America is the wealthiest and the fattest country in the world. We invented Google, we put a man on the moon, yet we can’t lose weight.
In the late 1970′s, less than 15% of Americans were obese. Here we are, thirty years later and that number has more than doubled. So, what happened?
First, we believed that fat was evil and “low fat” diets were best. Whenever possible, fat was removed from processed foods and replaced with sugars and other carbs. Around the same time, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) got really cheap and became the go-to sweetener for food manufacturers.
Since the days of the low-fat diet craze, we’ve learned that fat doesn’t make you fat. We have learned that refined carbohydrates like sugar and HFCS do. Oops! A lot of damage has been done since then, but we can work with our hormones to teach our bodies to react to food the way they did before we overwhelmed our insulin response systems.
Researchers at Tufts University reported that Americans consume more calories from soda and other sweet drinks (which contain tons of HFCS) than from any other source.
What do we do about it? A good place to start is to get rid of HFCS in our diets altogether. This sweetener is hands down the most evil, because it is incredibly damaging to your metabolism, and it’s everywhere.
You may have recently seen a commercial run by the Corn Refiners Association that tries to convince you that people who think high fructose corn syrup is bad for you, are just crazy and paranoid. The commercial suggests that most people can’t even tell you why HFCS is bad for you. Well, I’m going to tell you why right now, and feel free to pass this information on: HFCS boosts your fat-storing hormones and in turn makes you fat! Glucose (what table sugar is turned into in your body) is metabolized by all your cells, but fructose (the “F” in HFCS) must be metabolized in the liver. Let’s explore this some more: HFCS tricks the body into not releasing essential hormones insulin and leptin. Without insulin, your body can’t use the calories you just consumed for energy, and without leptin, your brain doesn’t tell your body that you’re full. Plus, unlike table sugar, HFCS doesn’t stop your hunger hormone, (aka: ghrelin) from rising. So if you eat or drink high fructose corn syrup, you’ll continue to consume more calories, even 24 hours later, than you would if you had just eaten plain old table sugar.
Bottom line: high fructose corn syrup is a poison. So toss it!
To your health,
Sima Cohen
