[luv2tri]

I know triathletes tend to be very specific about food/fuel, especially as we approach races. I currently read some distrubing facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HCFS), So I dug through the pantry and fridge. HFCS is EVERYWHERE. Seriously. In trying to eliminate, or at least restrict it, out of my family's diet & I got rid of 70-80% of the food we had in the house. I went to the grocery store. OMG - EVERYWHERE. Does anyone else watch out for this stuff? If so what do you eat? I found this very distrubing that something that is potentially so very bad for us (humans) is everywhere.<br><br>
J9

 

[Tri_coach06]

I don't watch for it, but i doubt it's in chicken breast and salad, so I'm good. <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"><br><br>
Hi J, missed ya lately.<br><br>
CS

 

[Stitcher]

The other thing that's everywhere is gluten.<br><br>
I have a colleague who can't eat gluten. It's WAY hard to have an "out to eat" lunch with her due to her dietary restrictions. But, she's cool about it, and knows the places to go so as long as she picks, you're cool.<br><br>
Her sensitivity to gluten is so bad, if a food worker handles flour tortillas, then makes her food (even if her food is gluten free), she'll have a reaction.

 

[em73]

I try VERY hard not to eat it.<br><br>
This means that instead of flavored yogurt, I buy fat free plain yogurt and add frozen fruit or honey to it. I also completely gave up soda (diet and regular), and am very very careful on the rare occasions I buy juice.<br><br>
I tend not to buy most prepared foods anyway (I'm allergic to garlic - I read a <b>lot</b> of labels). the thing that kills me is salad dressing - try to find a low fat, low calorie, garlic free, low in vinegar salad dressing that tastes good. if you can, please send me like 90 cases of it.<br><br>
I pretty much just completely gave up eating ketchup once I read the ingredients, although I think the organic might be ok.

 

[Dougie Fresh]

It's in place you wouldn't expect. I have to search very carefully to find whole wheat bread without it. There aren't too many brands without it. It's such a pain. The other ones that are pervasive: trans-fats and MSG. Try finding a salad dressing w/o MSG and/or HFCS. Good luck.

 

[luv2tri]

Hi CS! I thought that might be one of your kids in your avatar! it is good to be back. Oh - and don't be sooo sure about the chicken, I have found they add stuff to it in the packaging for a bunch of companies....<br>
Stitcher - Gluten, well that is the second thing I will attempt to limit after I get the HFCS thing under control. I have a few friends who are celiac, and it is a huge pain for them. it was worse when they did not know what the problem was. Docs don't diagnose it very easily.<br>
Em - Heinz has an organic ketchup that uses real sugar (brown I think) instead of HFCS. I can mostly live with out it but my kids can't. They drown or dip everything into it, so this will work for now. I have a recipe for low sugar ketchup too, when I try it I'll let you know if it is any good.<br><br>
J9

 

[bcc594]

I avoid reading about this sort of stuff as much as I can. What's the bad thing about HFCS? Any links to a brief story about it? Thanks!

 

[intensebeet]

Organic Heinz ketchup doesn't have any in it, tastes better too. When you cut it out of your regular diet you really can start to taste it in foods that do have it in it.<br><br>
ETA: I need to refresh threads when it takes me half an hour to respond...this has already been covered.

 

[luv2tri]

I have to run to class right now, so I will post some links in a little while. J9

 

[LookiLoo]

I try really hard not to - I have become a serious label reader and try as much as possible to eat food that has as little processing as possible - oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt, fruits, veggies, tons of beans, nuts etc. I think I eat way less HFCS now than I used to, but it only came from being vigilant.<br><br>
Gluten on the other hand - I'm glad I don't have issues that I am aware of, that is much harder to avoid in my opinion.<br><br>
All this said, I'm certainly no food saint, as the supply of GS thin mints in my desk drawer gets smaller and smaller every day <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif">

 

[txdave13]

It is hard to avoid, but I do my best.<br><br>
I thought that surely there must be one brand of regular ol' pancake syrup without it. Nope. I had to pay $7 for a bottle of the premium stuff.<br><br>
To anyone curious about HFCS - and other dietary concerns in the modern world - I HIGHLY recommend "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.

 

[luv2tri]

Here are 3 links. The first is the lightest and easiest to read, the third is Michael Pollan, It is heavy, but it all rings true. read on, I'll check back later....<br><br>
J9<br><br><a href="http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=486" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#800080;">http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=486</span></span></span></a><br><br><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#800080;">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL</span></span></span></a><br><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#800080;">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin</span></span></span></a><br>

 

[RunningForT3]

I think HFCS is one of those things that, as long as you consume more calories than you eat, don't matter. It matters when you eat more than you spend, and then it's important where those calories come from. I'll take HFCS over the aspartame in artificial sweeteners anytime!

 

[bcc594]

Thanks J! Much appreciated. I'll probably get all paranoid soon!

 

[Nettie]

I thought this would be about Harold's Fried Chicken Shack. So tasty, so bad for me. <img alt="sad.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/sad.gif">

 

[hobey]

I don't worry too much about it since we don't eat a lot of processed food. I focus more on getting a lot of whole foods into our diet and I don't spend a lot of time label reading. Salad dressing in our house is EVOO & vinegar.

 

[luv2tri]

T3 - the problem with HCFS is that it is as fake a product as artificial sweetners. And it is in more stuff. Bread, ketchup, soup, cereal, juice, you name it. It is cheap and easy to produce. Lengthens shelf life of products - so almost all baked goods have it. Protects from freezer burn, so most frozen stuff can have it. The way I understand it is the does not process it the same way as natural sugar. It is a higher caloric count than sugar too. One of the links above also says the HCFS makes the liver kick out more fat cells than regular sugar. I am no fan of nutra sweet splenda either. I heard that the workers at the plant for nutra sweet have to wear hazmat type stuff to make nutrasweet. Then we eat what they can't breathe. Scary.

 

[em73]

you may have just made a major improvement in my life... I have IBS, and I've been slowly trying to identify and remove trigger foods (partial list: vinegar, onions, high fat foods, eating too quickly, many artificial sweeteners) one of the comments on that first link posted talks about Fructose Intolerance and a little wiki research leads me to believe that might be one of the big triggers for me.<br><br>
time to start playing around with my diet again. and thanks for the link!

 

[RunningForT3]

J9, HCFS is not artificial like other sweeteners, it's made out of corn syrup. The problem with it is that it tastes good, people eat a lot of it while not moving from the couch, and from that surplus of calories results obesity and so on. If there were anything proven dangerous (that includes aspartame-based products as well), the FDA would ban it immediately. After all, they'd recall all spinach products because somebody coughed after eating a pack... and more recently they recalled meat because the cows have been mistreated (err.... after all... you know, they were killed... so what happened, they didn't received their last rites?)

 

[mmoonptdeux]

It's hard to avoid HFCS, but I do my best myself to try. At the very least, I try to buy products that have it lower down in the ingredient list as opposed to one of the first ones listed (which indicates a higher percentage.)<br><br>
It is a little fun in terms of the food vices - who knew that the original Coca-Cola (or nowadays, the Mexican or Kosher versions) would be a helluva' lot better relatively-speaking than their HFCS cousin that's now the norm.