I can only imagine who they're going to spin this...

Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Princeton University just released a study showing HFCS contributes to obesity. You can read the article here.

Obviously those of us who think HFCS is partly responsible for dietary health abyss this country is falling into feel that this will finally give some legitimacy to what we've been saying.

However, I'm rather interested in seeing how the other side responses to this.

I figure there's three things they can do.

1. They can attack Princeton.
2. They can attack the study.
3. They can attack the message.

I suspect they probably won't do the first thing. That would look really petty. However I do expect them to attack the study and the message is sends.

I'm sure right now there's a study showing that there's no link between HFCS and obesity. You know once it's done they'll roll that baby out! I also expect them to go over the study with a fine toothed comb and tout any inconsistency they can find.

I also expect to see lots more of those "HFCS, it's just like sugar" with lots of healthy looking happy people playing in the park, with not a fat person in sight!

You're Trying to become...What?

So scanning several of my RSS feeds this morning I came across this jem: Woman aims to become worlds fattest.

I'm not one for overly disparaging others. If you've got a goal of making it to 1000lbs, that's a goal I suppose. In my eyes a horrifyingly sad goal, but a goal none the less.

What truely saddens me is that this woman has a daughter. While it's not mentioned in the article, it sounds like a young one at that.

Firstly, That kid is going to have a seriously fucked up notion of what's healthy and what healthy eating is.

The reason I wrote this post is that as I'm reading this article all I can think of is that upcoming TV show hosted by Jamie Oliver where he goes into a town in the US and tries to tackle the towns obesity problem. This woman is almost the flip side to what Jamie Oliver is trying to do.

Secondly, chances are pretty damn good she won't make it to her kids high school graduation, and that's truely sad.

Long time, no blog!

Hey, it's been busy at this end!

Am I the only one whose been watching this whole debate about the healthcare reform and has merely come to the conclusion that their all disingenuous miscreants? Read some of my earlier posts about healthcare... I'm not going to repeat myself.

If you've read my blog with any frequency in the past, you know that I have a long standing issue with the rampant use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (hence referred to as HFCS) in practically everything we eat. My wife whose healthy skepticism regarding some of my more passion rants about things finally hit the tipping point when she noticed that there was HFCS in the yogurt she was buying. Needless to say, there's a lot more Stonyfield organic yogurt in the house, and I couldn't be happier.

I'll move away from HFCS for a moment and rant about something else that I find in products all the time that drives me crazy... preservatives. I understand that you want to extend shelf-life, I hear ya. However, when I pick up something from the freezer section and I find both HFCS and preservatives, obviously you've lost my sale, but it begs another question... if it's got preservatives in it, why's it in the freezer?? Mind you, I'm not talking about Italian ice, I'm talking about something like frozen waffles. I make home made waffles all the time and the ones we don't eat end up getting put into the chest freezer for eating at a later date and they're just fine.

I promise to parrot Michael Poulin as little as possible, but I've gotten to the point where if I can not readily identify all the ingredients, I don't buy it.

This approach to buying food has altered our diets in some interesting ways. For one thing, the junk food has truly left the house. If we're going to have a package of cookies in the house as a treat, and keeping with the rule laid out above, it forces us to buy higher quality products. It also means that our consumption of fruits and vegetables has significantly increased.

As we've cut the HFCS and preservatives out of the house, something odd has happened to our portions... they've shrunk. As far as I can tell my gastronomy hasn't suddenly become spectacularly efficient. What I think has happened is that my bodies sense of being "full" isn't being suppressed anymore.

In a rather non subjective test, I have noticed that I have no problem completely emptying a regular (HFCS) can of soda. However I can only seem to get partly through one made with real sugar. Obviously, not a double blind experiment, but it would be interesting to do such a test and see what the results are!

For us the real results have been that our waists have significantly shrunk. Granted, our grocery bill has gone up, but I'm honestly okay with it. I think of it this way: "I'm investing in my health." I'm blessed to have to healthy children and I'd like to get them off to a great start in life by giving them some healthy eating habits. My oldest daughter abhors soda, and I'm a-okay with it. For full disclosure it should be noted that we're both at the gym three times a week... so in a nutshell... eating healthy and getting your ass to the gym helps you lose weight... I know crazy talk!

Something else that I really want to get going on this year is a much expanded garden! Last year I had to have MAJOR construction in my back yard (basically all my retaining walls needed to be rebuilt) and it caused all my grass to go goodbye... This I see as a great opportunity to put a huge garden! I know that once my garden gets growing it'll have the added benefit of giving me both fresher veggies and reducing my grocery bill.