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When it comes to reading label, beside just how many calories your about to consume what else do you look for?  Many of the culprits to the obesity epidemic are in the ingredients portion and all you have to do is look for the and avoid them like the plague. 

Many of us get have a misunderstanding of what we know of as health food.  Let be brutally honest; bars, shakes, these are not a replacement for real food, they are just a better bad food choice.  When you put a bar up to a Mcdonald quarter pounder you have a better choice, however, it does not mean that you are eating healthy. Next time you grab one of those bars, look at the ingredients and avoid “High Frutose Corn Syrup”(HFCS) and “Hydrogentated or Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable oils.”

 What is a “High Frutose Corn Syrup“?

HFCS is a genetically modified sweetener dirived from corn starch.  It goes under several enzymatic changes in order to make it sweeter, and cheeper.  Some of the related problems with HFCS is…

• American Journal of Clinical Nutrition links diabetes with the rise in consumption of high fructose corn syrup.
• Increased LDL’s (the bad lipoprotein) leading to increased risk of heart disease.
• ltered Magnesium balance leading to increased osteoporosis.
• Increased risk of Adult Onset Diabetes Mellitus.
• Fructose has no enzymes or vitamins thus robbing the body of precious micro-nutrients.
• Fructose interacts with birth control pills and can elevate insulin levels in women on the pill.
• Accelerated aging.
• Fructose inhibits copper metabolism leading to a deficiency of copper, which can cause increased bone fragility, anemia, ischemic heart disease and defective connective tissue formation among others.
• Fructose adds to overeating because it does not trigger chemical messengers that tell the brain the stomach is full and no longer hungry, like food and drinks that contain regular refined sugar do.

What is “Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogentated oils”

Trans fat is the common name for a type of unsaturated fat with trans isomer fatty acid(s). Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

Most trans fats consumed today are industrially created by partially hydrogenating plant oils — a process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1911. The goal of partial hydrogenation is to add hydrogen atoms to unsaturated fats, making them more saturated. These more saturated fats have a higher melting point making them attractive for baking, and extending their shelf-life. Another particular class of trans fats, vaccenic acid occurs in trace amounts in meat and dairy products from ruminants.

Unlike other dietary fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health. Eating trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease. For these reasons, health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be more of a health risk than those occurring naturally.

Chemically, trans fats are made of the same building blocks as non-trans fats, but have a different arrangement. In trans fatty acid molecules, the hydrogen atoms bonded to pair(s) of doubly bonded carbon atoms (characteristic of all unsaturated fats) are in the trans rather than the cis arrangement. This results in a straight, rather than kinked, shape for the carbon chain, more like the straight chain of a fully saturated fat.

To make a long story short…Trans fats interfere with important, normal functions by inhibiting enzymes which are necessary for the body’s normal metabolism of fats and they keep doing it for a long time allowing us to lose the battle of the bulge! 

Current studies show that 66% of the population is over weight and 33% is obese.  Make an impact on your life and your loved ones life and start reading what you put in your mouth, you can start by avoiding these two genetically modified foods/poison.