Sugar: Still the real thing, baby
Due to recent influences of a fitness-obsessed son, we're trying something new in this house: Coconut flour. OK, so it's not really about the flour. Nor is it the absence of that fresh wheat bread whose soft and salty taste I still miss. It's not even the rice-based pasta (which actuallytastes good) I now buy. Not directly. It's gluten that's driven me to change. Coupled with my expanding, middle-aged middle, if I'm honest.
Our family is becoming more gluten-aware, more food-aware. No, none of us has celiac disease. No, we're not cutting out everything that bloats us; we're far too into culinary pleasure for that. (Plus the man in the house would divorce me if I threatened cookie-decorating night, a veritable event with father-daughter original song, "Frosting, the cookie.")
Years ago I forced a reduction in processed foods, buying fewer snacks-in-a-package. Sodas are permissible only for parties, pizza night, and the anything-goes Super Bowl. That hasn't kept us from feeling dragged down and overfull, so now we're taking a careful look beyond obvious sugars and embracing asparagus. And fish. More fish (no, fried doesn't count).
We've simply realized we have to take those diabetes statistics seriously. Most Americans are now overweight. Nearly one third are obese. Type 2 diabetes, the kind we can bring on ourselves, is climbing worldwide, but especially here. Why? The enduringly American sweet tooth is addicted to a substitute more sugary than sugar (a.k.a., sucrose): High fructose corn syrup.
According to a new study published this month in the journal Global Health, countries which consume the most HFCS have the highest rates of diabetes. The U.S. has the highest annual per-capita consumption of fructose corn syrup in the world: 55 pounds. At the bottom of the 43-country comparative study is Germany, with only a pound per person per year. Notably there were not significant differences in total calorie consumption.
Don't let the word "corn" fool you; HFCS doesn't count as a vegetable. While the food industry debates this, other obesity researchers say HFCS is harder for the body to break down than is cane sugar. Fifty-five pounds per year (50 percent more than the second runner-up, Hungary) is a lot of goo. It sticks to the middle, gums up the bloodstream and wreaks havoc on the body's delicate insulin production. HFCS metabolizes in the liver, bypassing the insulin system, so more is stored as fat. Also, more fructose is required to approximate similar levels of sweet taste as compared with sucrose.
High fructose corn syrup is cheaper than real sugar for manufacturers to use. American sodas were once sweetened with sucrose; now they rely more on HFCS (less so in Europe, although the same manufacturers). Look at labels of everything processed that goes in your grocery cart; even things you wouldn't think should be sweetened - I read it on a package of sunflower seeds - are riddled with the stuff.
How to avoid it? Read labels. Opt for fresh or "raw" and check out gluten-free, now more readily available in grocery stores.
Love soda and sweets too much to give it up? Go kosher. No, really; kosher rules forbid a lot of things that are bad for the body, such as grain-delivered syrup. Not resigned to miss out on sales, Coke responded by creating Passover Coke, made with sugar instead of HFCS. Mexican sodas also tend to rely more on sucrose than fructose. Plus those made with fruit juice are yummy and more filling.
Turns out real foods actually taste better.
Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who persists in her quest for the perfect balance between a healthy diet and a pleasurable one. Contact her at sholehjo@hotmail.com.