processed foods | processed foods - Posts - Beyond Health

Nov 3rd 2025

Getting Off the High Blood Sugar Merry-Go-Round

The major keys to supporting healthy blood sugar regulation are diet and exercise. Our primitive ancestors who were physically active and ate diets high in fiber and low in carbohydrates didn’t have to worry about blood-sugar problems. If we emulated them, neither would we. Refined sugar is the main dietary culprit. Many people think that they don’t eat much sugar because they don’t dip into the sugar bowl frequently. What they fail to appreciate is the enormous amount of sugar they get from desserts, baked goods and other treats, as well as from the 85 different forms of sugar found in processed foods, where sugar acts as a preservative, as well as to lure consumers with a sweet taste. Sugary soft drinks account for about 1/3 of sugar consumption in the US. Simply avoiding processed foods and soft drinks will go a long way towards eliminating added sugar in your diet and normalizing blood-sugar balance. If you must eat processed foods, check the label for the number of grams of…

Nov 3rd 2025

You May Be Eating More Sugar Than You Think

Nutrition experts at Tufts University say the average American consumes about 30 teaspoons of “added sugar” (that is, sugar not found naturally in food) a day. That’s a heck of a lot if you believe, as we do, that refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup are deadly metabolic poisons, and just 2 teaspoons of them throws your body into biochemical chaos for several hours. Or that honey and other natural sweeteners aren’t a whole lot better and should be used sparingly. Although the sugar industry keeps trying to convince the government and consumers that any form of sugar is safe in any amount, they’re fighting a losing battle. The science saying otherwise has become so overwhelming that even the conservative American Heart Association now agrees that added sugar is implicated in obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. They recommend no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day for women and 9 for men. Last year, government Dietary Guidelin…

Nov 3rd 2025

Childhood Nutrition

Malnutrition is the leading cause of disease in America, and children’s diets are usually worse than even our malnourished adults. As a result, sub-clinical nutrient deficiencies are common, and show up as behavior problems, learning difficulties, obesity, anxiety, and depression. More and more children are developing cardiovascular risk factors as early as age three and are suffering from diseases that used to be reserved for older folk, like type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer. No sane parent would deliberately give their child heart disease or cancer. Yet this is exactly what we do by feeding our children disease-causing “foods” like sugar, white flour, milk, ice cream, cookies, candy, cakes, fruit juice, sodas, pizza, breakfast cereals, French fries and various processed foods. Unfortunately, the same kinds of so-called “foods” are served in school cafeterias, contributing to poor school performance and impaired social skills. Optimal development and fun…

Nov 3rd 2025

How HFCS Leads to Weight Gain

Fructose is a form of sugar found naturally in fruits and vegetables. It’s also a component of refined table sugar, or sucrose, which is half glucose and half fructose, and of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has a ratio of 55% fructose to 42% glucose.When it was discovered that fructose, unlike glucose, didn’t raise blood sugar levels or insulin and was significantly sweeter than glucose, it was hailed as a boon to all diabetics who could now satisfy a sweet tooth with impunity.But then a dark side of fructose came to light. Scientists discovered that while the body can handle reasonable amounts of fructose from fruits and vegetables without serum fructose concentrations rising to dangerous levels, it can be overwhelmed by large quantities of fructose, especially refined (man-made) fructose. Unfortunately, our steadily increasing consumption of refined sugar and HFCS seems to have done just that.In the 19th century, average refined sugar consumption was about 7 pounds per year p…

Posted by -Beyond Health on Nov 3rd 2025

Beware of High- Fructose Corn Syrup: Health Risks Explained

The Hidden Sugar in Processed Foods — and Why High-Fructose Corn Syrup Raises Red Flags Sugar is everywhere in the modern diet—but not all sugars behave the same in the body. While table sugar (sucrose) is already problematic when consumed in excess, growing research suggests that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may pose additional metabolic concerns, especially when it becomes a staple of highly processed foods. HFCS is now found in a large percentage of packaged and ultra-processed products, making overconsumption easy—and often unintentional. Why High-Fructose Corn Syrup Is Different HFCS is a refined sweetener made by converting corn starch into glucose and then into fructose. Unlike glucose, which can be used by nearly every cell in the body, fructose is primarily metabolized by the liver. When intake is high and continuous, this metabolic bottleneck can stress liver function and disrupt normal energy regulation. HFCS and Weight Gain: What Research Suggests Ani…

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