live well, change the world.

just to update my post on high fructose corn syrup, i wanted to make everyone aware of this feature about food companies replacing hfcs with sugar in their products due to the bad reputation it’s gotten, especially in recent months (first lady michelle obama has proclaimed she will not give it to her daughters).

now, of course, the sugar industry is marketing like crazy and restaurants and corporations are coming out with products such as pizza hut’s “the natural” pie or pepsi “natural” cola, sweetened with good old fashioned sugar. one would hope that “natural” would mean unsweetened or sweetened with agave or stevia, but the argument is that sugar can be found in fruit and is therefore “natural” in comparison to the supremely processed high fructose corn syrup.

listen, i am not complaining. i am glad to see that people are having these conversations in the public sphere and that mainstream society is starting to get some of these messages. but the messages are so confusing! one minute sugar is the devil, the next it’s hfcs. no one can keep track. ultimately, the key is not buying into the processed and heavily marketed foods at all.

it will be a long time until people stop buying pepsi or going to pizza hut, but the hope i have is that they just get so fed up with the mixed messages that people start reaching for obvious healthy and delicious choices– whole, unpackaged, TRULY natural foods. and then maybe the advertising companies will start finding ways to sell the real deal foods in ways that actually appeal to consumers. it shouldnt have to be that way, but, baby steps…right?