS or just processed food in general is not very good for you.

 

I've been eating like shit for a while but am trying to go the healthier route again. I've done it before and I spent a lot of time looking at labels. My lifestyle, and probably most of everyone's here doesn't allow us to completely get away from processed foods. You can find processed food that doesn't have HFCS in it. Check out the 'organic' section. Most of that food uses sugar instead of HFCS. Not that it will be that much healthier for you, but if you are only trying to avoid HFCS it's one way to do it. The food itself I find to be 'better' also. You'll pay for it though.

 

I like taking some tuna fish for part of my lunch. Instead of the crappy tuna fish in the cans I get some tilapia and cook it in a little olive oil in a pan. Add some (light w/sugar and not HFCS) mayo and relish and you've got a much healthier alternative to canned tuna (with lots of salt). The light mayo and relish are also lower in sodium usually. It taste much better too! I do up a pound at a time on the weekends and put it into small tupperware containers. It makes about enough for me and the g/f for the week (she will only take it 1-2 days a week). Probably could do healthier but that's the level of effort I'm willing to put into it, it's not that hard and it's much healthier than what I was eating.

 

We've made our own granola bars and it was pretty easy. With probably less effort than you think you can cut out a lot of the crap and eat much better food (not just for you, but more enjoyable). It's much cheaper than the healthy/organic alternatives too, and probably at best cost as much as cheap alternatives which are much worse tasting and for you.

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I wonder what weight loss one would realize after quitting high fructose corn syrup....

 

hrmm.

 

Probably not any if you just replace it with the same processed foods with sugar in it instead of HFCS. Key is to actually eat healthier (less processed foods, less sugar/HFCS).

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Sounds like you need to watch the video. :)

 

I do, but if someone eats a lot of HFSC, they probably just need to cut out the junk, processed food, sweets instead of just buying stuff with sugar instead of HFSC. Even if it's 'better' for you to eat sugar instead of HFSC, it's still not healthy. I'm not going to do it myself or suggest someone to do it either in the vein of eating healthier.

 

The last part of my statement is still completely true and I don't need to watch any video to tell me that.

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Ill have to check this out.

 

Years ago, I stopped drinking Coke, changed to Sprite, and dropped 20 lbs. Eating habits stayed the same. Just the drink.

 

Now I drink Coke again like its going out of style, but I manage to keep weight off running around the shop, and being somewhat active.

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Probably not any if you just replace it with the same processed foods with sugar in it instead of HFCS. Key is to actually eat healthier (less processed foods, less sugar/HFCS).

 

Hell, do whatever you can. It all still worries me just the same. We go through 2-3 gals of organic milk per week with the kids and shit's not cheap, but 2-3 gals a week is a lot of potential shit going into a kid. it's worth it.

 

We also make home made breakfast bars. This weekend, we're cooking up another 4-5 dozen then freeze them. Not cheapter but way healthier and better tasting than store crap. Kids love them and eact them for breakfast all the time.

 

We hardly ever drink coke or pop of any kind. The other thing I've tried to do is juice fresh veggies for the kids. Mix them with some fruit juice and at least I know they are getting good for you foods.

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The water we drink and bathe in has carcinogens in it.

 

The air we breathe has carcinogens in it.

 

The sun above us bombards us with harmful radiation.

 

All synthetic materials are created by chemical processes that NEVER existed in nature before us, and so may have unintended consequences. This includes the clothes you're wearing now, in constant contact with your unprotected skin.

 

Fuck it. Pass the maple syrup and Milk Duds.

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