Latest high-fructose corn syrup study generates buzz, debate – CNN.com.
(CNN) — Acolytes of “Food Rules” guru Michael Pollan and other well-meaning foodies who’ve made corn a scapegoat for the nation’s health crises have welcomed a new study from Princeton University that suggests high-fructose corn syrup causes more significant weight gain than table sugar.
But the findings have been criticized by food science experts and industry veterans, who say the study unfairly demonizes corn syrup and implicitly absolves cane sugar of responsibility for making Americans fat.
“The debate about which one is better for you is a false debate, because neither of them is good for you,” says Elizabeth Abbott, author of the forthcoming “Sugar: A Bittersweet History.”
Okay, wait. Which is better for me, half of a fatal dose of poison, or a full dose?
It is totally relevant which one is better for you!
I get so tired of this all-or-nothing attitude. It’s nothing but perfectionism. And as anyone who has ever tried to do anything can tell you–perfect is not possible. This perpetuation of the myth that if you can’t do it right, you’d better not do it at all is insane. It’s stupid and paralyzing and harmful.
Once some fitness expert on the radio was ranting about people who had a granola bar on the way to the gym. According to him, they were negating the entire effect of the workout. Excuse me? If your workout only burns ninety calories (that’s how many are in my chocolate chunk granola bars, your mileage may vary), then yes, you’re canceling out the calorie loss, but how about–gragh. Not even. The point is, perfection. If you’re going to the gym to lose weight, how dare you eat a 90-calorie granola bar to offset the at least three hundred calories you’ll burn in a hearty half-hour?
The problem is that people buy this bullshit. We’re busy. We’re thinking of other things, and that soundbite gets in there without analysis. Sure, if you’re stuck at a stoplight with nothing to do but think about what this moron just said, you might see he’s wrong. You might remember that even if he wasn’t off on the calorie count, that even if you lose no weight, moving is good for you.
Or you might get “no granola bar, got it,” go without the next time you go to the gym, get sick because of too much exertion on too few calories, and decide that the gym is really not for you.
Unlikely? Maybe. Maybe not. Some people know the joys of exercising and won’t give it up that easily. Others of us are just looking for a reason to stop. And this fitness “guru” just gave us one.
Well, if we give up that easy, screw us? Yeah, there’s that perfectionism again. Congratulations on your perfection. Sorry we don’t live up.
I have this pet theory that all of the shit we replace sugar with screws up our biology in one way or another (that includes artificial sweeteners). Absolutely no scientific basis, of course. I will take my regular sugar and like it!
(says the girl who made two pavlovas in a week. Those things are nothing but sugar and egg whites!)
Actually, I believe there’s some science to back that up. Apparently giving our bodies something that tastes full of calories, but isn’t (say, diet soda), makes our bodies crave calories we don’t need. I’m sure I read that somewhere scientific.
That’s the high-fructose corn syrup talking. It tricks your brain into thinking you’re hungry, so you keep eating and eating and gaining. This is why people can eat a plate full of pancakes and syrup and then be hungry again half-an-hour later. Corn is the devil.
I sometime wonder if nutrition experts live in some seperate alternate reality, you know, one where they have the time to create meals from scratch and a backyard to house an all-organic garden, and supermarkets that only stock cheap, fresh, non-pesticized raw foods, and OH YEAH unlimited money because god knows if it doesn’t come in a cardboard box from Kraft it’s got to cost $20 an ounce. 🙄
In any case I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that eating something before or after exercising helps make sure your body burns off food energy instead of muscle energy.
So, like, what?
This is another excuse I had for ignoring nutrition so long. No one seems to know what they are talking about! The “guru” (I mock the word, not him) I follow now is Jonathan Roche because he’s never all or nothing.
I really love what you blog about here, very refreshing and intelligent. One problem though, I’m running Firefox on Fedora and some of your site structure are a little misaligned. I realize it’s not a common setup, but it’s still something to keep an eye on. Just tossing you a heads up.
Thank you, I will! Your restaurant looks awesome–if I make it to Oregon, I will be dropping by!