No More Corn Syrup!

[vinny1989]

Originally Posted by bennelson

...leftover Organic Potato and Leek Soup with fresh cracked pepper and dill...

That sounds disgusting. But it looks really quite appetising compared to some tinned soups I've had!

I never knew that corn syrup was in so much, ill have to keep an eye out.

Good luck with the remainder of lent.



PS -Im hungry for some just cooked bread now, thanks

[UfoTofU]

Originally Posted by metroschultz

I can tell when my sugar drops. I get light headed and, if its real bad, a little nauseous.

I heard of people who keep candy bars or sweets in their pockets in case it drops.

[metroschultz]

In the movie
"Paul Blart Mall Cop"
He keeps "Pixie Stix" in his pocket. I prefer something liquid, for some reason low sugar and dehydration seem to go together for me. Since I found out the problem, I try to stay hydrated and this seems to keep me in good shape.

[bennelson]

I am now looking at ingredients in a whole new light.

Since starting No More Corn Syrup, I have been reading every ingredient list on every grocery item I get my hands on. I now have a pretty good idea of what things do and don't have corn syrup in them.

What gets really confusing is WHERE things come from.

I was feeling pretty good about myself today as I made a snack of natural vanilla yogurt topped with mandarin oranges.....until I read the back of the can.



No, it did not contain Corn Syrup - rather, it was a PRODUCT OF CHINA*.

OK - so maybe the term MANDARIN oranges should have tipped me off, but I am starting to notice that more American canned goods come from China than most people think.



Last week, I used some canned mushrooms to top a pizza. After opening and using them, I saw that those too were Chinese food.

In the recent past, we have had some scares with Chinese products, mostly toys, that have concerned the public. Now I am not saying that my pizza mushrooms or oranges are laced with lead. But it does seem pretty crazy to ship some little tiny oranges in a can half-way around the world to top my yogurt. I'm not sure how much fossil fuel is used to move my oranges, but it's got to add up.

You know what they say about if "Your're not part of the solution..."

Last time I checked, both oranges and mushrooms grow in the good ole' USA.

So next time you are grocery shopping, don't just check the ingredient list. See where it came from too.

Or better yet, start a garden. Then you know what it is AND where it came from.




*Nothing personal against China - I try not to buy apples from New Zealand when I can get them from Wisconsin, Michigan, or Washington State.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Last time I checked, both oranges and mushrooms grow in the good ole' USA.

And can be found fresh in the produce department, thus not only avoiding all the energy & resource inputs of the canning process, but probably tasting better, too.

[TestDrive]

Originally Posted by bennelson

What gets really confusing is WHERE things come from.

<SNIP>

But it does seem pretty crazy to ship some little tiny oranges in a can half-way around the world to top my yogurt. I'm not sure how much fossil fuel is used to move my oranges, but it's got to add up.

You know what they say about if "Your're not part of the solution..."

Last time I checked, both oranges and mushrooms grow in the good ole' USA.

So next time you are grocery shopping, don't just check the ingredient list. See where it came from too.

Or better yet, start a garden. Then you know what it is AND where it came from.

Local food - Locavore - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Splendid Table: Locavore Nation

Locavore Nation is a year-long effort to see what it takes to live by a regionally based diet.

Join us as 15 individuals from around the country share their experiences as they try to get 80 percent of their food from local, organic, seasonal sources and then incorporate it into tasty, healthy meals. Can they do it? Check back often as their stories unfold—and offer your comments on their actions along the way. Or follow along on-air as our participants check in periodically with Lynne.

[RobertSmalls]

Mandarin oranges are named after a region of China, so no suprise there. And they sure are delicious and priced right. The canned white mushrooms I buy used to be grown in India, but they're imported from China now. My cashews are from Vietnam, my rice is from Thailand. The globalization of food supply allows me to eat a richer, more diverse diet for less money. Since the US is a large net exporter of food, so the protectionist in me isn't too concerned about importing a few foods.

The carbon footprint of a chinese farmer is much smaller than that of an American farmer, due to his poverty and the mechanization of American farming. So Chinese oranges are probably less carbon-intensive than American ones.

The simplest solution is always to throw a tax on whatever offends you, like CO2 or workers being paid less than 1 USD per hour. Then let the market sort out which oranges to buy.

[Ryland]

So we are importing foods not because we can't grow them, but because we found someone that we can pay less for them? that seems like a good way to live, don't bother with the person that does the best job but instead go with someone who will take less money, tell your boss to do the same thing.
China also is very unstable in some of it's practices, like 80% of it's apple trees are pollinated not with bees but with a Chinese person climbing around in the tree with a cigarette filter, that relies not on nature to be part of your food production but on the apple farmer having enough people around at the right time of the year to poke each flower and highlights the problems that they already created that prevents bees from even being around to do their job.
why would you not want your food grown here?

[99LeCouch]

I'd much rather buy Florida oranges than California ones. Call me crazy...

Also, when buying packaged foods, buying something with ingredients I can pronounce and understand is preferable to unpronounceable taste enhancers, preservatives, and other things.

If you've ever seen how HFCS is made, the process is disgusting.

[hummingbird]

Confirmed today I have a BS problem (i.e. blood sugar, you gun-jumpers! ). Fasting 170 / PP ~300. Will have to read labels now to spot sugar and avoid.

BTW Ben, no more corn syrup posts? Been a week now...