The Good Food Campaign

Here at TGFC, we avoid McDonalds like the plague (in fact we look at McDonalds like a world wide plague). However, reading Michael Polan’s excellent book ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’ gave us some figures even we were shocked by.

We already knew that the four main ingredients of the average Western diet were Corn, Rice, Wheat & Soy, but we were surprised to find that out of the non liquid items in McDonalds products, they contained the following percentages of corn, or corn derived products (such as High fructose Corn Syrup).

• Soft drink 100%
• Milk shake 78%
• Salad dressing 65%
• Chicken nuggets 56%
• Cheeseburger 52%
• French Fries 23%

That means there’s more corn in a McDonalds cheeseburger than anything else. The last one is the one that we wondered about the most though. Why is almost a quarter of the contents of a portion of French Fries derived from corn?

Share this:

High fructose corn syrup, sugar and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same, according to Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association. She says that High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

That last statement though, is the rub. If you really want to eat food with less calories, and better nutritional values, then it’s recommended to cut out the empty calories that come with ALL calorific sweeteners, including both regular sugar, and HFCS.

So TGFC still thinks it’s a good idea to avoid HFCS as part of a sensible diet regimen.

Share this:

Take Ketchup. It’s all the same isn’t it? That supermarket own brand, tastes almost as good as Heinz, and it’s quite a bit less expensive.

“Mind you, I heard that Hunts Ketchup is full of that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), and I’m trying to cut back on that, as I’ve read it’s not good to consume, particularly when you’re trying to lose a few pounds, so I’ll avoid that one. On seconds thought, perhaps I’ll stick to Heinz. My mom bought that, and always swore by it – wouldn’t get anything else”.

You’d be wrong.

Heinz Ketchup is made with HFCS, like most other brands.

Why try an organic Ketchup? You might only take a little bit once in a while, but you can bet you’re kids take lashings of it, right? So do them a favor, and get something without the ubiquitous HFCS in.

Check the labels next time you’re in the supermarket, and you’ll be surprised how many ‘good’ brands contain way too much junk!

Share this: