If you are actively engaged in the new Alpha Male Challenge or any other program where the goal is weight loss, the current administration may be trying to help you – by curbing sugar imports.
Ah but wait, let’s take a closer look at this situation. According to a news report this morning, the Obama administration has put some limits on sugar imports. Sure, we produce some here in the U.S. but we also rely on sugar from other countries that harvest beet and cane sugar. So why the hold on sugar production? I can tell you this has absolutely nothing to do with the U.S. diet but instead with money and politics. First, the administration may want to ensure sugar produced here is used (okay, that’s wise) but we (your tax dollars) also subsidize corn production through the massive Farm Bill. The Farm Bill doesn’t go to pay the organic tomato farmer down the street from you but instead it subsidizes huge farms producing commodities in massive quantities. So why import sugar when our tax dollars are paying for corn grown here which can then be used to produce high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)? HFCS has a lot going for it. It’s cheap, it’s production is subsidized (in part) by your hard earned dollar and it’s easy to incorporate into foods.
So, don’t worry, your juju fruits, gummy bears and other sweets will still be easily accessible at movie theaters, gas stations, convenience stores, your friend’s house and well, pretty much everywhere.
Is HFCS horrible for us? If I talked about metabolic pathways you’d probably click away faster than I do in and out of facebook. So, for the sake of time and attention span I’ll just say this – it’s not the ingredient of choice for weight loss. But, you can take all the HFCS out of your diet and not lose weight if you are still eating a bunch of junk. HFCS alone won’t make you over fat. If that were the case, Michael Phelps would have at least a few lbs of fat covering the well defined muscles on his frame.