Almost everything you eat will contain some amount of high fructose corn syrup whether it came from your favorite restaurant or the grocery store. You will find it most often in juices, or highly processed foods.
There has been a movement in recent years to get rid of high fructose corn syrup in all foods that are on the market today. By doing this, experts and nutritionists are hoping to improve the overall health of the entire country and even the world. High fructose corn syrup can be found in high amounts in the US, where the obesity rate is higher than other modernized countries around the world.
The reason we are seeing a rise in high fructose corn syrup in the US is due to the explosion of fast food restaurants and the highly-processed foods that we are consuming to keep up with our busy lives. Everyone is on the go and the foods that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup are readily available. They can be easily accessed by simple driving through a drive thru. High fructose corn syrup is the main factor in why the US has such a high obesity rate and experts are trying to restrict the use of HFCS to move people into a healthier lifestyle.
It is very important that we make the transition from diets that consist mostly of high fructose corn syrup and overly processed foods and into more of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Not only would it cause the nation as a whole to lose weight and become healthier, it would also allow us to live a longer life.
The more high fructose corn syrup we have in our diets, the more likely we are to become obese and die at a younger age. We need certain amounts of fructose in our diets, but when we have too much we run the risk of developing life altering or life threatening diseases.
Now, you may be asking what high fructose corn syrup is exactly and why it is so bad for your health. HFCS is a version of artificial sugar made from corn syrup, and when added to foods it causes them to become overly sweet.
While we should steer clear of most artificial sweeteners, there are some that are not as bad as HFCS. The fructose in HFCS is found naturally in small amounts in certain fruits and vegetables. While our bodies can handle small amounts of fructose, they are not designed to successfully handle it in large amounts. When it comes to looking at the amount of added sugar in certain foods, you want to check the back label on the product.
There are many foods that have sugars naturally, but when the number begins to climb to extreme heights, it is safe to say that HFCS has been added. In a normal 12 ounce can of soda, you can find an average of 50 grams of added sugar which is an outrageous amount. On average, most Americans will drink around four or five soft drinks per day depending on their situation and personal preference.
Those numbers are very high and they are climbing rapidly, so the time to act and get rid of the high fructose corn syrup is NOW. There are other alternatives when it comes to adding an artificial sweetener to your dishes and drinks. When you are shopping for ingredients, you will want to make sure that you avoid the foods with added sugar and find the ones that have little to no added sugars in them.
There are also resources online that can help you to find the foods that are low in sugar that you should be eating. Your doctor can refer you to a nutritionist who can help you to choose the right foods for you that will help keep you healthy. Getting yourself on the right track to reducing the high fructose corn syrup in your life is very important.
While there are many reasons that high fructose corn syrup is bad for you and can negatively impact your health, there are six reasons that are more in the forefront when it comes to HFCS. These are the ones that have been shown to have the most negative effect on the human body and the ones that can cause more dangerous health conditions to form or become worse than you may have experienced before.
It is very important to remember that you should always have your annual checkup with your doctor to make sure that you are in good overall health. You will also want to keep a check on any genetic disorders or diseases that can be made worse by the wrong types of food. You doctor will be able to help you make the transition from a lifestyle with HFCS to a healthier lifestyle with the right foods.
Reasons to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup
Let’s take a look at those six reasons you should avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup:
1. Higher Fructose
Foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup can cause you to have larger amounts of fructose in your diet. The higher the fructose count in your body, the more likely you are to develop health issues or to make your current health issues worse. Your liver is designed to break down sugars and the HFCS to be able to turn them into energy that your body can use in a positive way.
When you add in too much fructose, your liver is unable to breakdown the large amounts of fructose and cannot turn it into the energy that your body needs. Without that natural energy from your foods, you can feel sluggish and weighed down.
You need the energy that comes from your liver breaking down your food to be able to perform high intensity exercises. It can also aid you if you are performing low intensity exercises and you need that extra energy boost that comes from your food.
2. Fat Conversion
High Fructose Corn Syrup will be turned into fat by your body at a faster rate when you have a large amount of it in your system. While healthy fat is fine in small amounts in your body, when you are constantly eating something that has high fructose corn syrup in it, your body will become heavier a lot faster than it would if you did not have HFCS in your diet.
When you continuously eat foods that are rich in HFCS, you are going to gain a significant amount of weight at a very fast rate. The more you eat, the more you will gain, and the more health problems that you will incur as a result. Research studies have shown that eating large amounts of HFCS over a month’s time can lead to a jump in liver fat of around 30%. The HFCS is digested in a different way than other food or food ingredients, so you are more likely to gain an excessive amount of weight very quickly.
3. Health Issues Increase
When you have large amounts of HFCS in your diet, or you only eat foods that are high in it, you are putting yourself at risk of developing diabetes and visceral fat surrounding your organs.
When you have visceral fat surrounding your organs, they do not work properly and can cause you to develop diabetes, as well as heart disease. So in addition to packing on the pounds and risking becoming obese, you are more likely to have health issues that are related to weight gain.
Visceral fat is the worst type of fat that you can have in your body and it is the type of fat that you want to make sure you get rid of as soon as possible before you develop health problems. Research studies have indicated that the average American is consuming around 500-600 calories a day in sugar alone.
4. Diabetes
An excessive intake of high fructose corn syrup can lead to type 2 Diabetes in men and women. When you are constantly consuming HFCS on a regular basis, you are at an increased risk of having a health issues known as insulin resistance.
Having insulin resistance will eventually lead you to type 2 diabetes, and will require you to take insulin because your body will no longer be able to produce its own insulin, and even if it can produce insulin on its own, the insulin won’t work right.
If you develop type 2 diabetes, you will also experience other health issues that can come with the diabetes, and you will be more likely to develop other health issues that can be caused by high blood sugar, such as heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer of women, so women certainly need to keep that in mind.
5. Inflammation Disease
Inflammation is the swelling of your joints, muscles, and other parts of your body. Consuming large amounts of high fructose corn syrup can cause inflammation to become more pronounced and lead to an increased risk of inflammation related diseases.
Heart disease is caused by severe inflammation of the heart and the muscles around the heart. HFCS can make this disease worse, as it will accelerate the cells in your body. It can also cause you to age at a faster rate due to the harmful products that are in HFCS. And aging faster is not limited to just crow’s feet and wrinkles.
You are running the risk of developing late age related diseases that can significantly decrease the quality of your life. Gout is a disease that is cause mainly by inflammation. Consuming large amounts of HFCS can cause gout to become worse and could lead to the amputation of limbs and body parts that are affected by the gout.
If you are diagnosed with cancerous tumors, high fructose corn syrup can cause the tumors to grow at a more rapid rate, which will significantly cut your life expectancy. You can even develop cancer and cancer like cells from consuming too much HFCS.
6. Nutrients
Unlike foods such as fruits and vegetables, foods with HFCS contain no nutrients. The sugar overpowers any healthy nutrients that may be in them and pours more sugar into your body. High fructose corn syrup can cause the calories in your body to increase and the nutrients in your body to decrease.
High fructose corn syrup is often referred to as empty calories, which means that while you are consuming calories, you are consuming calories that have absolutely no nutritional value to them. You want to look for foods that are low in calories, but also have a good amount of nutritional value to them. By adding those kinds of foods to your diet, you are more likely to keep your weight under control and you will quite possibly even manage to boost your overall nutrition.
Let’s face it! High Fructose Corn Syrup is something that we encounter on a daily basis, even when we are cooking in our own kitchens. While it is very important to our overall health, it is also important that we take the time to learn about our foods and to make time in our busy lives to make sure we are getting the proper nutrition that we need.
The high fructose corn syrup causes your stomach to become full much faster than more nutrient rich foods, but you will also become hungry a lot faster than you would with nutrient rich foods. There are classes available online that you can take that will help you to better determine which type of food will be better for your diet.
You can also talk to a nutritionist about the foods you should be looking for. While it is okay to have some foods that contain high fructose corn syrup in your diet, you want to make sure that you consume those in very small doses and on rare occasions.
It will be difficult at first to transition to a new diet and a new way of life in terms of the foods you eat, but once you have adjusted to this new lifestyle it will become second nature to you. It is important to get rid of the high fructose corn syrup foods in your diet as quickly as possible as the longer you consume those empty calories, the more likely you are to develop significant health problems. Not only would you be dealing with obesity, you would also be dealing with weight related problems as well.
Like I said earlier, the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer is higher. If you have preexisting conditions, the added weight gain from high fructose corn syrup will only cause your diseases and conditions to become worse. When it comes to HFCS, your life is literally at stake when you are consuming large amounts on a regular basis. You have to ask yourself “Is it really worth it?”
If you are unsure of where to begin in reducing the amount of high fructose corn syrup in your diet, talk with your medical doctor. Not only do they know your complete medical history, they also know what foods you can start with to make the transition easier. Most people have a hard time changing to foods without high fructose corn syrup all at one time, and find it easier to slowly make the transition.
If you are one of those people, talk with your doctor and get a referral to a nutritionist who can help you make the move over a period of a few weeks or even a few months. This way, you will begin to make those healthy lifestyle changes without overwhelming your system or yourself. You will have to be willing to make those changes and let go of the foods that are high in fructose though.
High Fructose Corn Syrup Side Effects Conclusion
When it comes to your overall health, high fructose corn syrup should be nowhere on your list of food ingredients. Take the time to research the foods you are currently eating and see what types of foods you can replace them with.
If you take the time to research, it will pay off in the end as you will be able to walk into a supermarket and choose the foods that have little to no high fructose corn syrup in them. It will also help keep the movement moving forward towards a nation that does not rely on high fructose corn syrup foods to make it through the day.
Be sure to talk with your doctor before you begin changing your diet, you will want to make sure that you are incorporating a completely healthy lifestyle. This will also give you a chance to see if those HFCS foods have negatively affected you already and what you can do to help stop and reverse the affects. When it comes to your health and your life, high fructose corn syrup has no place. Your body will thank you for doing this!
