p Aid Org

High-fructose corn syrup is a common sweetener and preservative which is made by changing the sugar (glucose) in cornstarch to fructose which is another form of sugar. The end product is a combination of fructose and glucose. It has become a popular ingredient in many sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and other processed foods because it extends the shelf life of processed foods and is cheaper than sugar.

Recent media campaigns have been launched to improve the poor image of high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.  They are basically trying to promote this junk food additive as “healthy”.

Although the advertising campaigns don’t come right out and make the claim that HFCS is “health food”, they do try to cleverly fool people into thinking that it’s not bad for your health.  In fact, they make these claims:

It’s all natural
It’s no worse for you than table sugar
It’s made from corn
It has the same calories as table sugar

The truth is, these ads are highly misleading.  For one, as if our nation wasn’t already suffering an obesity epidemic, as well as skyrocketing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Now, they’re trying to make matters worse by fooling innocent people into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is somehow healthy. In fact, many beverages and other processed foods made with high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Regularly including these products in your diet has the potential to promote obesity, which in turn, promotes conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.  As for their claim that HFCS is ”no worse for you than sugar”, who cares because sugar is one of the worst things you can ingest in your body anyway, so it’s not a valid argument!  The bottom line is that HFCS is a highly processed, refined substance that makes you fat!

So if you’re concerned about the amount of high-fructose corn syrup or other sweeteners in your diet, consider these tips:

Limit processed foods.
Avoid foods that contain added sugar.
Choose fresh fruit rather than fruit juice or fruit-flavored drinks. Even 100 percent fruit juice has a high concentration of sugar.
Choose fruit canned in its own juices instead of heavy syrup.
Drink less soda.
Don’t allow sweetened beverages to replace milk, especially for children.

The point you need to understand is that if you want to be lean and healthy for life, you should be minimizing, or even eliminating all sugar and high fructose corn syrup.  In fact, most processed food should be eliminated altogether if you want to be serious about getting lean.

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