Health & Fitness
The Not So Sweet Truth about High-Fructose Corn Syrup
With our busy days, thinking about High Fructose Corn Syrup seems like one more worry. You can limit your intake of this nutritionally deficient sweetener and keep your family happy and healthy.
We have so much on our plates every day that eating healthy foods and fixing healthy snacks and meals tends to come in last place. Fruit juices, “healthy” cereals, granola bars, yogurts and many more of those seemingly healthy foods are loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS is contributing to our nation’s overweight epidemic and rise in illnesses and health insurance costs.
With the already busy days, thinking about HFCS seems like just one more worry on the list. The good news is, you can limit your intake of this nutritionally deficient sweetener and come up with other snacks that will keep you and your kids happy, your day less hectic and your family’s health intact.
Sweet but Not So Innocent
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Here’s the low down on the science behind this. Glucose causes biochemical reactions that can cause the production of insulin, which allows sugar to be carried by the blood to your cells and used for energy. Energy is a good thing! It increases leptin, which helps regulate your appetite and fat storage. I would say that’s an important hormone.
Fructose acts more like fat when talking about hormones and fat storage. It doesn’t help regulate our appetites, fat storage or suppress food intake. That would lead us to believe that just like too much fat contributes to weight gain so does too much HFCS.
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How can we keep it simple and tasting great? Peanut butter is a great way to get tons of flavor without a lot of work in the kitchen. Natural peanut butter, a banana sprinkled with chocolate chips or spread on whole wheat toast is yummy and can be kid-friendly too. Try apples topped with peanut butter and low-fat granola.
How about Nairn’s Fruit and Cinnamon Biscuits with Raspberries or 100 percent fruit spread? Whole wheat tortilla shells or pitas cut into triangle, baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes and sprinkled with cinnamon and pure cane sugar? All great kid- and adult-friendly options that will keep your heart healthy and your waist shrinking!
Read your labels and think twice before you pick up that prepackaged goodie!
For more recipes and information on leading a healthy, balanced life, visit Blueprint online and Facebook.