Corn...It's What's for Dinner (and breakfast, and lunch, and everything else you eat)

So, my friend Jill has gotten on a anti-high-fructose-corn-syrup kick. I'm proud of her. She's also avoiding hydrogenated oils, which has been a little bit of a soap box of mine for the last few years since my mom went crazy against them too and started educating us. Anyway, we avoid them at all costs. Now Jill does too. You can read a little about what she knows here.

Anyway, one of her points is that high fructose corn syrup has been on the rise in all our store bought, manufactured products. And, at the same rate, so has the obesity in our country. It is not good for you, it is not good for our bodies, it is not good for our weight. So, she's trying to cut it out of her diet.

I've always believed that most of what I feed my family should be completely homemade. I don't do a lot of boxed, canned, or premade foods. I'll use fruit, veggies, and tomatoes from the can, but not much beyond that. I'll make brownies every once and a while from a box, but I love making them from scratch. I make my own bread crumbs from my own bread, make my own chicken and beef broths and gravys, make my own spice mixes (a lot of store bought mixes have hydrog in them), and a bunch of other things.

So, after reading Jill's blog, I thought I'd dtake a quick peek in my fridge to see what has HFCS in it. Since I don't do a lot of the other boxed/canned stuff, I just looked in my fridge. And guess what...I don't think a lot of people could survive off a non-HFCS diet. We are so used to the simple things that have it in them. Here's the list of what was in my fridge that would be taboo:

*ketchup
*barbecue sauce
*miracle whip
*mayonnaise
*jam (we were given some...normally ours is homemade)
*pickles
*steak/chicken marinade
*ranch dreasing
*worchestershire sauce
*bagels
*root beer (duh...but it happened to be in the fridge)

None of those things seems "bad for you" and all of them are things people who are healthy use on a daily basis. But the point is, they are manufactured, processed, chemical combinations that are just not natural. When we found out about Taryn's allergies, I came to believe strongly in God-Made-Foods rather than Man-Made-Foods. I think all the processing, manufacturing, and chemical-ing that goes on in our food is not only what is making us fat, but is causing so many diseases and cancers, allergies, and a slew of other problems.

A couple other things that might surprise: Cornflakes (at least the generic brand) has it in it. And most peanut butters. We only buy all natural that is nuts and salt, but all other types are basically peanut flavored shortening with HFCS mixed in. "Here, honey, have a heart attack on a sandwich." As Jill discovered, canned tomato soup is chock full of it. Cake mixes...happy birthday to you.

Anyway, not to get on a soap box, but I'm grateful for Jill's determination. I'm not saying that I'm going to follow suit and completely eliminate HFCS from my diet (I love BBQ sauce...) but I definitely am even more resolved to cook as much as possible as though stores don't exist. I will continue to use as many natural, God-Made-Foods as possible. That being said, I do not mean organic, or whatever. I know that man still messes with fruits and veggies, but at least its better than other alternatives.

So, that's that.