Natural more than a catchphrase
From the May 8th edition of the Las Vegas Penny Press
Though I've fallen far of the health wagon these days, I still try to live my life healthier now than in years past. Something I learned even years before my massive weight loss in 2005 was to avoid artificial additives and substitutes in your foods. I moved away from margarine to butter in the 70's, swimming against the trend then for the "healthier" spreads. Turns out natural butter is better than any of the man-made substitutes.
The same thing applies to what you drink.
Years ago, around 1984 according to some sources, to battle the high price of real sugar, the soft drink industry adopted the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a sweetener. If you do an internet search on that, you'll find a high number of sights that decry the sweetener (except for one, industry-run website) as being wholly unhealthy. Though the scientists would dismiss the conclusion as anecdotal, obesity rates and incidents of diabetes rose dramatically following the introduction of this sugar substitute which, unlike others like Splenda and Equal, is not calorie reduced.
Critics claim that the body cannot properly digest HFCS, read it as a fat instead of a carbohydrate, and increase the blood sugar.
Don't get me started on the poisons that are Splenda and Equal. Both are bad for you. Splenda is little more than Chlorinated sugar, and Equal is not only believed to be a carcinogen, a number of people have allergic reactions to it, myself included.
Your best bet is to stick to the real thing, sugar and honey, in moderation. Oh, Stevia is believed to be safe, but since it's not patentable, you'll never see it get widespread acceptance.
The point of my sweetener rant is to give props to two companies who apparently "get it" and are dispensing with the High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Walgreens, through their Deerfield Farms brand, has introduced a line of soft drinks in -- get this -- glass bottles! The drinks are HFCS free, using real sugar to sweeten them. Beware the diet drinks though, as they insist on using Splenda. Up until now the only option for soft drinks were a couple of Mexican brands that haven't bowed to the pressure from El Norte to move to HFCS. Now, there's a real alternative at a reasonable price.
The Sobe line of drinks is also abandoning the use of HFCS in many of it's drinks once existing stocks sell through. Already their all-natural green tea and energy drinks are on store shelves with sugar. There are also some stores stocking the imported-from-Mexico Coke with real sugar! It makes a difference in how you feel and how it tastes.
Don't take my word for it. Compare the two sometime and see what I mean.
A follow-up to my story last week on Wal-Mart:
The corporation, in their attempt to drive smaller pharmacies out of business, has increased their cut-rate prescription plan.
This is good news to many Americans without prescription drug coverage, but bad news to the smaller drug chains and independent pharmacies who can't buy their drugs wholesale for what Wal-Mart is selling them for.
Highlights from their new plan:
Offering 90 day supplies of 350 selected generic drugs for $10
Dropping the price of a number of medications for women to $9 for a 30 day supply, including some to treat breast cancer and hormone deficiency
Dropping a number of over-the-counter medications selling at $7 and above to $4
Wal-Mart is using this as a loss-leader to get you into the store, make no mistake about that. The company's CEO made that clear when asked if the company would offer free generic drugs at their in-store clinics opening now as other companies have. "We're in business to make money. Free is a price that is not a long-term sustainable position."
Neither is selling prescriptions below cost. I wonder what sweetheart deal that Wal-Mart has with drugmakers. For that matter, I wonder exactly where these cheap drugs are coming from?
Hmmmm....
Wyatt Cox sometimes wonders too much. Occasionally he wanders too much. Wander by rant.wyattcox.net and comment on this and other articles.
Though I've fallen far of the health wagon these days, I still try to live my life healthier now than in years past. Something I learned even years before my massive weight loss in 2005 was to avoid artificial additives and substitutes in your foods. I moved away from margarine to butter in the 70's, swimming against the trend then for the "healthier" spreads. Turns out natural butter is better than any of the man-made substitutes.
The same thing applies to what you drink.
Years ago, around 1984 according to some sources, to battle the high price of real sugar, the soft drink industry adopted the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a sweetener. If you do an internet search on that, you'll find a high number of sights that decry the sweetener (except for one, industry-run website) as being wholly unhealthy. Though the scientists would dismiss the conclusion as anecdotal, obesity rates and incidents of diabetes rose dramatically following the introduction of this sugar substitute which, unlike others like Splenda and Equal, is not calorie reduced.
Critics claim that the body cannot properly digest HFCS, read it as a fat instead of a carbohydrate, and increase the blood sugar.
Don't get me started on the poisons that are Splenda and Equal. Both are bad for you. Splenda is little more than Chlorinated sugar, and Equal is not only believed to be a carcinogen, a number of people have allergic reactions to it, myself included.
Your best bet is to stick to the real thing, sugar and honey, in moderation. Oh, Stevia is believed to be safe, but since it's not patentable, you'll never see it get widespread acceptance.
The point of my sweetener rant is to give props to two companies who apparently "get it" and are dispensing with the High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Walgreens, through their Deerfield Farms brand, has introduced a line of soft drinks in -- get this -- glass bottles! The drinks are HFCS free, using real sugar to sweeten them. Beware the diet drinks though, as they insist on using Splenda. Up until now the only option for soft drinks were a couple of Mexican brands that haven't bowed to the pressure from El Norte to move to HFCS. Now, there's a real alternative at a reasonable price.
The Sobe line of drinks is also abandoning the use of HFCS in many of it's drinks once existing stocks sell through. Already their all-natural green tea and energy drinks are on store shelves with sugar. There are also some stores stocking the imported-from-Mexico Coke with real sugar! It makes a difference in how you feel and how it tastes.
Don't take my word for it. Compare the two sometime and see what I mean.
A follow-up to my story last week on Wal-Mart:
The corporation, in their attempt to drive smaller pharmacies out of business, has increased their cut-rate prescription plan.
This is good news to many Americans without prescription drug coverage, but bad news to the smaller drug chains and independent pharmacies who can't buy their drugs wholesale for what Wal-Mart is selling them for.
Highlights from their new plan:
Offering 90 day supplies of 350 selected generic drugs for $10
Dropping the price of a number of medications for women to $9 for a 30 day supply, including some to treat breast cancer and hormone deficiency
Dropping a number of over-the-counter medications selling at $7 and above to $4
Wal-Mart is using this as a loss-leader to get you into the store, make no mistake about that. The company's CEO made that clear when asked if the company would offer free generic drugs at their in-store clinics opening now as other companies have. "We're in business to make money. Free is a price that is not a long-term sustainable position."
Neither is selling prescriptions below cost. I wonder what sweetheart deal that Wal-Mart has with drugmakers. For that matter, I wonder exactly where these cheap drugs are coming from?
Hmmmm....
Wyatt Cox sometimes wonders too much. Occasionally he wanders too much. Wander by rant.wyattcox.net and comment on this and other articles.
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