sugars are sabotaging nearly every packaged and prepared food we eat

[G_j]

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/10189/the-most-sugar-packed-foods-in-america/

The Most Sugar-Packed Foods in America

Posted Mon, Jul 14, 2008, 4:43 pm PDT

Think your sweet tooth is harmless? Well, it just might bite you back. The average American is wolfing down 460 calories from added sugars every day. That’s more than 100 pounds of raw sugar per person per year. (That's enough to make 3,628 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!)

What’s at risk with all this sugar intake isn’t just another cavity; refined carbohydrates cause spikes in your blood sugar levels, tell your body to store fat, and put people at increased risk for diabetes. And that's another way of saying that it puts people at increased risk of blindness, sexual malfunction, heart attack, and premature death.

All that from a simple candy bar or soda? Not exactly, but consider this: A dollar will buy you about 75 calories' worth of fresh broccoli, but food manufacturers can use that same dollar to purchase 1,815 calories of sugar. And thanks to government subsidies, high fructose corn syrup - the synthetic sweetener found in so many of the foods in our grocery stores - is even cheaper. It should come as no surprise, then, that added sugars are sabotaging nearly ever packaged and prepared food we put in our bodies — pasta sauces, smoothies, even whole grain breads.

To help you avoid the impact of stealth sugars that run rampant through our food supply, we’ve sifted through all the nutritional data to name the eight biggest sugar bombs in America. Try to keep them from blowing up in your neighborhood.

..more........

[SeattleGirl]

1. It's absolutely ridiculous, how many foods have high fuctose corn syrup

in them!

I'm beginning to think they've started throwing it into practically everything, just because they can!

:grr:

[Skittles]

3. does it say "fructose corn" on the label? n/t

[SeattleGirl]

7. Yup

Pisses me off.

[SoCalDem]

17. It probably started out as a byproduct waste

that they had to pay to get rid of.. Probably had the scientists test it to see if it was lethal..when they found out it was not..and it was sweet, they started putting it in everything.. cheaper than paying to haul it off :)

[crimsonblue]

22. there was a big sugar beet strike

and the Cola companies invented high fructose corn syrup as a replacement. IT's cheaper for them, with the consequence of putting thousands of farmers out of business and raising corn prices.

[guitar man]

26. I'd say at least 90%

My 2 year old daughter has an intolerance to fructose, especially anything with HFCS. Shopping for food she can eat is an expensive nightmare. x(

[cascadiance]

32. Subsidized HFCS in food exports along with the WTO are also part of the conspiracy!

Check out this ruling AGAINST Mexico for trying to put a tariff on subsidized soft drink imports that contain HFCS in them. They tried to tax those that didn't use cane sugar (the way they produce their soft drinks more healthily), and lost their appeal. Of course the WTO is in the corporations' pocket or they would have realized that it was the U.S. that created the unfair trade imbalance in the first place through subsidizing these products, and NOT Mexico for responding with a tariff on them.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EUY/is_11_12/ai_n16110567

And this isn't just about protecting our exports. I believe that the subsidization of corn product exports is the first rung of our globalization strategy to facilitate outsourcing of labor.

When corn products are subsidized and the WTO backs up this sort of trade, that puts local farmers who raise corn products (or other products like cane sugar, etc.) out of business when they can't compete with this "dumping" of cheaper products in their markets. These farmers are forced to sell off their farmland to the "compliant" elites of a country like Mexico. Those Mexican elites (who facilitate IMF, etc. loans and other means for the U.S. to control their trade as well as political stances, etc.) benefit with this cheap land by building "Maquilas" on them (factories), where they hire up these out of work folk to do outsourced labors for these companies a lot cheaper than they do them here.

And if that isn't bad enough, since these companies are leasing these Maquilas in Mexico, if they find they can make stuff cheaper in the Asia Pacific for example, they will just pack up their bags and move there, and leave those local Mexican communities without local farms AND all of those workers unemployed. What do they do? They move up here to become a big part of the illegal immigration problem we have! And of course that steals our jobs directly up here too. That's a win/win situation for the corporatist folk who want cheap labor costs and subsidized exports.

So part of our solutions for solving the globalization of our labor is to look heavily at how we are subsidizing our food exports, and also renegotiate NAFTA, etc.

[conscious evolution]

34. They use it because they know

it causes Attention Deficite Disorder.
Can't be having a population whose attention span is longer than ten minutes.

[femrap]

54. I never thought of that....

but I've thought of kids on 'sugar highs' running around going crazy.

And all of the SALT in foods...humans require about 2,000 mg of salt/day and around 3,600 of potassium/day. With the American diet, we get little potassium and tons of salt...

I think this causes obesity and health problems. The human cell is totally swollen and craving some potassium which we find in beans, spinach, melon, seeds, and meat. I rarely eat out because there is so much damn salt in everything. I swell up and get so damn thirsty.

There's a great product called 'No-Salt' and it tastes just like salt but has potassium in it.

These damn Corporations are going to kill us...and don't get me started on Monsanto.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. K&R. Good info thanks for posting.

[flvegan]

4. One of the best things about being vegan

Is really learning how to read labels.

If you don't want to go vegan, at least learn your ingredients.

[Duke Newcombe]

5. Being an anti "ban this food" person...very much agreed.

HFCS-another example of subsidies for businesses with more inventory than sense or good will.

Duke

[aspergris]

27. Yup

I have a garden, and I am extremely cognizant of the foods i buy. My staples are beef, chicken, liver, eggs, vegetables, fruit, etc.

I try to almost never buy anything with high fructose corn syrup in it.

I used to be a personal trainer, and I tell people who want to lose weight that diet is extremeley important, as much as exercice, and overprocessed crap foods will make it difficult to lose fat.

Cut that stuff out (minimize simple sugars in general, and HFCS in particular) and it's much easier

The labels are there. It's up to consumers to heed them and exercise choice

[SeattleGirl]

8. Not a vegan, but I usually read labels when I'm shopping.

Most of them are appalling.

[LeftyMom]

10. I'm always shocked by what's in the food at conventional markets.

I swear I do a post praising them weekly, but I usually go to our local food co-op, and they've got a strict no transfats policy (and quite a few other rules about healthful food,) in addition to emphasizing local and organic food.

The strange thing is, they're not much more expensive than the "conventional" (I would argue that modern "food" is anything but) markets, and on many staple items are cheaper, even comparing the non-organic offering to their organic one.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. That's true

I have a food co-op in my neighborhood, and it's no more expensive (and sometimes cheaper) for the foods that I buy than the conventional supermarkets, which I patronize to buy a few items that my co-op doesn't carry.

[Occulus]

40. Believe it or not, though, you might be surprised at the number of

commercial, processed foods that don't have HFCS where you would expect it.

I recently took a close look at the ingredients used in five different brands of salsa, and not one had HFCS in it. I honestly expected it to be there in at least one or two, but not only did I not find any, I didn't see as many difficult-to-pronounce preservatives in them as I expected, either. I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Perhaps food manufacturers are starting to wake up. There's a long way to go, but I'm seeing a few encouraging signs.

[LeftyMom]

9. Seconded.

I remember ages ago there was a joke thread in the lounge where somebody named off the ingredients of a "food" product, and people had to guess what it was. The first three or four people to chime in with the answer were all vegan, and it wasn't even a vegan food (iirc, it was Reddi-Whip.)

We actually know what the hell it is we're eating. Scary concept, that.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. And don't stop at just reading them -- understand all of the ingredients on the list.

If it isn't an unambiguous food ingredient like "asparagus" or "ground black pepper," do yourself a favor and find out what it is.

[spag68]

6. refined sugar

is probably the worst poison we put in our body's. Only thing close is Alcohol beverages in large amounts, as they all contain huge amounts of sugar. Bleached flour products should be on the list too. My best tip is to drink 100% no sugar added cranberry juice blends. I had a kidney stone and was told this would help. If you can avoid a kidney stone, then avoid it. cause it is really, really bad.

[DesertFlower]

19. i bought "simply orange" juice. it's fresh

squeezed juice -- lightly pasteurized. i mix 1/2 juice and 1/2 water. this way it's not too much fruit sugar for your body to process. it's delicious.

[dysfunctional press]

31. that's how i drink fruit juice too.

sometimes juices can seem kind of...'thick' otherwise.

[G_j]

11. it's disturbing that to eat healthy cost $$$$

while all this high fructose crap, they pass off as food, is so much cheaper than the real thing..

[cascadiance]

14. I wonder if HFCS is that much more cheaper now to produce...

With both the floods in the midwest as well as the usage of corn more in biofuels, etc., perhaps the cost difference isn't that much different any more. Perhaps now is the time to lobby them to switch back to regular sugars, so that at least it isn't as unhealthy and addictive as before.

I'm sure that they still like "addictive" being in the equation, but that's something that the government (under PROPER non-corporate supervision) could tell them to F-OFF and do what they're told!

[Lorien]

15. In part due to government subsidies

I agree. It completely blows. To avoid sugar I often shop at Whole Foods, which we always refer to as "whole paycheck". :-(

[DesertFlower]

18. even food at whole foods have sugar.

i wanted to buy some healthy muffins. most were made with white flour (okay it was unbleached) and sugar. when i bake my own, i use whole wheat flour and a small amount of pure maple syrup as a sweetener.

[Lorien]

39. Yeah, in most of their baked goods this is true

but some of the frozen/ prepared stuff that they sell is sugar and HFCS free, as are some of the cereals they sell (like Alpen and other EU brands). When you're hypoglycemic then muffins, cookies and cakes are pretty much off the menu. :-(

[Iris]

29. but I've found when I don't eat processed foods, I am less hungry.

So the food I eat may cost more but I eat less of it.

[Lorien]

13. Thanks for posting this. I'm severly hypoglycemic, and I believe that

it's due both to my genes and an early adulthood eating the cheapest foods I could find (almost all processed). Now days I check the sugar content of EVERYTHING. I've found some real surprises out there. One of the worst offenders; pop tarts. Even the unfrosted kind send me into a hypoglycemic fit. Same with Power bars or nature valley granola bars. A good bet for dessert? Lindt dark chocolate truffles (those balls sold near cash registers). Three only contain 11 grams of sugar! Plus dark chocolate is a good antioxidant. :9

[DesertFlower]

20. i'm hypoglycemic too. i noticed

even "cliff bars" which are supposed to be healthy have sugar. you have to read everything carefully.

[cascadiance]

16. If you can't do without Coca Cola for drinks, get Mexican coke at Costco...

At least it uses cane sugar instead of HFCS!

The problem is that many of the "diet sweeteners" such as aspartane are very suspect as causes of cancer and other diseases too.

Check out documentaries such as Sweet Misery and Sweet Remedy on this subject.

http://www.wnho.net/sweet_misery_movie.htm

http://www.sweetremedy.tv/pages/sweetremedy.html

[Clark2008]

24. No CostCo where I live

Is there any other place to buy this?

[cascadiance]

28. Not sure, but look for imported Mexican coke at some indy grocery outfits...

There are a number of other soft drinks that have cane sugar instead of HFCS. Look at the labels. Jones sodas, Virgil's Root Beer, and others... Also, stock up on coca cola around passover time with "Passover Coke" (Coke bottles with yellow caps on them instead of white). To make Coke kosher they have to use regular sugar instead of HFCS. That comes around April.

[knitter4democracy]

37. Look for small grocery stores that cater to Latin American cooking.

They are more than worth the trip. They always have better avocadoes, and if you're lucky, they get good stuff fresh from a panderia, too.

[CrispyQ]

48. Whole Foods 365 soft drinks are sweetened with cane - not sugar.

They use cane because so much of the HFCS is from genetically modified corn.

[knitter4democracy]

36. I get mine at the local market.

Horrocks is awesome, but they also have it at the Mexican grocery across the street, Nina's.

[cascadiance]

41. Here's an article on it...

http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/05/costco-is-selling-mexican-coke.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041109/news_1b9mexcoke.html

And the next time Passover Coke comes through, look for this:

[1]

21. sugar is sugar, so why should it be...

you and i should get along so unsweetly...

[AwakeAtLast]

23. Capri Sun took the HFCS *out*

Still not the best choice, but good for once in awhile.

Aunt Millie's bread makes a point of putting "No HFCS" on its label. I'm hoping that many other companies follow suit.

[El Pinko]

25. Why would you want to eat packaged, prepared foods?

They have always been crap.

fresh, real ingredients + oven = food

you know, cooking?

Everything else is, and always has been, CRAP.

Why are people surprised at this?

[dysfunctional press]

33. and it doesn't even have to be anything fancy.

my wife and i don't cook a lot of 'dishes'- we mostly do whole foods...
cut some vegetables up for a salad, or steam a vegetable, make some rice or pasta, and grill a hunk of some type of flesh, be it fish, fowl, or mammal. or do the vegetables/meat in a wok. i can generally go from deciding to make dinner to sitting at the table(the coffee table for us) eating in about a half an hour.
we hardly ever have buy/eat any kind of pre-packaged foods anymore at all, and we have a large garden with a variety of great veggies.
for us- we started getting more serious about it when it was determined that my immune system's respons to dietary starch was a big part of the physical ailment that has rendered me permanently/totally disabled, with 'modified food starch' being especially problematic. the VAST majority of pre-packaged foods contain bunches of starch...and starch isn't even a natural part of the human diet- as a species, we're hunter-gatherers as far as evolution is concerned. and that is pretty much the type of diet i try to stick with.

another way of eating that i'd reccomend is trying to stick as closely to a 'meditteranean diet' as possible, along with regular exercise- the ancient greeks often lived into their 80's/90's, even without the benefit of 'modern' medicine.
they must have been doing something right.

[LWolf]

30. That's true, and it's a factor

in the rise of type 2 diabetes.

Which I was diagnosed with a year ago. I always knew I was insulin-dependent, and generally ate accordingly to manage it. When I changed jobs, moved 1,000 miles, and took on extra dependents to manage a family crisis, the simple eating routine went down the drain. Budget-wise, I needed not to have to prepare 2 different meals every mealtime. The dependents grew quickly tired of my limited menu, so more and more often we cooked and ate together. They shopped, I ate what they brought home and cooked. Two years later, insulin dependence advanced into diabetes.

Which, of course, even further limits my diet. If you are consciously trying to eliminate sugar from your diet, including the natural sugars found in fruit, etc., there's very little on the menu.

[redqueen]

38. It's tragic that people aren't more careful about what they eat.

Maybe having this information handed to them will make more people more thoughtful about what they're eating.

[masmdu]

42. STEVIA is what we use when we want a sweet taste...We always avoid HFCS and most Sugar...Stevia is

40x sweeter than sugar and comes from an herb in the sunflower family.

[Ignis]

43. Seconded. All natural, clean taste, no calories, etc. (nt)

[masmdu]

44. Yeah and no worries about diabeties / hypoglycemia...good stuff that

[Ignis]

45. Have you seen the Stevia powdered drink mixes?

From Stevita? Most are pretty good, if you're used to the Stevia tang. :)

[masmdu]

46. no, I'll see if I can find them around here...btw, the 'tang' is greatly reduced by lemon juice

[kimmerspixelated]

51. Exactly, but the gov. is trying to put the kabosh on it, or was.

There are some reports though, that by next year Stevia will become more widely available. I can't believe some still think Splenda is okay!

Also another good sub is agave nectar. It has a very low glycemic value, tastes like a combo of honey and syrup, and is natural!

[That Is Quite Enough]

47. *Looks guiltily at his bowl of chocolate ice cream*

[Duke Newcombe]

53. No guilt necessary.

Everything in moderation-including moderation.

Duke

[cap]

49. HCFS is everywhere...

it is used as a base and then food scientist add flavorings to it to create processed foods. It can take on the flavor of anything so that's why it's used so often. It used to be real cheap before the price of corn took off. It's in stuff that you don't think should be sweet like all tomato-based processed foods. It's in muffins as well. I can taste the difference.

[Romulox]

50. My guess is HFCS costs are WAY up. The bottle of Bullseye BBQ Sauce I just bought says, "NO HFCS!"

[progressoid]

52. Read the comments - We are in denial.

Again.