HEALTH

If you have read this post on “Foods To Avoid” you will know that I work very hard to keep High Fructose Corn Syrup out of our home. Here are a couple of the reasons why:

 Dr. Mehmet Oz, author of You: The Owner’s Manual, made big news when he appeared on Oprah and told audiences that they should stop consuming HCFS. Dr. Oz says that the higher fructose content means that our bodies process HFCS differently than other sugars:

One of the biggest evil influences on our diet is the presence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that itself is a sugar found in soft drinks and many other sweet, processed foods. The problem is that HCFS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you’re full. And it never shuts off gherin, so, even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you’re hungry.

Lots of folks, from the Weston A. Price Society to the AARP have said similar things, noting the very strong correlation between HFCS and obesity. Here’s Nina Planck’s take:

Intake of high fructose corn syrup grew by more than 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding changes in consumption of any other food. The rise of corn syrup mirrors the increase in obesity. Fructose also raises insulin, blood pressure, and triglycerides…stop eating all forms of industrial corn.

For more reading on HFCS:Very thorough post on HFCS

Breads/Cereals 
(MOST breads have HFCS.  There is more of a demand for HFCS-free bread, so I have been seeing bread companies respond to that demand, slowly but surely!

• Natures Own 100% Whole Wheat bread (note, their other varieties do contain HFCS, but not this one)*
• Rudi’s Organic 100% Whole Wheat bread
• Sara Lee Hearty and Delicious 100% Wheat With Honey Bread*
• Sara Lee Hearty and Delicious 100% Whole Wheat Bread*
• Pepperidge Farms Whole Grain Wheat Bread
• Pepperidge Farms 100% Whole Wheat Bagels*
• Kashi Cereals*
• Cheerios*
• Total
• Total Cinnamon Crunch
• Post Grape-Nuts
• Life Cereal
• Quaker Oatmeal*
• (or make homemade granola)

Condiments

• Annie’s Naturals Organic Ketchup
• Annie’s Naturals Organic Honey Mustard
• Annie’s Naturals Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce
• Annie’s Naturals Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette (great used as a grilled chicken marinade!)
• Bull’s-Eye Original Barbeque Sauce
• Cascadian Farms Sweet Pickle Relish
• Frenchs Honey Dijon Mustard (Most regular mustard contains hfcs, but a lot of the “honey” mustard’s do)
• Heinz Organic Ketchup*
• Hellman’s Mayonnaise
• Wishbone Bountiful’s Salad Dressing
• Natural Jif Peanut Butter*
• Polaner All Fruit Spread(*we use jelly all the time on pb & j sandwiches and toast, so finding on w/o HFCS was exciting!)
• Welches 100% Fruit Spreads

Ice Creams

• Nature’s Promise Organic Ice Creams
• Breyer’s All Natural Ice Cream*
• Breyers Pure Fruit Strawberry Fruit Bars*
• Luigi Italian Ice
• Dreyers/Edy’s Strawberry Fruit Ice Cream Bars
• Some Ben & Jerry’s (ones with bits of candy and cookies usually do have HFCS

Crackers

• Nabisco Original Triscuits*
• Some Pepperidge Farm Crackers and Cookies

Chocolate:

• Cadbury-most
• Hershey’s Skor
• Hershey’s Special Dark Candy Bar
• Dove-most *

Maple syrup:

• Only use 100% pure maple syrup!*

Granola Bars

• Kashi*
• Nature Valley Oats and Honey Granola Bars*

Waffles (*I usually make homemade, recipe here, homemade pancake recipe here)

• Kashi Go Lean

Yogurt

• Breyer’s
• Brown Cow*
• Dannon Activa
• Stoneyfield Farm*
• Wallaby Organic*

Applesauce

• Mott’s Natural Apple Sauce (add honey to sweeten, I use this in place of oil in many baking recipes)*

Orange Juice

• Simply Orange Juice Products*
• Simply Lemonaide

Soda

• China Cola
• Archer Farms Brand Natural Italian Soda
• Blue Sky Soft Drinks
• Jones Pure Cane Soda

Pasta Sauce (I usually made homemade, recipe here)

• Ragu Organic Pasta Sauce
• Classico (most )

Think of it as an ‘exchange” — HFCS food for non-HFCS.  It seems less restricting, it is not that you have to go without, but be aware of the ingredients in certain products, and exchange the products you have been using, for more healthful ones.
I am fairly sure these products do not contain Non-hydrogenated Oils, which is another BIG thing to avoid. 


*the products I use most often
**excuse the crazy sized font and spaces on this post.  After trying for 45 minutes to fix it, I gave up!