What would you say if I told you there was one single food that – above all others – was not only stopping your reducing stomach fat but potentially the entire US and Worldwide obesity epidemic? Sounds like a pretty bold claim I know.
I imagine you’d want to know a bit more about this health robbing food wouldn’t you? So let me fill you in.
High Fructose Corn Syrup. There’s your culprit. What the Fruc?
HFCS is a common sweetener found in many food labels. For some time researchers and health professionals have suspected a link between the growth in fructose sweetened foods and the increase in obesity and health related problems. And now it seems there is a bit more clarity on this topic.
A recent study by Yale University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, seems to confirm the link. Let me tell you about it.
The key finding from the Yale University study was that while glucose seems to do a decent job regulating your eating, fructose on the other hand does not seem to ‘turn off’ the areas of the brain that are driving you to eat. Glucose reduces the blood flow in the areas of the brain that regulate your nagging appetite, while the same can’t be said for fructose.
Now I am sure it’s no surprise to anyone that if you can’t switch off the parts of the brain responsible for driving you to eat and you are less likely to feel full – you are likely to eat a lot more than you should. That sounds like it should be triggering some alarm bells.
It’s for this reason that many experts contend that high fructose corn syrup is more harmful than sugar and much more likely to lead to significant weight gain. Not great for reducing stomach fat!
Let’s back track a bit. Where did this HFCS come from?
High Fructose Corn Syrup is a relatively new food ingredient that entered the American food supply in the early 1970s. Coincidentally, that’s about the same time as obesity started to gain some real traction in the United States. Manufacturers love HFCS because it is just as sweet as sugar, has a long shelf life – but more importantly (for them) it is less expensive than other sweeteners. How’s that? Well basically because US governmental production quotas on domestic sugar, subsidies on corn, and tariffs on foreign sugar – all combined to make the cost of sucrose higher than throughout the world. Result? Manufacturers turned to HFCS for many sweetening options.
HFCS was introduced into a bunch of processed foods and soft drinks from the mid 70s to mid 80s, and can be found in a wide variety of food products, dressings, ketchups, fast foods, ice creams, breads… the list goes on.
Read Your Food Labels
If you are looking to reduce your caloric intake, or get rid of the unsightly belly fat from your body, then we have 1 simple trick for you. Read your food labels, and try to eliminate foods with high fructose corn syrup. Your body (and your belly) will thank you for it.
