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ORIGINAL: StephK

Soft Drink Sweetener Linked to Diabetes in Kids






August 24, 2007


Researchers have found new evidence that soda pop sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children.

In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels.

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Go take a look at those labels and, when you come back to finish this article, I will tell you why you may be having such a hard time flattening your abs, and why, even if they are flat, you may feel so dull every day!


If you did this little exercise, you may be surprised at the number of multi-syllable words that look more like they should be the ingredients of super glue than of something you’re eating. It is time to enlighten you with regard to what some of these ingredients are and what they can do to you. The gigantic and often strange words listed as ingredients (where food items are supposed to be!) are various concoctions used to color, stabilize, emulsify, bleach, texturize, soften, preserve, sweeten, add or cover smells, and flavor! In case you were wondering just how many of these little chemicals were sneaking into your mouth each year, current statistics say that the FDA lists approximately 2800 international food additives and about 3,000 chemicals, which are deliberately added to our food supply. When considering the number of chemicals used in the process of growing and processing food, by the food to the time it reaches our stomach we have consumed between 10,000 and 15,000 chemicals a day! (1)

It turns out that food scientists have determined how to manipulate the part of your brain that controls food cravings called the appestat. The appestat constantly monitors the nutrient content of you blood and only when fifty-one specific nutrients are present at their proper levels will an individual feel entirely full and satisfied. Food scientists have found that by adding or subtracting some of these nutrients, they can manipulate your sense of hunger and satiety. While the research is still incomplete, it’s believed that that adding excess fat, sugar and salt to a food tends to make people over eat (4). This is why both sugar and salt show up in some of the strangest places. For example, would you have expected to find sugar in sandwich meats? Have a look at the ingredients on the package in your refrigerator and look for words ending with “ose”. Anything ending with this suffix is a sugar. While you’re at it, look at your catsup bottle, your canned soups, medicines and even cigarettes! How sweet of them to play such tricks on your appetite centers. If you are overweight, you are more than likely one of millions of victims of chemical manipulation!

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ORIGINAL: stampinlady

Ok, now that I'm so overwhelmed by all of this information, how do I change our my families eating habits!!!! Dh went on Atkins a few years ago and we started reading labels. I was shocked at how many things have HFCS in it! I have friends who do gluten free for health reasons and I'm starting to wonder just how much out food choices affect us. We have very heavy family members including myself, who really need to get that weight off. Will eliminating HFCS do this? I know it's expensive to buy organic meat, but it it really worth it? I never thought about cornfed vs grass fed cow before. Hmmm .?

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Uh-Oh: FDA Now Calls Stevia Unsafe

The South American herb stevia, which is used as a natural sweetener, has been called an “unsafe food additive” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA sent a letter to Hain Celestial Group Inc, maker of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, saying the stevia used in some of their teas may be dangerous to blood sugar and reproductive, cardiovascular, and renal systems.

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If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy

* Story Highlights
* Biologist: 'We're like corn chips walking'
* Soybeans account for 10 percent of calories in U.S., NIH doctor says
* More omega-3 fatty acids in diet can improve mental health, he says

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent

ATLANTA (CNN) -- To a degree some may find hard to swallow, science is proving the old adage "you are what you eat."

Proteins and fats in your food are incorporated into your body and brain with potentially profound effects on your health and even your behavior.

Todd Dawson, a plant biologist at the University of California-Berkeley, can test a strand of hair to determine how much corn is in your diet or mine by looking for a form of carbon found in corn.

"We are what we eat with respect to carbon, for sure. So if we eat a particular kind of food, and it has a particular kind of carbon in it, that's recorded in us, in our tissues, in our hair, in our fingernails, in the muscles," Dawson says.

Dawson tested a strand of my hair: 69 percent of the carbon came from corn.

This may seem high, but it is typical for Americans.

"We're like corn chips walking because we really have a very, very large fraction of corn in our diets, and we actually can't help it because it's an additive in so many of the foods we find on the market shelves," Dawson says.

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ORIGINAL: HisCovenant

I wish I could just once see a recommendation by the FDA that didn't make me think less of them.