Have You Eaten Your High Fructose Corn Syrup Today?
March 2, 2010 | VReitano
HFCS - Are you in the know?
If you’ve eaten well, just about anything today, then the answer is yes, you have had high fructose corn syrup. Do you know what it is? I didn’t either, but it (and other things in my food) were making me sick. I’m a recently diagnosed celiac, which means I can’t eat wheat, barley, and basically anything with gluten in it. Gluten is, according to the Imupro International dictionary, “generic term for “elastic protein” that occurs in wheat, rye, barley and oats.” Imupro International is a website dedicated to defining and detecting latent food allergies. Many of the things we eat are in fact harmful to a large percentage of the population, and the scary thing about that? Many of those affected never know. Celiac often begins to affect people of college age. Despite the fact that I was exercising and dieting, I was still incredibly tired, always hungry and didn’t really feel like myself. My mother was diagnosed with celiac disease and I thought it might be worth it to get tested as well as we had always had the same symptoms. And POOF! as the result of several conversations and test results, the life I had known for the past 21 years–of pasta, pizza and crusty, wonderfully warm Italian bread–was over. I am a celiac and those days are behind me, but thankfully so are the days of belly-aches, insomnia and heart burn.
Does this sound like you? Are you constantly sick despite eating healthy? Do you watch everything you put into your body and only eat the most wholesome of ingredients? If this sounds like you and you still feel sick–or have any of these potential symptoms listed on Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s Web site–you might want to try a gluten free diet.
What’s gluten? Well it “is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, contaminated oats, and a multitude of other products. It is also a food additive found in everything from ketchup to pharmaceuticals.” That’s a lot of things right? Well until you begin reading labels you can’t IMAGINE how many things contain gluten AND how many other indistinguishable ingredients are found in some of your favorite foods.
Special K is a prime example of this situation. It contains “rice, sugar, whole wheat, wheat gluten, freeze-dried strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, wheat flour, defatted wheat germ, salt, malt flavoring, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), alpha tocopherol, reduced iron, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamin hydrochloride, riboflavin, vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, vitamin B12.” Why do I know what’s on the back of a Special K box? Well, when I told my friends that I–their lasagna loving, pasta making, formerly cupcake loving friend–could no longer eat gluten (and everything I used to eat/cook) they were flabbergasted! The questions were endless: What is gluten? What do you mean you can’t eat bread? Are you sure? Really sure? After all these questions they were actually curious about this new lifestyle because after a week of eating gluten free, even THEY could see that I felt better. I no longer broke off plans because of unexplained stomach aches, or missed lunch dates because I over slept, and they also appreciated not getting emails at 4 a.m. when I couldn’t sleep! Getting gluten free is helping me get back to being me, and it’s that what we all what when we plan to “get in shape?”
My friends came over yesterday during the snow storm and wanted a snack. Of course I only had Glutino brand pretzels and so I put a bowl of those out. They ate them and couldn’t believe they didn’t have gluten in them! My friend Nicole expected them to taste dry and salty and yet she was surprised by the crunchy, buttery taste. I then pulled out my cereal because she was curious about what exactly things were made out of if they didn’t contain the mystical, magical Gluten and High Fructose Corn syrup!! Well, here’s what the back of my Glutino “Honey Nut O’s” contain: “corn flour, corn starch, dehydrated cane juice, almond meal, honey, natural honey nut flavor, canola oil, baking powder, salt.” Can you pronounce all those ingredients? I can too! It’s wonderful isn’t it? My friend Nicole agreed as well. She couldn’t believe how little ingredients were used in my “g-free” food AND how many she could identify.
I’m on a g-free diet because of my allergy, but some of my friends are considering it because of it’s purity. This pure diet is rumored to give you more energy, lower cholesterol, and help you manage your weight. Sounds good, right? And to be quite honest, many of the products aren’t that much more expensive than whole wheat products. So since I was eating whole wheat before this, I don’t really notice a change in my food shopping bills. If you live in a dorm, however, it might be a little harder. This College Celiac Facebook group should help you make better choices in your cafeteria and celiac.com will help you maneuver restaurants and life as a gluten-free dieter. I will try to continue posting about my experiences, tips and tricks of being gluten-free, because as far as I’m concerned, Gluten Free is the Way to Be!!!
