This is why we read ingredients...

A Nugget of Nutrition Water vs Your Sugar Daddy

Water is vital for human function, even more so than food. As a general rule of thumb, a human can survive 30 days without food before succumbing to starvation, but the same human will only survive for 3 days without water. Why is it so important? Water makes up 70% of our blood. It uses water to carry oxygen throughout the body. Cells die without it, and when cells die, organs stop working. Water is a big part of the immune and digestive systems, too. Without water, digestion and waste removal would stop. Along with that, you can say good-bye to the nervous system. Well, let's just say that all hell breaks loose in your body.

In this Summer heat wave, it is more important than ever to stay hydrated. CNN stated that there are more heat related deaths each year than any single natural disaster on average in the U.S. In past years, numbers have hit 150. This year alone has already reached 33 according to the NY Times. Experts say this will be the hottest Summer on record.  When was the second hottest? Last year.

Each restaurant chain and coffee house seems to have their own way of cooling you off. Smoothies, shakes, and iced coffees are everywhere! While these drinks may feel like a great way to cool down, the truth isn't always as sweet. You have undoubtedly seen the commercials: people having fun, enjoying the beach, bright colors and music, refreshing fruit. This is a parlor trick. These companies learned a thing or two from Houdini, and now they distract customers from what they are really consuming. When all your body wants and needs is water, McDonald's and friends are giving you this:

(All drinks are medium sized.)

Caramel and Mocha Frappe

Sugar 71g Calories 550

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

Sugar 60g Calories 270

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Sugars 54g Calories 260

Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino with no whip cream

Sugar 57g, Calories 406

Caramel Macchiato w/nonfat milk

Sugar 35g  Calories 224

We would like to hear what your favorite cold drinks are! Please leave a comment especially if you have any questions about what you've been drinking.

Written by Joann Agoglia

Edited by Robert Marshall

A Nugget of Nutrition Irresponsible "Health Food"

Nothing bugs me more than when a "health food" company purposefully takes advantage of misinformed people. One of the first times I noticed this gross abuse was when I researched Blue Agave. The first time I saw blue agave was at Whole Foods, which is renowned for its health-conscious products and information. Automatically, I was impressed that there was an alternative sweetener that would not spike blood-glucose levels and still tasted so sweet. That was until I saw one small post on the internet ridiculing agave syrup for pretending to be a health food. So I investigated, and what I found was upsetting. Agave syrup has a higher percentage of fructose than many HFCS products; sometimes reaching 70/30.

Now, there are other companies pulling the same trick. Due to the huge uproar against HFCS, some smaller companies have started producing HFCS free sodas. Instead of HFCS, they use cane syrup and, get this, agave syrup. If you have not read it yet, read this article, and find out how sugar and agave can damage your liver just like HFCS.

Unfortunately, the media has already jumped on the band wagon. KitchenDaily.com has posted an article that promotes these so-called healthy sodas as alternatives to the mainstream soda companies (please take in to account that many companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have already removed HFCS from some of their products and are now selling them under the "all-natural" context). KitchenDaily.com would have you believe that a soda is all-natural if it does not contain HFCS, but when sugar is removed from its original source it can hardly be considered natural, anymore. It's natural form is not syrup. I will revoke this statement when soda companies start putting sugar cane in their drinks.

This kind of misinformation is all over the health industry. How do you avoid being taken advantage of? Look it up! Create a knowledge base that will help you choose healthy foods without getting suckered. Never take a product at face value. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. What is popular is not always the best choice. And last, but certainly not least, don't let the media take you for a spin! A product isn't always right just because it is in the news, on a billboard, on TV, or the internet.


Written by Robert Marshall

Edited by Joann Agoglia

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup. Here we go. The mother load of sweeteners. The sugar ninja. The undercover low-glycemic brother. Corn's crazy cousin. You've probably heard of it. I would be surprised if you haven't; it is in almost every processed food that we eat from bread to soda, and America has been scarfing it down for years. It is super sweet and cheap, and the tongue loves every second of it. So what's wrong with that?

Wouldn't you like to know? The problem with HFCS isn't just that it doesn't occur naturally in our environment; it's the complexity of HFCS itself. Explaining HFCS outside of a conversation is like explaining your favorite Harry Potter book while including every piece of information that's relevant to the story line from every other book. It just goes on and on. In an effort to keep it short and sweet, I will include links to extra information if you want to get familiar.

The History of HFCS
This part is for history buffs. Even though our history effects our present, we need information for today. In short, HFCS was first made available for mass production in 1970 in Japan. It was then introduced in to the US food market in 1975. For more information on that, check out Wikipedia's page: HFCS.

What is HFCS?
This is where it gets juicy! Let's break down the word itself: High-Fructose Corn Syrup. What is Fructose? Fructose is the sugar that naturally appears in fruit! So how is something high fructose? The normal sugar (sucrose) compound is 50% Fructose and 50% Glucose. If Fructose is the mooching friend that's been crashing on your couch since 2008, Glucose would be the guy who pays the bills. It can be used by any living organism in the world from the lowly amoeba to your brain cells. You get high-fructose when you get more couch-crashers than money makers.

Let's move on to corn. Mmm. Corn. Unfortunately, this isn't the same corn you and I are on good terms with. Cheap, modified corn is often used to make this sweet treat. HFCS uses corn starch. The corn starch goes through a process to become corn syrup (That would be the last word in our breakdown)! Enzymes are added to the syrup to turn part of it's glucose into fructose creating a 45% - 55% fructose to glucose ratio. 45% doesn't necessarily seem high enough, does it? Good news! The syrup is purified to 90% fructose! Fructose 90 doesn't usually appear on shelves. Fructose 90 and fructose 45 are mixed to create fructose 55 (%) which is the main form of HFCS in our processed foods.

Why even make HFCS?
Oh the irony! Despite the process of making HFCS, it is actually cheaper to process than any other sweetener! Here's the double-whammy: it is also sweeter. Fructose is sweet. Really sweet. Check the sweetness scale here. Glucose rates 75 on average. Fructose rates 140, nearly twice as sweet. For a food company, HFCS is the Holy Grail of sweeteners. If you read our earlier blog Is Sugar Addictive, you may agree that sweetness has addictive qualities.

Let's role play for a moment. Let's say you are on the Board of Directors for Coca-Cola and sales are fine, but, well, you and your friends like money. Suddenly, there is a product that is cheaper than the one you are using, and it's better tasting! You would have to be crazy to pass up on this game changer. Would you use it? After all, you can save money even by using a little less of it (since it's sweeter), but you can make more by adding in more. Ah, the refreshing sound of profit.

What's wrong with HFCS?

Coke drinks sold per day! Picture from CNBC

Let's continue with the role play. So now you're making tons of cash. Sales are up and up. However, a few decades later, a couple of people start complaining about things like insulin resistance, obesity, liver damage, and so on. Somehow, they've linked it to your soda. Specifically this new HFCS you've been using. You put a team on it to investigate, but what do you do in the meantime? Do you keep it in the product, or do you go "retro." Of course! Switch back to regular sugar! If they think this new HFCS is bad, they'll think the old sugar is "good!" Brilliant!

While Coca-Cola and the other guys go back to their sugar cane "roots," let's visit the problems behind HFCS that gave rise to public discontent. Unfortunately, the problem is biological. The human body has a hard time processing unnatural fructose. "Hold up. You said fructose was in fruit. Is fruit bad for you?" No, of course not. Fruit contains "free fructose," or fructose with fiber, which is absorbed in the large intestine. Through a little biological magic, the fructose is fermented by colonic flora (bacteria) and removed from the body. Processed fructose (sucrose, HFCS) is absorbed in the small intestine and sent to the liver. This is where the trouble begins.

To make a long story short, the fructose is turned into fat and stored in the liver causing it to look much like cirrhosis. Diets high in fructose are also linked with gout, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance, also known as metabolic syndrome. Additionally, HFCS doesn't trigger a "full" feeling. I will not go into detail about these issues because they are rather complex. However, DR. Robert Lustig will. You can view his lecture on Youtube.

Where is HFCS?

That would be the million dollar question. What are you eating that has HFCS in it? Well, if it is bread, soda, sports drinks, candy, or even cereal, you're probably eating HFCS. How can you know for sure? Refer back to "Dextran, Maltose, Turbinado, Galactose, and Sorbitol" Could these be the new Transformers? Read the labels! A product with HFCS in it will usually refer to it by name. However, it may also be referred to as just "corn syrup." Refer to this list for some specific products that contain HFCS: www.accidentalhedonist.com. Keep in mind that this list stopped keeping track in 2008 because the number of products was overwhelming. And, as always, your best bet to avoid these products is to educate yourself and eat local, organic, unprocessed foods! If you have questions about this topic, please post in our comment section!

PS. Blue Agave is not a health food. It can sometimes contain 75% fructose. Sorry.

Written by Robert Marshall

Who's your daddy?

I hope it’s not this guy.  If you are unaware of how much sugar is in your daily diet, he just may be. 

Of all of the blogs that I have written this one has been the most eye-opening for me.  I am always preaching the dangers of sugar to anyone who will listen, but when I did the research for this blog, even I was surprised.  I know that sugar is laced in too many of our foods and drinks and in large amounts, but I didn’t think it was this bad.  I wanted to show you just how much sugar was in some of the foods you may be eating.  I got this idea from a web site called sugarstacks.com.  I do recommend this web site to anyone who wants to see more pictures like this but I disagree with their picture of the fruits and vegetables pictures. As you will see sugar cubes are stacked near a food or drink to show you how much sugar is in that item.  Sugar cubes are refined sugar (Check out my blog Dextran, Maltose, Turbinado, Galactose, and Sorbitol. Could these be the new Transformers? If you don’t know what refined sugar is).  There are no refined sugars in fruits and vegetable, so it is misleading when they show pictures of sugar cubes stacked next to fruits and vegetables.  I hope you enjoy these pictures and find them inspiring enough to start cutting back your sugar intake.  Enjoy!

Everyone knows that soda is bad for them. This is why.

This is a one cup serving size.

This is ¾ of a cup serving size.  As you can see this bowl is only 2 inches high.

This bag is only .9oz.  The bag advertises 100% of your daily intake of vitamin C and 0% cholesterol. Too bad the vitamin C is not in its natural form.

I used to eat one of these a day.  When I stopped I lost 5 pounds.

This bag is only 1 oz. Apparently, actual fruit is not sweet enough for Ocean Spray, so they add their own opinion with extra sugar.

This is a 1 cup serving size.  My son loves this stuff and never drinks just one cup. He usually downs the whole thing. So I showed him the next picture.

He told me he thought it was good for him because he see all of the pro athletes drinking it on TV.  By the way, it has almost your entire daily intake of salt in it.

This is ¼ cup serving size. Syrups are dense forms of rich sugar.

This bar advertises only 90 calories.  It isn’t even 4 inches long.

I found it strange that this Special K bar had more sugar than the chocolate drizzle one.

This is ¾ cup serving size.  Yes, it is made from oranges, but the sugar is separated from the vitamin, minerals and fiber so it is just like refined sugar.

This is ¾ cup serving size.  This box boasts it is the breakfast of champions.  It has pictures of pro athletes on the back who claim to have helped develop this cereal.  This is not the kind of breakfast you should be eating if you want to be healthy.

If you have a favorite food and you would like to see the sugar amount displayed like this please let us know.  We will be glad to show you.

Check in later for our last sugar article highlighting high fructose corn syrup and its effects on your body!

Written by Joann Agoglia
Edited by Robert Marshall

"Dextran, Maltose, Turbinado, Galactose, and Sorbitol" Could these be the new Transformers?

These are all forms of modified sugar (sugars that have been “transformed”) so I guess in a way they can be referred to as ‘Transformers”. Sugar is modified through a process known as refining. Refining extracts the sugar from the sugar cane plant and some other fruits and vegetables. Refined sugar is America’s favorite food additive. In fact it is the number one food additive. We consume 10 times more sugar than all of the other 2,500+ food additives combined. Salt is a very distance second. Most of the health community will tell you that refined sugar is the reason why America is getting fat and sick.

 If dextran, maltose, turbinado and sorbitol were transformers, they would be Decepticons. These sugars and others like them hide in food and drinks under all types of aliases. Products labeled “no sugar added” aren’t always telling the whole truth. You need to read the ingredients. If you have processed food in your house which is anything in a box (like your cereal, snack food, health bars), a bag (like frozen food, cookies), a can (like soda, soups, sports drinks), a jar (like jelly, peanut butter), a carton (like drink boxes, fruit juice), a bottle (like flavored water specialty drinks), or a plastic container (like precooked or prepared food) then you have food with refined sugar in it.  As a matter of fact, most of your food will have one or more of these ingredients in it. Get ready. Here are some other names for sugar.

1.                       Barley malt 2.                       Beet sugar 3.                       Brown sugar 4.                       Buttered syrup 5.                       Cane juice crystals 6.                       Cane sugar 7.                       Caramel 8.                       Corn syrup 9.                       Corn syrup solids 10.                   Confectioner’s sugar 11.                   Carob syrup 12.                   Castor sugar 13.                   Date sugar 14.                   Demerara sugar 15.                   Dextran 16.                   Dextrose 17.                   Diastatic malt 18.                   Diatase 19.                   Ethyl maltol 20.                   Fructose 21.                   Fruit juice (any kind) 22.                   Fruit juice concentrate 23.                   Galactose 24.                   Glucose 25.                   Glucose solids

26.                   Golden sugar 27.                   Golden syrup 28.                   Grape sugar 29.                   High-fructose corn syrup 30.                   Honey 31.                   Icing sugar 32.                   Invert sugar 33.                   Lactose 34.                   Maltodextrin 35.                   Maltose 36.                   Malt syrup 37.                   Maple syrup 38.                   Molasses 39.                   Muscovado sugar 40.                   Panocha 41.                   Raw sugar 42.                   Refiner’s syrup 43.                   Rice syrup 44.                   Sorbitol 45.                   Sorghum syrup 46.                   Sucrose 47.                   Sugar 48.                   Treacle 49.                   Turbinado sugar 50.                   Yellow sugar

It is very hard to escape this invasion. If they were Decepticons we could fight them with Autobots. In this case the Autobots are information. Being informed is your best defense, but it is hard to fight against something if you don’t know how bad it is for you. These Decepticons often disguise themselves as health food. For example, I love pineapples, but I hate cutting them. So I went to the store looking for canned pineapples.  Each one was packed in pear juice. Now you may ask what is so wrong with pear juice; it comes from something that is good for you.  If you read yesterday’s article you may remember reading about the apple and how the natural sugar in the apple is bound together with the fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Once that sugar is separated from them, it becomes nothing more than a sugar cube.

To arm your defense, you should become familiar with reading labels. Not the front label that’s loaded with rich, colorful pictures of food and farms, or the bold lettering with eye catching phrases. And not even the nutrition labels because they can also be deceiving due to the changing portion sizes. You need to read the ingredients. If you don’t already know, the ingredients are listed in order from the greatest to the least amount. The ingredients will give you insight to things about the product the rest of the container cannot.

Reading labels is the first step to realizing what you are consuming. They will tell you if you are eating chemicals, preservatives, sugars, or anything else that can negatively affect you. Nothing is more important than your health. The best thing you can do for the ones you love is to take care of yourself so you can take care of them. What you are eating plays a large part in this. You wouldn’t put bad fuel in your car, and you shouldn’t put bad food in your body.

Now that you know how to find the sugar in your favorite food and drinks, do you know how much is actually in them? Come check out our next blog to see what you’ve been eating!

Written by Joann Agoglia
Edited by Robert Marshall

Sugar is Not So Sweet to Your Body

All this week we will be posting blogs about sugar.   To be more precise we will be talking about the need to cut back our consumption of sugar. I can’t stress the importance of this enough.  As a nation we are fatter than we have ever been. Heart disease is the leading cause of death. Type 2 diabetes is running rapidly through our ranks, not only the adults but in children as well.  Obesity is not only linked to heart disease and type two diabetes but several other life threatening conditions.  On our 2 ½ year quest to eat healthier we found some astonishing facts about how much sugar plays a role in weight gain and over all poor health.   Since sugar is in everything that we love to eat, it makes it very hard to cut back on your intake.  Some diets have you cutting back by controlling your portion sizes.  Have you every seen the healthy portion size of ice cream or chocolate chip cookies? I mean, come on, who can eat that small amount and be satisfied?  To truly understand why it is necessary to cut back your sugar intake you need to understand what sugar does to your body. Not just, “Oh it makes me fat,” or, “It gives me a belly.”  You have to begin to look at sugar in a different way.  I hope this blog helps.

The body is an amazing machine. It uses a few different sources for energy. Some take longer to break down than others.  Fruit for example has glucose (sugar) in it.  It also contains carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  When you eat a piece of fruit, the body uses the sugar and the carbohydrates as energy.  Since sugar, carbs, vitamins, minerals, and fiber are all wrapped up together, your body cannot use it as quickly as it could, let’s say, a soda. Your stomach needs time to digest all of these things. Your stomach contracts and mixes everything up. Your body slowly absorbs the vitamins and minerals. The fiber helps flush out anything left. This process provides the body with sustained energy.  Sustained energy helps you feel full longer.  When you eat healthier foods, their sustained energy won’t give you that 2pm daily crash.

Sugar provides the body with quick energy.  When you processed or refined sugars (which we will talk about later in the week) you body starts breaking down that sugar even before it gets to you stomach. For example when you drink a soda (which is basically liquid sugar) the second it hits your tongue the digestive enzymes in your saliva start to break down the sugar and turns it into blood sugar.  When the blood sugar gets to the stomach it mixes with acidic digestive juices.  The stomach does its job and contracts mixing everything up which turns the blood sugar into a liquidy paste like substance.  This paste is easily absorbed by the body and causes elevated blood sugar levels. Your body sends a message to the brain that it has energy and you feel awake, alive, and ready to tackle the rest of the day.  But that high doesn’t last.  Remember: sugar is quick energy.  It is absorbed quickly and used just as fast, bringing your body crashing down, leaving you tired and craving something, anything to give you more energy

 That is what happens to the sugar that can be processed by the body.  The sugar that cannot be processed is stored as fat.  The belly is one of the body’s favorite places to store excess sugar.  I commonly refer to it as the sugar sack.

The sugar sack can be visible evidence of high blood sugar but it is the non-visible affects that are dangerous.  Elevated blood sugar levels will make you feel tired, weak, and thirsty.  It can also lead to dehydration. These are just the short term effects. The long term effects can lead to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and the list goes on and on.

Since we love our sugar so much it is very popular with food companies.  They have found ways to sneak it into just about everything.  They have chemically modified it to make it cheaper and make their food and drinks tastier.  Remember in the first article we talked about your body building up a tolerance for it?  Well the more you get, the more you want.  This could be why portion controls are just too hard to implement.

You will not be able to cut out all sugars from your diet.  Sugar is in all natural fruits and vegetables.  It is the refined sugars like the ones we find in processed foods and canned or bottled drinks that are so dangerous to our health. Those are the ones that we as people who care about our health and safety need to remove from our diets. How do you know if you are eating processed or modified sugars? Check in on our next blog to find out!

Written by Joann Agoglia

Edited by Rob Marshall

Is Sugar Addictive?

Addiction is defined through three stages: craving, tolerance, and withdrawal.  In a recent study rats were exposed to sugar and cocaine, and then given a choice between the two. Can you guess what they picked every time? They picked the sugar.  They preferred the sweet taste over the high of cocaine.

Despite this evidence, it seems doctors are split on whether or not it is actually addictive through definition. The experts do agree that sugar causes cravings and can build up tolerances, but the doctors that are opposed to sugar being addictive say so because the body does not show physical signs of withdrawal. While this evidence is still a source of debate, let’s focus on what they all agree on.

Both sides agree on sugar tolerance.  This means that your body gets used to sugar, and it will become less responsive to it after repeated use.  They also agree on the cravings. As your body becomes less responsive to the sweet taste and the satisfied feeling, the desire for sugar gets stronger. And this is where we like to say the cycle begins.

Sugar is not all bad. It is a source of energy, and in the natural world it is paired up with important vitamins.  When our blood sugar is at a healthy level it properly fuels our metabolism.  The problem is that our biology is geared towards using sugar as an energy source because it is a simple compound and is easily usable.  It is this trait that may make sugar cravings hard to control.

Food and drink companies have found a lot of ways to take advantage of these cravings through constant advertisement on television, radio, internet, grocery and local convenient stores, and just about anywhere else you look.

Misinformation is their weapon of choice. The best defense is to be armed with the facts. All this week we will post blogs about sugar like what it is, where it hides, how it’s been modified, how it effects the body and the body’s reaction, and it’s correlation to type 2 diabetes. If you think you know sugar, think again.

Happy reading!

Written by Joann Agoglia
Edited by Robert Marshall