Down with HFCS!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

I But yeah, if you're going to drown your salad in full-fat ranch dressing, you're almost better off eating a cheeseburger (both of which are terrible for you).

Actually, neither of them is terrible for you if you're eating in moderation.

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Actually, neither of them is terrible for you if you're eating in moderation.

Meth isn't terrible for you if you take it in moderation either.

OK yeah that was a cheap strawman. But people's ideas of "moderation" are vastly different. Having a high-fat, high-calorie meal once in a while is fine. But if that's more than one or two meals per week, that isn't moderation, it's the rule (unless you are an athlete and are burning a seriously high amount of calories, in which your weight goals are probably different anyway, or you have an abnormally fast metabolism). Foods high in fat raise your cholesterol levels and clog your arteries. Sorry, but that is bad for you. I find, for me personally, eating a Double-Double is hard to justify except a couple times a year (and only then, it's if I've been doing the regular gym thing and not kidding myself about how many calories I've eaten that week).

I think the feeling of "satisfaction" though when you eat is sort of a cop-out. You can't just eat until you're satisfied. If you're eating ANYTHING after you're full, you're overeating. Frankly, if you ARE full, you're overeating. Like Morrigoon says, it is portion control, but in that portion one needs to take into account how many calories one wants to eat, and stop. You can eat MORE (volume-wise) of lower calorie food.

At the beginning of any weight-loss regimen, where your calories expended are greater than your calorie intake, I know I'm going to feel hungry. I try and avoid this by eating smaller portions at regular intervals, but I'm still gonna feel hungry at the beginning. As long as my calories are around 1400 per day, I'm gonna feel hungry but I'm not starving myself (I think under 1200 calories, your body goes into starvation mode, which has its own set of issues).

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

Frankly, if you ARE full, you're overeating.

This isn't necessarily true. My periods of greatest health have involved eating very small meals very regularly. My stomach shrinks pretty quickly, and pretty soon a half of a restaurant sandwich feels like the equivalent of three filled buffet plates during non-healthy periods. The trick there is to keep up that regularity, or you'll end up feeling really hungry and tripping up by eating more than you can comfortably digest, thus stretching back out the stomach. Bleah.

Sure, HFCS isn't particularly good for you, nor are partially hydrogenated oils or "diet" foods with little beneficial substance. Eating less and moving more, focusing on fresh produce and less-processed foods... all these things are great. The real problem a lot of people have, though, is that their eating is based on behavioral development. Somewhere along the line, people have learned: food makes me feel better. Food makes me forget. Food makes me calmer. Food makes me remember good things. Food makes me feel less lonely. Those are problems that are much less easy to solve than simply buying the right kinds of foods.

And on top of that, when behavioral addictions are involved, unlike alcoholics, over-eaters don't have the liberty of quitting cold turkey. (Well, they can quit eating cold turkey. But they can't quit eating.)

What I'm saying is: it's a multifaceted, deep-level problem and it's not going to be fixed unless people make the behavioral changes for themselves.

On another note - there's nothing wrong with putting vinegar AND oil on one's salad, if you're not overdoing it. Olive oil is very good for you - and it's not medically advised to cut out fats completely.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

On another note - there's nothing wrong with putting vinegar AND oil on one's salad, if you're not overdoing it. Olive oil is very good for you - and it's not medically advised to cut out fats completely.

I love olive oil, but instead of bathing in it via salad and stir fry, I drizzle it sparingly on steamed or raw vegetables with the calmness of a shaman and the meticulousness of tea ceremony.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

The real problem a lot of people have, though, is that their eating is based on behavioral development. Somewhere along the line, people have learned: food makes me feel better. Food makes me forget. Food makes me calmer. Food makes me remember good things. Food makes me feel less lonely. Those are problems that are much less easy to solve than simply buying the right kinds of foods.

And on top of that, when behavioral addictions are involved, unlike alcoholics, over-eaters don't have the liberty of quitting cold turkey. (Well, they can quit eating cold turkey. But they can't quit eating.)

However, like alcoholics, the eating (or drinking) to feel good is the same. I could replace the work "alcohol" with the word "food" in the italicized segment above and it would fit just fine.

Sure, I can quit drinking cold turkey, but that isn't going to deal with the problems of my feelings. I found that I don't necessarily need to ACT on my feelings. Sure, I feel like crap and want to eat or drink, but I don't have to do it. I don't even really need to know WHY I am feeling the way I am. Feelings and can be simply acknowledged but, when it comes down to living with them, I usually just ignore them as something my sick brain has cooked up to throw me a curve and I don't give them a lot of importance. If I did, I'd spend a great deal of time on a roller coaster of emotions, eating and drinking, being fat and drunk and STILL not being happy.

Most of the time, I don't give the feelings that lead to destructive behavior too much attention. If I do, i find it just give me a great excuse to do the things I really don't want to do "because I feel so awful......" Boo hoo, poor me, pity party of one, please.

[Sohrshah]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

I know my roommate has been spouting stuff about corn syrup for a while, but can someone here link to an actual study of how it affects your Glycemic Index or insulin levels or whatever as opposed to cane sugar?

To me, sodas with cane sugar taste different and better. But they're a once-in-a-while treat, like eating a candy bar (the month of December being an exception). I *might* have a regular soda or two per month (actually, I had my two at Mousepod's pad on Saturday). But that's it. Sugar is sugar. Eat less sugar and calories, take more exercise (35-45 minutes four times per week of CONTINUOUS cardio, meaning, you ARE sweating a lot), and unless you have a medical condition happening your body will get more into shape.

I agree about the salad thing -- the best for salads is to have balsamic vinegar (*not* balsamic vinegarette, which has oil in it). But yeah, if you're going to drown your salad in full-fat ranch dressing, you're almost better off eating a cheeseburger (both of which are terrible for you).

But the hardest part (like everything in life) is consistency and maintenance. Food is a big comfort for me personally, especially when I'm anxious, bored or depressed (and I am those things on a regular basis). Trying to shut my mouth when there's food right in front of me is really REALLY hard and a lot of times I just give in.

I don't know, is blaming corn syrup an excuse? There's an obesity epidemic AND there's a lot of people hitting the gym this month who look like they're in pretty good shape to me...

You make a really good point. This thread is about HFCS, and we all love to talk about how evil it is, but in the end, moving ones' butt and cutting the calories is the key to health and weightloss. Being aware of the dangers of highly processed foods which contain unecessary ingredients IS important to our overall health, and I do feel that HFCS has had a negative impact, but I think that portion distortion, the sedentary lifestyle of the computer age, and an overall increase in depression and unhappiness has affected America's waistline far more than beet-based sweetener versus cane sugar-based sweetner.

[Morrigoon]

Part of portion control is learning to eat things which will make you feel full so you don't feel compelled to eat as much of it. For that reason, going with full-fat, rich foods (or in this case, sugar over HFCS) aids in that quest for moderation by contributing to a sense of satisfaction with what you have eaten. The other side of the coin is the consumer having the wherewithal to stop at that point.

[BarTopDancer]

Splenda (and all fake sugars) give me near insta-headaches. Yes mom, even the 8oz of diet Sprite you put in the jello mold at Thanksgiving.

Cherny, I completely agree. Getting off ones butt and exercising is the best thing to do to lose weight. I wasn't trying to blame weight gain on HFCS. There are a lot of reasons for it - portion distortion (love that!), sedentary lifestyle, working longer days in front of a computer leave you tired and not wanting to cook.

[BarTopDancer]

I suck and haven't provided any sources. I'll look later when I get home (trying to remember where I read it, though I'm sure it's biased). When you have a chance can you post links to this? Maybe it's all psychosomatic.

[Not Afraid]

I just don't drink soda.

I lost 20 pounds by eating in moderation, always eating breakfast and staying away from fast food. I'm about to get back on the post holiday band wagon by eating more fish and lean meat, fewer starches, more veggies and limiting my chocolate intake. Keeping away from fatty dressings and sauces as well as lots of cheese helps too. Salsa is a fantastic low-fat topper for flavor.