Strategy #5: Eliminate the Sugar

Eliminate the Sugar

    You will be surprised how many foods in your fridge and pantry actually contain sugar-the main culprit here is high fructose corn syrup (HCFS). HFCS is a by-product of corn and is used to sweeten foods; basically the way I think of it is: It is used to make overprocessed food taste edible. Yikes! What's crazy is that HFCS has been showing up in food that isn't even supposed to have added sugar to it like canned fruit! Why would you add sugar to a fruit, it's inherently sweet ain't it? Once you start checking the ingredients you will be shocked to find HFCS in almost everything.
    When I decided to eliminate HFCS I got frustrated a bit because it seemed like everything I had been buying before had it and most of the choices available in the grocery store had it too. But I was determined to eliminate it so I always searched high and low. Like I said earlier, checking ingredients is only cumbersome the first few months. Once you figure out your go to products you will not have to read through the labels because you already know what is in them.
     The corn industry is aware that some people are boycotting products with HFCS; they even made a commercial about it to make people who don't understand all the HFCS facts look stupid. Don't buy into it. Foods with HFCS are not nutrient-dense, they are cheap and overprocessed-in my opinion it's not food. To top it all off food with HFCS does not even taste good. It will also spike your blood sugar and leave you craving for more food just a few hours later. It is better to spend an extra $0.50 for good food that will leave you feeling satisfied and not put you at risk of overeating.
    So right now the corn industry's argument is that table sugar is SIMILAR to HFCS. Is that supposed to convince me to buy foods with HFCS? Uhhh, not gonna work. Similar does not mean the same, in this case table sugar is metabolized differently from HFCS. There was a Princeton University study that I read about some time back that showed that rats fed a diet with HFCS gained more weight than those fed a diet with table sugar. This really convinced me to kick HFCS to the curb.
    I know sometimes we do all this great stuff to lose weight and sometimes we just can't figure out where we are missing it. Try eliminating HFCS and other added sugars which add unnecessary calories. Treat your calories like money-you wouldn't want to waste it on crap right?