High February 23 Corn Syrup

[Lord of Oats]

Caloric content isn't the whole story. It's a lot easier to gorge yourself on HFCS than on sugar. HFCS goes pretty much directly to the blood stream and doesn't give you a sensation of satisfaction (and also causes a faster and longer insulin rush, which is what causes fat to form to begin with).

Eating sugar gives a sensation of satisfaction?! WTF?! Come on, sucrose has to go through one enzymatic reaction, and then it goes directly to the blood stream and provokes an insulin response.

Sure, HFCS sounds even worse than sugar, from what you're saying, but sugar is fucking bad bad bad fucking terrible ass bad, in the first place...if you want to get rid of fat. I mean, if you are planning on getting stuck on a dessert island...eating sugar will help you store fat. BUT LET'S JUST SAY your goal is to lose fat. Excess carbohydrate is stored as fat...so if you want to use up your reserves, then the ideal would be zero carbohydrate intake. SO I try to minimize sugar and starch. Although fiber is nice.

[fluffy]

I know from personal experience that sugar-based soda tastes and feels a lot more filling and satisfying than HFCS-based soda. I also recall reading news articles about studies which found that this was the case in general. Sugar has a very different texture to it than HFCS, which leads to a different mouthfeel, which leads to a different way that the brain recognizes how much someone's had and how much they "need."

Foods made with the different ingredients end up with VASTLY different textures. Sugar is solid, HFCS is liquid. Sugar-based cookies get crisp, HFCS-based ones stay chewy. There are obviously differences between the two which go beyond their constituent molecules.

Calorie-for-calorie they are pretty much equivalent BUT simply looking at that doesn't tell the whole story. If you go with HFCS you're very likely to take in a lot more of those calories.

Also, that "one enzymatic reaction" makes a huge difference in terms of how fast the sugars enter the bloodstream. When it's mediated by that enzyme, it enters the bloodstream slowly, which leads to a slower insulin response, less of a crash, less stress on the pancreas, and so on. Without the need for that reaction to take place, it immediately floods the system with glucose and fructose, the pancreas are all "OH SHIT OH SHIT" and dump a hell of a lot of insulin which processes the sugars right away, and then all that excess insulin in the bloodstream leads to a major crash, which is also a big part of the self-perpetuating cycle which leads to ingesting more of the sweetener for another brief rush.

[Lord of Oats]

Hey, let's keep saying the same things.

All that I'm saying is that in my book, sugar doesn't satisfy either. Protein satisfies. Also I have never felt a sugar crash. But eating a lot of carbohydrate, be it corn syrup, sugar, or flour, has given me evil perpetual hunger. Refined food is not good food.

I meant to say pathway, since it's really a series of reactions.

Cane sugar enters the bloodstream slowly? Dude. Beans enter the bloodstream slowly.

[fluffy]

I am talking about RELATIVE benefits.

Yes, there are a lot of things better for you than sugar. But sugar is better for you than HFCS.

We get it that you are fat and don't like sugar.

[Lord of Oats]

Hey, and I'm talking about the benefits of not eating sugar RELATIVE to the idea of eating other foods.

There are a lot of things worse for you than sugar. But sugar is worse for you than most things.

We get it that you're a carbohydrate addict, but you still have standards, and HFCS is just crossing the line.

P.S. I read that that shit has mercury in it, so f it in the a.

[fluffy]

I'm not a carbohydrate addict. Just saying that if you're going to drink a sweetened beverage, do it with sugar, not with HFCS.

Also, fruit juice has even more caloric content than soda per unit volume. Keep that in mind when you're on your goddamn high horse. EVERYTHING has calories. It's just a matter of where you decide to indulge in them.

When I say I drink sugar-sweetened soda, I don't mean I drink 50 of them a day. I have maybe one every other day. Mostly I drink coffee and tea, black (or with a small amount of cream), or orange juice mixed with seltzer. Sometimes I have unfiltered wheat beer, which is still way lower-calorie than soda AND has a decent amount of nutritive content.

I haven't drank a single drop of cola (HFCS, sugar, Aspartame, or otherwise) since starting this thread, and the one I did have which prompted me to post it was my first one in a month.