Diet is central to any naturopathic treatment plan. There are several substances- I don’t even consider these being real food – that I ask every patient to eliminate from their diets. These include hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, monosodium glutamate, preservatives and, last but not least, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS).
HCFS has been in the news lately because of high mercury levels found in a study of foods high in HFCS. Navigate to the links below for details.
The Mercury study link: http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2
List of foods that tested high in mercury: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090127/mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup
This was news to me, and yet another reason to avoid this highly processed corn derivative. Other reasons include the fact that our bodies cannot metabolize fructose very fast and if you eat too much of it at once, the fructose can’t be removed from the blood to be used in the cells for energy, but instead ends up clogging up capillaries. This is similar to the disease process of diabetes. It leads to eye problems, heart disease, peripheral neuropathy and other complications. HFCS has a high glycemic index, meaning it shoots up blood sugar levels quickly. There is a lot of evidence linking the obesity and diabetes epidemics in our nation to high amounts of this sweetener in the standard American diet.
If all of that weren’t enough, there are political and environmental issues intertwined with the HFCS industry. Corn is a highly subsidized crop and is overproduced in the US. It is grown in huge areas as the sole plant (monoculture) by gigantic agrobusinesses using lots of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and now genetically modified plants. Author, professor and real food activist Michael Pollan explains this brilliantly here. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04pollan.html
“Knowledge is Power!” – Frances Bacon
“Let food be your medicine and medicine your food” –Hippocrates
Margaret Philhower, ND
www.drmargaret.org
