Letting Corn Syrup Have Its Place

This whole "corn syrup debate" has gotten to be too much for me.

I've pondered. I've considered. I've wavered. And here's what I've realized...

I am neither ready to sign on to the whole "corn syrup is the devil" movement or to agree with the "it's natural, it's fine, it's no problem" campaign.

Here are my thoughts on corn syrup...

It's not good for you. This much is obvious to me. It's not good for you because it has no nutritional value. But neither does refined white sugar... and I don't mind saying that I'm not personally ready to give that up.

It's trendy to boycott "HFCS". I'm not trying to insult any of you who are truly adopting all natural, healthy diets-- I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about all the hoards of people who consume all manner of processed, unnatural, unhealthy foods but who have decided that high fructose corn syrup is the root of all evil.

Sometimes science is wrong. I do not in any way expect to find out that corn syrup holds some unknown health benefits... but I would not be surprised to learn in the future that it ends up being healthier than some alternative. It was not all that long ago that people slapped a nasty label on eggs and warned against eating them... or that "experts" told us margarine was so much better for us than butter.

Corn syrup is in too many foods. And this is what it comes down to for me... I have decided that I am just not ready to get all bent out of shape over the corn syrup in the marshmallows on my children's s'mores. Or in my husband's glass of Coke. Or in the homemade candy my mother makes. Quite honestly, corn syrup makes sense in those things. Doesn't make it good for us, but it's not unexpected to find it in super-sweet candy-type things. That works fine for me. We limit consumption of those things anyhow.

But corn syrup in my salad dressing? In my taco seasoning pouch? In a marinade? These things make no sense to me. These things irritate me. THIS is why I believe HFCS has become a problem in our diets... because it shows up in "non-sweet" foods. I'm making a conscious effort to try to avoid having my family consume excessive corn syrup in "hidden" places.

Corn syrup in a popsicle? Ok. Fine. That actually works for me. Corn syrup in a tortilla? Not so much.

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday.