Controversy: The Corn Refiners Association Takes Our Lady of Weight Loss to Task by Janice Taylor, Life & Wellness Coach, Author, Columnist and 50 pound big-time-loser! (For free consultation, write Janice.)
In my Tuesday’s blog post – Hungry and Cranky After School – I laid out in my usual spot-on humorous fashion useful and brilliant (if I say so myself) tips on “How to Keep Your Kid Happy and Healthy in the Face of School”.
In my #2 tip Read. Whether your child accompanies you to the grocery store or not; do spend some time reading the nutrition labels and comparing products together. Pay attention to the ingredients, and of course, portion size. Steer away from ‘enriched’ products and foods that have ‘high fructose corn syrup’ in them. (Enriched means that everything good has been stripped out, and the manufacturer had to put something back into it less it has no nutritional value and HFCS is simply unhealthy, in my opinion.)
. . . I briefly mentioned High Fructose Corn Syrup and received quite the e-mail from the Corn Refiners Association, letting me know that the “HFCS has a strong history as a safe ingredient recognized by food manufacturers and the U.S. government. In 1983, the Food and Drug Administration listed HFCS as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (known as GRAS status) for use in food, and reaffirmed that ruling in 1996. (61 Fed. Reg. 43447 (August 23, 1996), 21 C.F.R. 184.1866. Direct food substances affirmed as Generally Recognized as Safe; High Fructose Corn Syrup – Final Rule.): ”
I’m not so thrilled with something that is Generally Recognized as Safe. I would prefer ‘most definitely.’ That aside as it a government regulatory issue … I contacted Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of “What to Eat” and “Food Politics,” and asked her, “What about HFCS – is it good, bad or just ugly?”
To which Dr. Nestle replied, “HFCS is basically the same as sucrose–table sugar–but we eat more of it. So it’s a matter of quantity not quality, although too much sugar of any kind is not a good idea.”
Indeed, too much sugar of any kind is not good for us, and it seems that High Fructose Corn Syrup is in just about everything.
Therefore, I stand by my #2 tip: READ THE LABEL, see what’s in the ‘food’ that you are giving your children. Just know that HFCS is sugar, and we don’t want too much of it in our diets, do we?
Thanks to Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association, Washington, DC for writing me and to Dr. Marion Nestle for her quick response to my important question.
Spread the word, NOT the icing … (or in this case, the sugar)!
Janice
Follow Janice on Twitter! Food facts. tips and motivation throughout the day!
Workshops! Come, play with me!
Free Our Lady of Weight Loss E-Cards! Spread the FUN word!
For more motivation and inspiration, join the Kick in the Tush Club: Beliefnet Chapter.
Pick up a copy of Janice’s latest: All Is Forgiven, Move ON ~ Our Lady of Weight Loss’s 101 Fat-Burning Steps on Your Journey to Sveltesville!
” . . . . kooky genius ~ see if her idiosyncratic diet plan will work for you.” ~ O, The Oprah Magazine
about Janice