We’re “starting fresh” this January, completing 22 mini-challenges in 22 days for a cleaner, fresher and healthier kitchen and grocery budget. Just joining us? Read about the what’s and why’s on the mini-challenges, as well as the previous days tasks, and jump right on in!
The transformations that are happening in your kitchens across the nation are blowing.me.away.
Your comments are inspiring – both to me and other readers. The fact that you all have hung in with me thus far, completing these partially time-consuming challenges, is absolutely astounding. Here are some of the recent comments that are leaving me speechless:
“… I am determined to make this work, and now with your encouragement I am going to attempt to make Ranch dressing!”
“Thanks so much for all the wonderful info you provide on your blog!”
“Loving your posts, and you’ve (finally) got me meal planning. This is exciting. Thanks!”
“…thanks for letting me share here and all your helpful advice =)”
“I love the idea of a chicken bowl. This is something I will be implementing from here on out. You’re doing a great job with this series!
“Love this series! What a blessing to share ideas for improving our stewardship of our finances by taking a more purposeful look at our grocery budget.”
Seriously guys? THANK YOU!
I know that your hard work is paying off. Through your words, I can see eyes that have been opened. Brain juices are flowing and we’re ever more aware of what we’re eating (and what we’re paying for it). There are only seven more challenges left. If you’re hanging on by a thread – don’t let go! You can do it!
Day 16 – Ditch High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
Two thoughts immediately come to mind when I think of today’s challenge.
Pro: Based off days one, two, four, five, ten and twelve, there shouldn’t be a whole lot of ingredient labels left in the kitchen to read.
Con: HFCS is listed on a lot of labels we never would have thought to read.
Just before Christmas I shared the dangers of high-fructose corn syrup. Most people stake their claim that it’s just another form of sugar, and sugar – in moderation – isn’t that bad for us.
I’ll be the first to admit that I eat too much sugar. Cakes, cookies, icing, cupcakes… they don’t stand a chance in my house. My eyes (and stomach, and brain…) do not know the meaning of “moderation” when it comes to sugar. And I’m ok with that. We balance our sugar intake by limiting how often we make sweets in the first place and being more careful when it comes to the type of sugar we use.
Which leads me to the popular claim that all sugar is created equal. This is nothing but a big fat lie.
Researchers who claim this are usually referring to calories – that one tablespoon of white sugar is equal in calories to one tablespoon of honey. This may or may not be true. I’ve never spent the time looking it up.
But what those researchers do is leave out in their reports are the two words “in calories.” This makes the rest of us think that how our bodies process white sugar and honey is the same. This is not true.
Anytime we consume something that is different from its original, found-in-nature source, we cause our bodies to work more. Our bodies were created to work to digest and absorb nutrients, enzymes and minerals from food. Our bodies were not designed to digest and absorb man-made chemicals and foreign cell-attacking entities. Our goal should always be to consume food that is minimally processed.
High-fructose corn syrup is NOT minimally processed.
At a minimum, creating HFCS takes seven distinct and chemical-laden steps. SEVEN! Three of those seven steps include adding toxins, deadly bacteria and bug spray. Seriously!
Your task is to get this awful, icky stuff out of your kitchen, stat! Roll up your sleeves and get to work! Just like the trans fat clear-out, leave no jar unturned, no label unread, no shelf unclean!
Day 15 Update
Yesterday was a VERY busy day for us. We spent the morning at the dentist’s office, a tea party lunch at Grandma’s and we hosted friends for dinner. This means there wasn’t much time for fun stuff in the kitchen.
On the bright side, we grilled panini’s for dinner made with homemade buttermilk potato bread (made a couple days earlier) instead of the store-bought variety. I also attempted making my own sweet potato fries (again) instead of buying the frozen kind and while not perfect and crunchy, they’re getting better, lol.
Giveaway Winner
Of the 140 entries for the “Simplified Dinners” eBook giveaway (which is a new Crumbs record, by the way), let’s give a big high-five to the winner Kath Rob (knto09@…)! Kath – you should have an email from me with additional information. A big thanks to all those who entered!
Tell me – where did you find HFCS where you least expected it?
This post is shared at (Sun) Butter Believer.
We’ve always tried to avoid and eliminate products made with HFCS as much as possible. Even still, I was shocked to discover a variety of applesauce in my cupboard had HFCS the other day. Ridiculous.
Did you know HFCS was the FIRST ingredient in orange marmalade?! I was speechless!
We got rid of all of those when we learned my daughter could not eat corn. It really surprised me the things it was in. Having to take out dairy, soy, corn, and rice… Well their hasn’t been a processed thing in our house for awhile.
It’s hard to believe that the original purpose of HFCS was to simply replace sugar. Now it’s in foods that aren’t even “sweet!”
The interesting thing about hfcs to me – since it is only fructose (unlike sugar, which is half glucose and half fructose), hfcs can only be processed by the liver. Consuming high amounts over time is toxic to our livers, just like alcohol. Since so many processed food products are laced with hfcs, many people do consume it every day. We have to get this stuff out of our kitchens! Thanks for leading the way!
Thanks Nicki for that great information! I hadn’t likened it to alcohol before, and we all know the long-term damage that can cause. SCARY! All the more reason to purge today!!
Whole wheat products are often loaded with it – I assume to balance out the taste difference. Anyway, to find whole wheat English muffins without HFCS led me on a journey that took me first to $2.78/6 pk muffins and finally to homemade English muffins. They are super easy and so much healthier and better!!!!
I would love a recipe for homemade English Muffins! We miss those!
It’s official Shirley – I’m adding it to “the list.” It will be coming your way soon!
Thanks for the heads up on whole wheat items Rosa! Homemade English muffins have been requested in my own kitchen, and hearing that they’re easy makes me want to make them soon! Much more frugal than nearly $3 per pack!
what’s really bad is when HFCS is in children’s medicines? Aren’t they defeating the purpose?
Much an oxymoron, isn’t it? That’s the exact reason why we’re tackling our medicine cabinets in this series too. It’s AMAZING to see all the harmful toxins that are in the things that are supposed to heal us!
Agreed, I can’t find tylenol w/out it in it for kids, and I’m not a huge fan of medicine and we rarely use it, but really, ugh.
We use the lowest-dose tablets and cut that in pieces as needed with a pair of scissors. You could always try a weak tea of willow bark – after all, aspirins are just salicylic acid (“salix”=willow).
A great suggestion CelloMom! We have medicine on hand for those instances when it is necessary, but using the absolute minimum amount is a great way to reduce the toxin intake.
I avoid HFCS as much as possible it makes my sugar level spike and I feel terrible. Thanks for sharing this with us on foodie friday.
Thanks for the info on HFCs. I’ve never looked into it before, but I try to eat as many natural foods as possible, and bake from scratch to avoid the excess sugars.
Thanks for linking to foodie friday