Sunday, June 11, 2006
Educational post for the week
Read Chris Clarke's post about high-fructose corn syrup, the economics of obesity, and NAFTA. The essay is much more interesting than that description indicates, honest. Read it and you'll probably try to buy fewer products that contain high-fructose corn syrup (it's become nearly ubiquitous in this country), if you're not already avoiding this cheap sweetener.
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I have been trying to cut it out of the filles diet for a while... it is sad to think that we were all healthier while drinking Kool-Aid... Oh, but if you want a fizzy drink for your kids without the HFCS... look to Mexican sodas made IN Mexico.. they use pure cane sugar... and are surprisingly not as sweet as you would think... my kids like the Jarritos..You should be able to find them in any Jewel..
Cool essay. That's my one strict food rule for the kid: no soda or juice. I know he's young yet, but I'm willing to fight this battle. I mean, I'm not going to be the kind of mom who won't let him have apple juice at a birthday party if they're serving it, but on a daily basis, no way. If you're going to eat sweets, chew them and swallow them.
I understand... I think my kidlettes are a bit older tho... my big fight was whether my inlaws should be allowed to give them DIET soda... there chief concern is that they should end up fat like me.... screw their little brains in the process... Oh cripes the more I read my entries, the more I think I should be divorced...
I try not to let my kid ingest artificial sweeteners. I'll drink Diet Coke all day long myself, but Ben doesn't get more than a sip.
And that reminds me of another pernicious trend in corporatized nutrition: Food labels emblazoned "50% LESS SUGAR" (like this oatmeal). Yes, it's good to cut out refined sugar in our diets. Is it good to eat things that are every bit as sweet because half the sugar's been replaced with Splenda or assorted other artificial sweeteners? Somehow, they never boast "NOW WITH ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, TOO!" Deceptive weasels!
But not as deceptive as the truly horrific "fruit snacks".... Just call it candy and be done with it already
Yes! This is shameful to admit, but we used to buy a lot of Prego, because we're lazy lazy trash, but the corn syrup issue cured me. No more Prego! Unfortunately we're still lazy lazy, so no more spaghetti either.
Mignon, look for an organic brand of pasta sauce. I've got a jar in my fridge right now, and it contains no corn syrup. Mr. Tangerine upgraded from maple-flavored corn syrup to actual maple syrup. The Heinz ketchup, however, is laden with corn syrup. At least I don't still eat ketchup sandwiches like I did when I was a kid!
Yup, we got turned on to that turn off a while back. I can't say I've been vigorously avoiding it, but I do tend to make my sweet treats from scratch--pure cane sugar, baby! See? I'm a TOTAL health nut.
Also, I've just been catching up on your recent posts, and I'm going to go look up Wordplay's release cities. I would love to see it again! And I would also love to know how your book's coming along...!!!
Ooo-ooo, and I just read DoctorMama's comment, and I wanted to say "me too" to that. We have juice in the house once a month or so, but my boys drink gallons and gallons of "cold water".
Water is the first beverage I push too. We give our boy OJ and soy milk here and there, but cut it with an equal amount of water. It's to the point where he insists on having water added to his juice or milk. (And of course, I make him swish with water after if he drinks either.)
I've been trying to avoid HFCS for awhile, mostly because I've heard that the things they do to extract the syrup are horrific (mixing it with lye and asbestos or something). I've gotten the impression that it's the hydrogenated oil of the sweetener world. But thanks for sharing, Orange, b/c now I have additional reasons to steer clear of it.
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