Agave Nectar ... the New HFCS?

[Phoebe]

http://www.westonaprice.org/Agave-Nectar-Worse-Than-We-Thought.html

[Crystal]

Well, shit.

I have some as a low GI alternative to sugar for my new diet.

Looks like that's a load o' crap.

[Mandy]

You know, I have absolutely no faith in the FDA. Foods aren't policed correctly. FDA approved drugs are pulled off the shelves after they start killing people. Seriously, what is the FDA good for???

[Kellee]

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.

I haven't been able to find anything bad about suconot (sp). Do you ladies know anything about it?

[Tina]

Very interesting.

[Rebecca]

:indiff: That article is everything I already knew, but worse.

...except about agave. :mad: I'm so sick of being duped.

[Rebecca]

Oh. And the bees, eating HFCS. :stars::bang::mad:

[Niki]

Dammit! I lost my whole response! :rant:

[Sonny]

Oh, good God, I am just going to turn my backyard into a greenhouse and grow all of my own food. I am going to have to leave a little land to raise some cows and chickens..., I wonder if I can fit a small lake back there for fish? I'll just have to live without pork.

[Niki]

Anyhoo...I was saying this is quite interesting.

I use 1tbl in my oatmeal and it doesn't elevate my blood sugar so I'm not throwing it out. I just won't buy anymore. :jack:

Thankfully, we've almost eliminated the use of ANY sugar or sweetener in this house and I only use it for my oatmeal. It's amazing how much better we all feel. I think we only have chocolate milk for B and Syd that has added sugar and there's limits on the consumption of that too. :laugh:I have some raw sugar (:rolleyes:) that I'll use up too.

This whole article has just strengthened my resolve to use less sugar/sweeteners. :confetti: I don't think our bodies are capable of handling all the sugar that's now in everything. :nono:

/just stops eating

[Niki]

Is sucanat the fancy name for raw sugar? :slow:

[Rebecca]

Oh, good God, I am just going to turn my backyard into a greenhouse and grow all of my own food. I am going to have to leave a little land to raise some cows and chickens..., I wonder if I can fit a small lake back there for fish? I'll just have to live without pork.
This was pretty much my exact reaction. :laugh:

[Lisa B]

geez :indiff: finished a bottle of this not too long ago.

[Kellee]

Is sucanat the fancy name for raw sugar? :slow:

I think so. Unprocessed sugar cane, I think. It just seems like if it were such a miracle product, more people would use it.

[Niki]

Well, it *is* still sugar. It's ALL sugar, kwim? I never thought of agave as anything but sugar and was using it mainly for the blood sugar effect. I had no illusions of it being low calorie or even "good for me." I just didn't think it was that bad for me or even closely related to HFCS. Too much of it would be just as bad as table sugar, I think. Honey has awesome benefits but would still be terrible if used too much.

So, I'm sticking to my decision to limit my use of any simple sugars and try to not get caught up in the hype. :laugh: What "they" say changes daily. :nono:

[bstace]

i'm just gonna eat what i want and die young if that is what is going to happen.

[taragunner]

/moving to Europe

I really think the way the food industry in the US (subsidized by the gov't) has us by the balls, that this country is and will forever be too far gone to turn around the massive epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance and diseases of inflammatory origin. The focus is always on the next great cholesterol drug or minimally invasive cardiac procedure, not on feeding people simple, unadulterated foods that didn't grow in a feedlot or a factory. Maybe when the average lifespan goes back to the mid-40s it will get someone's attention. /soapbox

[Katie]

:nono: sadly not surprised though /joins everyone on a farm

[Phoebe]

It's frustrating, huh?

I'm such a hypocrite, though. I'm all "Down with HFCS!!" and shop at an organic market but stop by Taco Bell on the way home. :rolleyes:

But - I suppose most of us would not have met if it weren't for food issues.

[Lisa B]

Taco Bell is a choice though... an educated choice... you know what you will get when you go there.
I make a similar choice with chocolate... almost every day :blush:
When I made a choice to buy Agave nectar it was because I thought it was a whole foods type product.
Apparently not.

[bstace]

i know what i get when i go to taco bell...:crap:

[Niki]

/moving to Europe

I really think the way the food industry in the US (subsidized by the gov't) has us by the balls, that this country is and will forever be too far gone to turn around the massive epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance and diseases of inflammatory origin. The focus is always on the next great cholesterol drug or minimally invasive cardiac procedure, not on feeding people simple, unadulterated foods that didn't grow in a feedlot or a factory. Maybe when the average lifespan goes back to the mid-40s it will get someone's attention. /soapbox

Amen sista.

[Sonny]

Taco Bell is a choice though... an educated choice... you know what you will get when you go there.
I make a similar choice with chocolate... almost every day :blush:
When I made a choice to buy Agave nectar it was because I thought it was a whole foods type product.
Apparently not.

Amen. Don't sell me crap and tell me it's health food. The junk food companies aren't going to go out of business, because we are a nation full of people making poor choices at every turn. But give us the opportunity to make that choice.

[Niki]

Amen. Don't sell me crap and tell me it's health food. The junk food companies aren't going to go out of business, because we are a nation full of people making poor choices at every turn. But give us the opportunity to make that choice.

:agree:

[Phoebe]

True true

[Lizz]

My MIL bought organic poptarts for the boys....something I never buy.

"What? They're organic, they are good for them!"

"ummmmmmm.....no, they just aren't AS bad for them."

[Lisa]

Even Jackson wouldn't eat the organic poptarts. :rofl:

*Hugs honey*

Honey is still good, right?

[purple]

I'll take my agave in the form of tequila, thanks.

[Mandy]

I've been hearing a lot about Stevia lately, but I've done no research into it.

We consume way too much junk in our house. :nono:

[taragunner]

This is interesting. I forwarded the article to my therapist, who is a staunch clean-eating advocate and VERY anti-HFCS. She very much enjoyed the article and forwarded it out to all of her emotional eating patients and groups. At the end of the email, she added something I'd not known before she shared it:


By the way, you may interested to know that after I posted the article Grocery Shopping 101 on my website, in which I advised to avoid HFCS as much as possible, I was contacted personally by Audrae Erickson, the President of the Corn Refiners Association, and apparently, the voice of HFCS in the media. It was a friendly-ish yet vaguely intimidating message suggesting that I really shouldn't be saying such things, and suggesting that perhaps I'd like to use the Corn Refiners Association as a source in my future writings. We had a few exchanges during which we quickly reached the fatal disconnect of processed foods vs. real food in our debate. The exchanges were reasonable enough, and I no longer expect the possibility of a lawsuit. My point in telling you that this happened is to show you just how far the industry will go to try to squelch dissenting voices. If they're putting any amount of time and effort into someone at my level, can you imagine what they're doing with the bigger hitters, and how aggressively they lobby our legislators?
Consumer beware. It is NOT safe out there.

[Lizz]

Wow.


.

[Rebecca]

:indiff: That's crazy, Janis.

[Phoebe]

Oh wow, Janis.

[Niki]

Dang.

[taragunner]

Food, Inc alluded to intimidation tactics like that.

[Katie]

Damn Janis - thats wild

[emmajoan]

If anyone has an hour to kill, this is a very interesting presentation on HFCS and the American diet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

[Rebecca]

I'm going to watch that. Just not right this minute. :D

[Rebecca]

Anne and I just watched that video. Good stuff. /empties out entire kitchen

[Niki]

*saves for later*