This coming Monday I will be starting my new job, working with pulmonary research data at a children’s hospital.  I am moving, which is exciting, but moving has become a huuuuge pain in the patootie.  I am having to sell my condo in Northern Colorado which I am not too happy about since I loved that little place, but hopefully I can find something even better in my new town (If you know anyone who may be interested please let me know).  In the mean time I have moved in with my mother which is proving a huge challenge of it’s own.  No way I can afford two mortgages, so I must be patient.

The hardest part of living back at mom’s is food.  It is difficult living with someone who does not understand diabetes or even carbohydrates.  This house is filled with carb packed foods, bread, doughnuts, halloween candy…  high fructose corn syrup.  Every where I turn around I am stuffing my face with snacks, and not nutrition packed stuff like I had at my house.  The killer for me is the HFCS, for some reason it makes my glucose levels go crazy high then I have a low crash hours later.  But I can’t resist the stuff when it is right under my nose screaming EAT ME! EAT ME!!!  Before moving in with mom I had nearly eliminated HFCS from my diet, but now I am off the wagon and my BGs are going crazy again.

All the swings in my BG levels are taking a toll on me.  Not only am I exhausted from the wacky sugars, but my lungs seem to be taking a small down turn, my allergies are going completely crazy and my oxygen levels are starting to tank (running about 90% on room air).  This just sucks.

I have been seeing a lot of commercials on the tv saying that HFCS is natural and is just like sugar… ummmm… I would have to disagree when I look at how it affects my BG levels.  I can eat sugar, take a bolus of insulin and if I calculated the number of carbs correctly, my BG levels are right where they should be.  Set me down with some HFCS and my body goes crazy.

Anyway… I guess this is just a little update on the going’s on of Salty.  Hope all is well with you!

Here are the ingredients listed in order on the container:
milk
strawberries
sugar
FRUCTOSE SYRUP
FRUCTOSE
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
contains less than 1% of the following…..

HOLY!!!! I never thought that yogurt could be soooooo bad! Not just one, but THREE items in the top 6. I bet if you added all the fructose up it would be more than the amount of milk in the thing! OOPS!!!

ICK ICK ICK!!!

Now what am I going to do with those six fresh containers sitting in the fridge…

This challenge begins with the first steps of eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Apparently this is in almost EVERYTHING, so it is quite a challenge to begin with. So, as a baby step, I am challenging myself and you to quit drinking soda. Now, I think diet soda is ok, but why bother since the carbonation isn’t good for you anyway. I’d have to have someone read a label and post a comment for me since I don’t drink diet. The “fake” sugar gives me a nasty headache. Can you do that for me?

While researching HFCS I was blown away by the amount of negative impacts this chemical has on the human body. First, it is the number one source of empty calories in the average American diet. Empty calories are just a complete waste, they serve no good for your body since they deliver no nutrition. Plainly, they just make you fat. Also, HFCS is believed to be a contributer of the increase of Type 2 Diabetes. (now, why would you increase your risk of something so horrible, if you can control it?!).

HFCS is composed of fructose and glucose and are monosaccharides. Fructose breaks down very quickly and easily in the body to form glucose, and well, glucose is glucose. Since these chemicals enter the system so quickly they will spike the glucose levels in the blood. It is well known that high blood glucose/sugar causes harm to the body. Researchers believe that continuous spiking of blood glucose levels may be a contributer to Type 2 Diabetes. Even the “normal” human body has trouble keeping up with these unnatural spikes. That’s a double whammy against HFCS with concerns to Type 2 Diabetes.

Doc says that the best substitute is sugar. Plain old sugar. This is closer to the earth, hence your body has an easier time dealing with it.

As if that isn’t enough info to convince you, my doctor has informed me that Fructose is also an inflammatory chemical. Inflammatory chemicals can cause heart disease and other nasty things. Having CF, which causes a lot of inflammation in the lungs, I am super interested in any ways possible of reducing this inflammation.

So, back to the challenge. I have made the decision to test out this theory, see how I feel after a while after eliminating this from my diet. I think I should notice if my lungs are feeling better in a week or so. I noticed all the juice in my refrigerator has HFCS in it, so that isn’t a good replacement. So… I am looking to you for suggestions as to what to replace my sodas with… help me?!!!