Things labeled "sugar free" are usually just filled with non-nutritive sweeteners instead of actual sweeteners like sugar or HFCS. They are more expensive to produce, therefore making the finished product more expensive to consumers.

HFCS is a federally subsidized substance and therefore is the cheapest way to sweeten something.

I have to say that I've seen a trend towards being healthier in America...although I'm a cynic and believe that it is probably just another fad that will drop off eventually. How many fad diets have come and gone with everyone on them claiming that "they were going to be healthy for the first time!"....and when that diet failed to work, or they just fell off the wagon...they regained all the weight and went back to their old ways. I'm not saying that it is a trend to buy organic with everybody....but "organic" and "all natural" are such buzz words! A company just has to mention organic on their packaging and consumers will buy it like it is the last item on earth. There are a lot of ingredients that are not so healthy in "all natural" foods. I really wish the trend was to educate instead of just buying what the label flaunts. The marketing departments of these companies could care less about the health of the person buying the product...they just want to make sure that that person BUYS the product and will go to any means possible to do so.

I admit, I've been guilty of the same thing. My family started making moves to become an all natural and mainly organic household over a year ago. When I first started buying organic and all natural, I fell prey to the labels of "organic" bread which was actually just ww bread containing SOME organic bread flour. They flaunted that organic sign though and that bread flew off the shelves. I've become a bit more wise lately though and thoroughly check ingredient lists before I buy something new, because even organic and all natural items can contain something that I don't want my family to have. Just because it is labeled organic doesn't mean it is healthy - like ice cream....which is my DH's favorite ploy

That's why advertisers get paid the big bucks because we fall for things - we do (as a country - or maybe as a species ) tend to latch onto the latest doomsday scare and go off the deep end like a bunch of little lemmings By the way - did you notice in the one version of the commercial, the punch was in (gasp) a PLASTIC container?

I will admit that I didn't hear a peep IRL about HFCs and consumed them blindly until I started trying to figure out why the I was so fat and started doing research on my own. I truly believe everyone is different so I agree with you that HFCs are not necessarily across the board poison but, there is a percentage of people whose obesity is going to be the result of being unable to metabolize food properly because their bodies don't understand how to deal with stuff that's already been partially processed; or are completely stymied when confronted with certain chemicals. All I know is that once I cut out HFCs and artificial sweeteners, everything turned around for me. I have to conclude that there are an awful lot of other people out there who are stuggling with being seemingly doomed to obesity who would see dramatic changes if they were to simply start reading the ingredient labels before they put something in their cart.

Amen to education - knowledge is power!

Amen, sister.

Also, I've been watching the Discovery Health Channel a lot lately and for whatever reason they have been running a string of super obese shows. I get annoyed when people refer to their obesity as a disease. There was a 900 lb. woman who was shoving ho-hos in her mouth saying that she was so fat because she had a low functioning thyroid. Really? Those ho-hos are saying otherwise.

I wish more Americans would take responsibility for their actions and stop trying to find someone or something to blame for the bad things in their lives. If every overly processed food was outlawed, I seriously think that obesity would shrink ten-fold.

I saw a woman at the grocery store arguing with a little sales clerk because there wasn't any of the handicap scooter carts left....she kept saying that she had knee problems and couldn't walk. I saw her again several times throughout the store, walking (hooray!) and filling up her basket with soda, bakery goods, processed this and processed that. I couldn't help but think that if she made better decisions that maybe she wouldn't have the knee problems that she had and would be able to live such a better life.

My problem before I made the decision to get healthy was that I didn't think a little of this and a little of that was going to hurt me. My metabolism was fine when I was a teenager and I was skinny....after I had a baby, that was a different story. I didn't have a problem with portion sizes or anything, but when I would look back on my day...I noticed that while at each sitting, I was eating in moderation, in the entire day it was way out of control. My motivation is that nothing is as important as living this life to the fullest...I love to travel, and cycle, and play with my son and NOTHING is more important than that. Especially food.

My family *tries* to avoid HFCS whenever we can, but it's difficult, especially if you ever eat out. The first time I saw the commercial I was appalled, I had to DVR the ad so the hubby could watch-in disgust as well. He often says that if you removed everything from the shelves that contained either HFCS or soy products (things that are not whole soy, which to him is okay) there would be little left on the average grocery shelf.
All I can say is everything in moderation-but how can you moderate when something is in practically everything?
*A*

I haven't seen these ads, and I was really hoping it was a joke.

I think education is the real key. I was complaining to some co-workers one day that I couldn't find a single WW hamburger bun in our grocery store that did not have HFCS. They looked at me like I was nuts and said, there's HFCS in buns? They didn't even know that sugar was an ingredient in bread let alone HFCS. One did not even really know what HFCS was to start with. What is more scary is this person is diabetic!

Education aside, I do wish it was not in near EVERYTHING. My husband and I went to Ireland recently and were amused at all the food labels w/o HFCS in the ingredients. My husband drank sodas all week because he was happy to find them with real cane sugar. He probably gained 5 lbs

It really isn't that hard. I can honestly say that not a single thing in our home contains HFCS and very, very little contains a processed soy product.

It is scary how many people don't have a clue as to what they are eating...and are perfectly happy not giving it a second thought. Living in Louisiana, I can understand why the life expectancy is so much less in the South.

btw, Ezekiel buns don't have HFCS. They freeze really well, when I find them (trader Joes, whole foods, smaller health food stores) I stock up and always have them on hand.

Wait, soy is bad for us now??! I'm confused. I thought soy was good! Or do you guys just mean stuff that markets itself as a healthy soy product when in fact it's a processed unhealthy soy product.

I'm trying to avoid HFCS, aspartame (although I can't keep away from diet pepsi but I'm trying my best) and other artificial sugars.. and of course, sugar itself... and now that I know more about Splenda and how it's made, I'm trying to avoid that as well although I'm sure there'll be a time when I'll purchase it again but will use sparingly. I used to use stevia from a health food store awhile back, and haven't seen any since, and to my surprise I saw Sweetleaf brand stevia packets at Piggly Wiggly! So, now I've got that. Yay.

There is a thread in the food subforum about soy...check it out.

Oh, SoulCyster, I had the same reaction to seeing an ad for it in my magazine. Who the do they think they're kidding?

I posted in the main thread about things I've found online that discuss this issue.

Here's my reaction to HFCS--->

I don't think it's as safe as sugar in that our body doesn't process it as well as sugar. If I remember right, in the SBD book, Dr. A says that it causes higher blood sugar levels (maybe because it's processed, so it can get into the blood stream faster?) and also notes that our bodies don't handle it very well.

No, HFCS doesn't cause obesity. But the cheapness of it (and our love of sweet things) has led manufacturers to put it in nearly every single thing. Literally. And that has definitely had an effect on obesity in this country.

When I bought, for instance, a can of kidney beans (before SBD), I certainly wasn't reaching for something sugary. I don't think that most doctors would say that eating beans is unhealthy--just the opposite, in fact! But whenever I was eating kidney beans in the past, I was also eating sugar. That's just totally ridiculous. It's one thing if a person chooses to eat tons of sweet things and gains weight. It's another if they are trying to pick good things but end up gaining weight both because of the higher calories (due to HFCS) and the cravings they have from the sugar in those foods. That's really sad. I take the time to read labels, but I was also raised by a mom who knew a lot about food and explained it to me from a young age. I met people in college who had no idea what types of food were protein. I can only imagine what many others may or may not know about their food.

Like many of you said, the key is education--which is why it's a terrible shame that commercials like this one for HFCS are out there. So many people, sadly, get their education from TV.

I definitely do put my money where my mouth is in terms of buying products that don't have it, but I think letting companies know why you're not buying their products is just as important. Both actions work together to help make for change.

I think it's odd that people make a point to avoid HFCS, but drink diet soda, and eat loads of food with artificial sweetener. Pick your poison, I guess.

When your reason for avoiding HFCS is the "it's not natural" argument, then, yes, it's odd to avoid it but then eat "unnatural" sweeteners. But I avoid it and eat tons of unnatural sweeteners--the HFCS leads to cravings and overeating (obesity) for me, and the unnatural sweeteners don't. So, I think that makes perfect sense--I avoid it to avoid the cravings and don't avoid things (like artificial sweeteners) that have no effect on cravings.

Not all of us .

For some, it's difficult to give everything up at once...baby steps..

I think it depends what your reason for avoiding HCFS is. I'm trying to avoid it based on several things:
1) empty calories
2) glycemic response/insulin spike/craving issues
3) issues with transition from "leaf-based" to "seed-based" eating, as described by Michael Pollan in one of his books.

None of those reasons apply to artificial sweeteners (well, aspartame has some glycemic response, I think, but I can't use it, so I'm talking mostly about Splenda here), so I can choose to use them, but avoid HCFS, with no philosophical disconnects.