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High-Fructose Corn Syrup There is one primary reason why people fail on diets - and why they eat poorly to begin with. They're so damn hungry. Anatomically, it's a little more complicated. And the complication has come in the form of a little-known but shockingly ubiquitous food additive called High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).Never heard of HFCS? Then you'll be even more shocked by this next fact: the average American consumes almost 29 kg/63 lb of it each year, and consumers elsewhere don't lag far behind. Sit and think about that for a moment. Sixty-two pounds of it each year - or about 228 extra calories every day - and you don't even know what it is. And you're not going to be any happier once you find out: see, up until the 1970's most sweets were made with simple white sugar. Bad for you, but it was what it was. You sated your sweet tooth, your body absorbed the calories, and you got full pretty fast. But about three decades ago, food manufacturers discovered an easier way to make fizzy drinks, cereals, yogurts and 40,000 other manufactured foods taste sweeter. They developed HFCS, which is derived from corn (maize) and is many times cheaper - and sweeter - than simple sugar. Today, HFCS is added to a shocking number of foods, including foods you wouldn't equate with sweeteners: ketchup, pasta, sauce, even crackers. And it's screwing up our metabolic system. Mechanically, the system works like this: when you eat any type of carbohydrate (like bread or fruit), your body releases insulin to regulate your body weight - pushing those carb calories into your muscles to be used as energy or storing them for later use. Then, like a shut off mechanism on a petrol pump, it suppresses your appetite. That's the signal that tells your body to stop filing; your tank is full. The problem is that fructose doesn't stimulate insulin anywhere like as much as regular sugar (sucrose) does, so your body doesn't register it the way it registers simple white sugar. That's why it's possible to see people drink 2-litre bottles of soft drinks in a single sitting. Thirty years ago, that would have been an impossible task, but today, HFCS makes the same number of calories go down and, incredibly, still leaves you hungry for more. Back to Fitness Fanatic Homepage. |
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