HCFS Is Not Natural Says the FDA!!!

FINALLY more justice for my blog articles. For the past couple years I have been mouthing off about this horrible sweetener called High Fructose Corn Syrup and I featured 2 prior posts on this just this HFCS stuff(Drink Soda-Get Diabetes & Is Yogurt As Bad As Soda).

Put up as another form of a "natural type sugar", this crapola is used to sweeten everything from ketchup-to-Yogurt-to-Coke & Pepsi. And, in all those wonderful children's cereals and other foods. But finally, the FDA has take the double talking money mongering larger than life food industry corporations to task. High Fructose Corn Syrup, even though it is derived from corn, is not natural. Because, it takes a chemical process to create it. Read more on the FDA decision.
Hear me now food industry...JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING STARTS OFF AS A NATURAL OR WHOLE FOOD, WHEN YOU ARE DONE PROCESSING IT, IT IS NO LONGER NATURAL.

Valium once started out as Velerian Root. Does that make Valium natural? NOT!!!

The stuff this chemical process creates is something foreign to the human body. High Fructose Corn Syrup (here after known as HFCS) is as artificial as any other artificial sweetener and in my humble opinion, can have equally devastating effects. Basically, you are forcing your body to use a sweetener it was never made to use. Therefore, the digestive process must process something it hasn’t spent the last 100,000+ years evolving with. Corn itself, in its current form hasn't been in evolutionary food chain long enough for our physiology to adapt it as a healthful food for us, so HFCS a real no-no (read the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma for more info on that).

Now, any food, drink or other product to be consumed that contains HFCS can no longer advertise as “natural” or “all natural”.

BUT….WATCH OUT!!!! I “guaran-damn-tee” you that you’ll find products on the market, such as breads, advertising “100% whole wheat”, which in the mind of the consumer, will imply it’s a natural product. Flip the package over and I’m sure you fill find my sugar-wannabe arch nemesis high fructose corn syrup. Read the food label, not the packaging. They'll find a way to fool you on the packaging, but the food label is closer to the truth.

Why is this HFCS so bad? Well, I’ll have to refer you to an early blog post. The explanation has more to do with the history of our evolution as humans over the past hundreds of thousands and even millions of years. If you are a Discovery Channel or Science Channel buff, you’ll find it very interesting. If not, then, well, it may put you to sleep.

So, chalk one up for the consumer. We finally get a little closer to the truth in labeling we all deserve. Now, if a company wants to increase its profits by using a cheap artificial version of sugar in the form of HFCS, go right ahead. I'm all for making a profit. After all, why else are you in business? But, just label your products as such so we as consumers can make the right choice for ourselves and our families based on truthful information.

I for one don’t mind paying a bit more for something that I know is good for me, rather than getting fooled into the belief that something good for me is basically a Trojan horse for a company trying to hide the truth. Let's be honest capitalists, okay big food corps? This way we let the consumers drive the markets based on the truth.

As a doctor though, my advice is to cut out all HFCS and hydrogenated oils, add whole grains, fresh fruit and veggies and you’ll have a much better life. Remember, HFCS is one of the main culprits in childhood obesity, diabetes and weight gain. 3 more great reasons to cut it out of your life.

For those who read my blog and ask what the heck does this have to do with sports medicine….well, if you put good high quality food into your body, you’ll get better performance out of it.

‘nuff said.

DocT

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Over Fed & Under Nourished....Let Food Be Your Medicine and Take Back Your Health

It’s been just over 18 months now since my personal physician told me to make some big changes in the way I eat or I’d probably die of a heart attack in 10 years.

To recap, I had just had a CTa; a 3-dimensional CAT scan of my heart so that a radiologist can check the condition of my heart’s blood vessels. By some grace of G-d, my cardiac vessels were in great shape; in-fact, they were in incredible shape. But, the problem was that my cholesterol was high, my triglycerides were high and my blood pressure was borderline. Not to mention, I was pushing the scales at just under 220lbs. So although my heart was in excellent shape, the cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure were setting me up for a hard fall in the not so distant future.

On a prescription pad Dr. Woolf wrote the name of a book: Ultrametabolism, by Mark Hyman, MD. My prescription was to read the book and to live the book…and so I did. The book in summary told me to eat whole foods, not processed foods. Told me not to skip meals or reduce my calories, but to eat the right foods at the right times to speed up my metabolism. And of course, get recommitted to exercising. All of which I did, and I did well.

It worked. After 6 months, my cholesterol, my triglycerides and my blood pressure were normal again and I weighed in at 194. To read more on out how I did this, read my blog on beating lipitor in 6 months

My struggle continues though as I’ve realized that crappy food is so abundant in our society, it’s nearly impossible to eat and snack healthfully (and tastefully) without examining the label on everything I want to purchase from the grocery store. Even Yogurt has high fructose corn syrup, the same sweetener as you will see in Coca-Cola & Pepsi and every other soda on the market and yes, another man-made substance that is slowly killing our children and ourselves. Most of the foods we consume also have hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in them. A substance that is incredibly toxic to which scientists have said that this substance is like ingesting plastic into our bodies.

Most of you know how I felt when I stumbled onto Larabars. Which, I continue to enjoy to this day and hope to for a long long time; but, I’ve found another snack that can also be used as a meal!!!

Yes, I’ve finally found another source for not just in-between meal snack, but for real whole foods that you can replace any meal with. The Company is The Whole Food Farmacy. At a recent continuing educational seminar in Orlando, I bumped into an old schoolmate of mine. We talked and he actually had, in addition to his practice, another business that surrounded his incredibly healthy way of eating. Stephen, as I remember, would eat the entire fruit or vegetable. Stem, seeds, core, leaves and all. He left nothing over, and his business was based on healthy packaged meals made up of a multitude of whole fruits, whole vegetables whole seeds and whole grains that were in simple, easy to manage self-sealing very tasty packages. To my amazement, they tasted awesome and I immediately got as excited about this as I did when I first found out about Larabars.

Everything was packed kind of like a bag of “trail mix” and with incredible variety. I first tried something called Veggiliscious, which, I could easily chow down on in place of a bag of potato chips. They were crunchy and flavorful. There was even a spicy version too! There were so many choices from mixes of traditional fruits, seed & grains, to tropical fruits and various flavorful mixes. There were a multitude of shakes and soups as well, all made from a natural whole food source. The bags seal up like a zip-lock storage bag and they are so easy to throw in your gym bag or brief case or purse and take with you.

To put it like my California buddies…I was Stoked!!! I enjoyed the flavors, the whole food mixes were very hearty and I could easily eat one of these for a meal if I wanted. And, funny thing, I was going to and from so many classes and meeting, I actually ate 6 of my 8 meals that weekend from the Whole Food Farmacy and was totally satisfied. I simply didn't have time to sit down for a normal meal.

Now, this isn’t some fad diet, or new vitamin pill company, this company understands the benefits of whole food nutrition and packages it so it makes it easy for you to incorporate into your life. If you eat your meals from real whole foods, you will regain your health, you will lose weight and you will improve your health and recapture that long lost youthful energy again.

Top athletes are using this as part of the pre-competition preparation strategy. It’s becoming very popular with marathon runners and especially tri-athletes. Because it’s pure whole food the way we were meant to eat it. It’s just in a nice little bag.

If your kids need something good to snack on, this is absolutely the thing for you. If you’ve been wondering how to regain your health, lose that weight that somehow showed up around your waist one day, then this is for you. The Whole Food Farmacy has 13-day cleanses to kick start your quest to regain your health. If you’ve hit a plateau in your weight loss, give this a try. It’s not a “diet”, it’s not a “fast”, you’re just bombarding your system with a lot of very dense-high nutritional value whole foods. Your body will thank you for it by getting back in balance again.

It’s easy, it’s tasty and it’s extremely good for you. As with anything, check the ingredients to make sure you don’t have any allergies to the foods and if you have any questions, make sure to check with your doctor about it.

I’ve set up a website so you can check out the company’s products and if you think this is the right time to regain your health, then join the wholesale club like I did and joint me in taking back your health and the health of your family. (It’s kind of like a Costco for their whole food products). Just go to: http://www.mywholefoodfarmacy.com/ and achieve your goals in your quest to regain your health.

So, as Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine said back in the “B.C.” days, “Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food”.

Healthfully Yours,

DocT

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Finally, Something Healthy For My Sweet Tooth!!!

For all you athletes, health nuts and those trying to get healthy again who starve & crave for something tasty, sweet and healthy, I’ve finally found something that meets all my criteria without compromising my Ultrametabolism “Whole Food” nutritional values.

Up until now, it has been fruit and more fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth; well, and the occasional piece of 87% Cacao Dark Chocolate(we’re talking bittersweet & about a 1”x 2” square of it every couple days). Sometimes, it's not very convenient to eat a piece of fruit. Some of them can be a bit messy and that doesn't always work for me in the middle of the day while in my office.

For those who don’t know me, I’ve been on this crusade against high fructose corn syrup(HFCS), corn syrup, even added sugar to my foods as well as stamping out all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils from my diet. It has been somewhat trying, but after 5 months, it now comes naturally.

I read labels on EVERYTHING that I stuff into my mouth now. Recently, I found a “bar” that I can eat that is (1) Whole Food (2) Contains healthful nuts and fruits (3) Doesn’t have any added sugar, or that HFCS crapola (4) Doesn’t have any artificial sweeteners, nor do they have any hydrogenated oils. What are they? LARABAR


They come in a variety of flavors and they are a very welcomed treat to add to my whole food way of eating. If you are looking for an in-between meal treat, I think you’ve found your answer. For example, the “cherry pie” bar pictured above contains unsweetened cherries, almond and dates. That’s it. No really….that’s it.

Here’s the scoop on them…

LäraBar is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices. Made from 100% whole raw food, each flavor contains no more than 2 to 6 ingredients. Pure and simple, just as nature intended.

Raw! Uncooked, unprocessed!
Delicious!
Kosher Certified!
Simple Real Food - only a handful of ingredients!
No Dairy!
No Soy or soy by-products!
No Corn Syrup! Corn-Free!
No Sugar!
Non-irradiated!
No added Sweeteners of any kind!
No Wheat!
No GMO!
No Gluten!
Sulfite-Free!
Low-Glycemic index!
No Cholesterol!
No Artificial Colors!
No Preservatives!
Completely Vegan, no animal by-products!
Convenient!
Easily digestible and quite filling!
Great Texture!
Only mostly Organic due to cost.
Rich in Antioxidants, with a good balance of Vitamins, Essential Enzymes, Fiber, Minerals, Omega 3 & 6 EFAs, Protein and Complex Carbohydrates!

And yes….they taste great too!!!

Go to http://www.larabar.com/ to read more about them.

Enjoy!

DocT

PS....and for all of you out there concerned about carbohydrates and sugar. Stop whining and read Ultrametabolism already. Your body needs carbohydrates from whole natural sources. It's all of the added sugar and refined carbohydrates that screw you up. That is what you should be worrying about. To the right of this column there is a link to purchase Ultrametaolism. Click on it, buy it and learn how you are supposed to feed your body. Stop trying to cut things out of your diet that your body is designed to eat; rather learn how to eat to speed up your metabilism and start living again!

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Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.