High Fructose Corn Syrup...

Why are kids bouncing off the walls, why is our society overweight, why do dentist make such a killing off of cavities!?   

I believe there are many reasons for this, however one very sneaky reason is high fructose corn syrup!  This is an artificial and cheap sweetener that is put in EVERYTHING these days.  Thanks to some highly paid advertisements from the HFCS organizations (the Corn Refiners Association), people think that it is "good" for you and is "naturally made from corn".  Those commercials are an insult to our intelligence!  

Let's brake down HFCS shall we?

(my Mom, the chemist could do this a lot better, but I will try, she can correct me later)

Fructose:  By itself, fructose is found in many foods, naturally, such as fruit.  Fructose is a monosaccharide (a simple sugar). High-fructose corn syrup, however, refers to a family of mixtures of varying amounts of fructose and glucose.

Corn Syrup: Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn and composed mainly of glucose.

Glucose: Also a simple sugar and is a building block of dietary carbohydrates.

You put it all together in a lab and you get:

High Fructose Corn Syrup:  Combines any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness.  In the United States, it has become very common in processed foods and beverages, including breads, cereals, breakfast bars, yogurts, soups and condiments, apple sauces. Critics of the extensive use of HFCS in food sweetening argue that the highly processed substance is more harmful to humans than regular sugar, contributing to weight gain by affecting normal appetite functions, and that in some foods HFCS may be a source of mercury, a known neurotoxin.

Basically, ANYTHING in moderation is fine right?  Well, not EVERYTHING, in a vegan's stand point, but you know what I mean.  We all eat sugar, but we try to cut back.  We try to not get our kids addicted to sugar.  But with HFCS, this is near impossible if you do not read labels!  It is literally in everything, because it is a cheap filler, it makes products last longer and it is sweet and gets people addicted to the product. 

READ LABELS, BUY ALL NATURAL and again, READ LABELS! 

Get this, HFCS is usually the first or second ingredient too! Among the many brands of apple sauces, you have to sit and read each one and find the one that is just apples and water!  You don't need to extra artificial ingredients! There are alternatives and they are worth it!