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Brainwashing

I thought I would bring this forward since last week I read about this and it has got me thinking.  I thought about going off and writing another post about why we would trust commercials anyway......but then I remembered this post....... and the only thing I have to add to it is this. ;)

The other day I was in line at the grocery store and I saw a jar of Nutella so I of course picked it up turned it around and read the little words under INGREDIENTS.  Quite honestly it's not near as bad as the other things that where around it but the first ingredient was ummmm SUGAR.  Right there in plain sight on the ingredient list.  All a mother needs to do instead of letting a TV tell her what is good for her kids is look at the ingredients and decide for herself if they are going to nourish her child and be "part of a balanced breakfast" or not.  It's really that simple I think most of us deep down know if it's real food or not and if it's nourishing or not.  And of course we all know that fresh fruits and vegetables are the very best for us I knew that before I ever studied nutrition.  I won't keep rambling if you haven't read this post it's a must read if you would like to become more informed and proactive when it comes to what you eat and feed your children.

In Health,



Originally posted September of 2008

Alright I hesitate to post this because we get so much negative venting stuff thrown at us on a regular basis that I hate to add to it. But I do think that we need to become more aware. Plus I posted it on my family blog (it's mainly our family photo album but sometimes I use it to vent and hey my family has to love me right;) Anyway my brother who very seldom comments insisted that more people need to know this. So well here it goes I hope the info is helpful. Let me know what you think! It is kind of sarcastic cause well it's like we either laugh about it and do something or we get fuming mad. It'd rather see the humor in it! And educate myself and my family!
Just start by watching this. Don't worry only 30 seconds!


If video doesn't work go here.


Hummm!?!?!?!? I never knew! Alright have we really become such zombies that marketing like this is going to work? First when I see pretty much any add or commercial I ask myself, "Who is funding it?" Well you will notice at the end of the commercial it tells you. Corn Refiners Association! Hummm Well I think I can trust them to tell me the truth about corn syrup. They don't have anything to loose if I don't consume corn syrup do they? ;) They must have me and my families best interest at heart. Here are some other things I have learned from adds similar to these.

"Milk it does a body good!" "Beef, it's what's for dinner!" "Pork, the other white meat!" "100% Vitamin C!" "Red Wine can help prevent heart disease!" And I know you could probably think of a million others that are not coming to me right off! Okay back to the corn syrup.
It does no one any good. It has absolutely no nutrition and it is causing tons of problems a main one is the huge increase of diabetes especially among children. Not to mention being malnourished and overweight at the same time. And because of this overuse of refined corn products many people have become allergic to corn!

Also yeah it doesn't have anything artificial in it but that punch the lady is holding. I'm sorry it's just almost hilarious to me. The only thing natural in it would probably be the water. It has artificial dyes and flavors and oh yeah corn syrup. Yep people table sugar is natural too. It comes from a good natural source BUT by the time it gets to our table it does not any longer resemble food. It's basically just the sweetness from the sugar cane no vitamins no minerals and takes those things from our bodies just to digest it. I believe it is more closely related to a drug then a food; same with corn syrup. Well there's my rant thanks for indulging me. I hope we all can become more savvy consumers! I know our children and grandchildren will thank us for learning and helping them to learn too! There are so many health problems these days and obesity and I am sure THIS kind of stuff plays a big part!

Now I came across this post the other day and thought it was great and made some good helpful points! Please be sure to click on it and go read it! Trying to do the 10 things suggested as best we can I think would help A LOT!!!

NOTE: Just a small FYI I'll pose the question if you are interested you can research it yourself. Is it possible that High Fructose Corn Syrup does not stimulate the release of the appetite regulating hormone lepitin? The hormone that lets you know you are full. Could that be one of the reasons they put it in everything? Not because they want it to be sweet but because quite frankly you will eat more of their product. It was a very awakening thing when we were giving up refined sweeteners. Corn syrup was not just in our sweets it was in nearly EVERYTHING! Check out food labels you will see what I mean! It's been quite interesting to me to find that now even though I still enjoy sweets I don't over indulged like I used to. I'm satisfied! A little bit goes a long way where before I could never get enough. I'm pretty sure there is something to that! Have you noticed similar results? Maybe being an ingredient freak isn't such a bad thing. ;) If you haven't looked at my Ingredient Post check it out hopefully it will help you when reading those food labels!



16 comments:

Permission to Mother said...

Here is another:
Carnation Formula-- the VERY best

NO! Breastfeeding is the very best. Formula companies do the same thing with little jingles.

This is a great post and I don't watch TV so I hadn't seen the commercial, but I've had it mentioned to me. Thanks for posting.

Where's your family blog?

fitncrafty said...

Tam.. Great post. I am on your side. In my book HFCS is a poison! AS I have already found out it is incredibly hard it is to find products without it, ketchup, bread, dressing, pasta sauce, cranberry sauce, juice, most fast food restaurants have it in at least some of their foods, Peanut butter (choosey Moms DONT choose jiff), jelly.. ok you get the point. Hence why I make so much myself.
I never believe any research/information that is put out by the organization that is going to make money on the findings! The bias there is bad!
Thank you for sharing this information!

Tammie said...

Permission: You are sure right about that formula. You know it even has corn syrup too! GRRRRR! I tell you if all Doctors taught what you do wow it can't imagine the health of our children!

And we don't have TV either I had just heard about it so I figured I could find it! I wanted to see just how low they stooped! ;)

For my other blog and a link to my husbands you can go to www.rytamandfam.blogspot.com but you may learn more about us then you really wanted to. We are terribly opinionated! ;)

fitncrafty: I like how you come right out and say it! It's nice to know I'm not alone in my thinking! And I had totally forgotten about that Jiff Comercial yeah I have read the back of that bottle. Who do they think they are fooling! Way to many Mom's and we can't keep being so trusting! Thanks for all you do!

Permission to Mother said...

I just read the label on Jiffy yesterday. Yuck.

I don't watch TV, but my husband is addicted. I'd like to through it out forever.

fitncrafty said...

D- I never even read a carnation label (Thank goodness!) Breast is beast!

I have never seen the HFCS commercial, glad I must not watch enough tv. I am pretty blunt about my feelings about it for sure!

The only thing I had a hard time findng was buns, now I am making my own! (thanks)

I dont just read the calories and fat on a label, I read EVERY ingredient. It takes forever, but I still do it. Somethings I have learned which I can just pick up and other I am still reading away!

Took a peek at your family blog.. I will be back. I like opinions!

Lauren said...

Very interesting post. I like your blog.

Is this commercial really out there on TV land? Yikes!

The Cooking Lady said...

We have slowly but surely been ridding our home of HFCS. We do not eat out...at all, so we do not have to worry about what is at the restaurants. But my oh my what is lurking in our cupboards and in our frigs.

The door of my frig is the biggest battle. I am done with bottled dressings. WOO HOO! I have three recipes, Italian, Russian and Ranch, so for now we are good to go. But man is it difficult to get rid of this stuff. I have recipes for homemade catsup but the way we go through it, I do not know if I could physically keep up by making my own.

I blogged about just this thing a few days ago, "Who are They Kidding" is the title. I am definitley curtailing my TV watching, but when I saw this commercial I was stupified. How dare they. But you know what. Thee average American will buy into it, hook, line and sinker. Because they are programmed to believe what they are told.

OK, this is turning into a mini-rant. Thanks for a great post...as always!

Marilyn said...

I saw this commercial recently too and was SHOCKED! more propaganda in the name of money, money, money. (the same goes for drug companies and other food companies!) I enjoy reading your blog and I recently read (most) of The China Study after reading about it on your blog. I was again SHOCKED! My husband & I are gradually changing our eating lifestyle to reflect a more natural way of eating. I need some of your opinions and help on meals-we are off wheat, milk, eggs, and yeast right now. My teenagers are really not happy and I refuse to make 2 dinners every night-Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!

Tammie said...

marilyn: Sounds like you are doing some great things! Have you heard of Spelt or Kamut they are grains kind of like wheat but people with wheat allergies don't usually have a problem with them. I think they can be used in place of wheat in a lot of things. Also I know if you make your breads with sour dough yeast is not needed. I have not learned how to do this yet but I want to. I hear it's a even healthier way to make breads.

Yeah I can imagine teenagers not being to thrilled. I still think that just like with young kids to teach them what you are learning I'm sure it will make sense to them. I would just be excited about your new diet and lifestyle and only have healthy things available at home. Make good healthy treats, smoothies, and things especially while transitioning. Maybe even "healthified" versions of some of the family favorites! I wouldn't be to hard on them and give them a huge guilt trip if they eat some not so good things when they are away from home. But I would try to be as dilligent as possible at home and just be a good example and show them how much you enjoy good healthy food. They may give you a hard time but I know when all is said and done they will be so grateful for the things you have taught them. I don't think food should be a cause of tension but I think if you explain your feelings and what you want in your home and focus on all you are getting and the benifits and not what you are giving up. In the long run the benfits are so huge I think they will get that. Also as they eat more and more good things the bad will taste less and less good. It really doesn't even take that long. My husband even got frustrated cause some of his favorite junk foods no longer tasted good to him. It's so freeing when we are not longer addicted to those things!

Good Luck, Tammie

Trish said...

AMEN SISTA! Bring on the hallelujah chorus! I have seen a bunch of these ads and they make me want to roll my eyes and hit the power button on the remote. I don't watch that much TV and it looks like I'll be watching even less in the near future... Did you read my blog about secret combinations? Hwa ha ha! Lame Corn refiners association! More like diabetes makers and doctor referers association- first we make you get diabetes and then you have to pay for all the doctor visits! Hwaa ha ha!

Anonymous said...

Loved your comments. I went to the www.sweetsurprise.com and it is hilarious...they forgot to mention that HFCS is being banned in other countries! And the commercial says it is "fine in moderation", well that may be a little hard to do since it is in almost every product anymore. Why do people think that just because it is put in our food that it is safe to eat?

Permission to Unwind said...

Oh my goodness! It's really hard to believe that people fall for that, but they do. Yikes!

Shellie said...

I'm curious what you do to sweeten different kinds of foods. I wanted to eliminate sugar but it is in EVERYTHING out there.

Tammie said...

Shellie: There are so many good sweeteners out there that even me being the sweets freak that I was have not missed sugar, corn syrup or other overly processed sweeteners. 100% pure maple syrup is really good but can be expensive (we save it mostly for pancakes and I even then I dilute it) Honey is wonderful especially raw, it keeps forever and is not only a good sweetener for foods but also great to use for medicinal purposes. Agave Nectar is from the center of a Agave cactus plant I love it! It's more mild than honey and doesn't mess with your blood sugar like other sweeteners can so for people with bood sugar problems it is a great option. I love it for sweetening drinks like lemonaide. It is also really good in muffins and muffin type cookies. I have used it a lot in the place of corn syrup cause it has a similar consistancy. Then there is Sucanat it stands for SUgar CANe NATural. It is simply the juice from the sugar cane dehydrated with all vitamins and minerals ie. the molasses still left in. It would probably be the easiest transition because it is very similar to sugar. And can be used in much the same way. You can start with substituting cup for cup but you may find the sucanat to be more sweet and rich and may want to use a little less.

I you look through my recipes it might help give you more of an idea of what sweetener I use in what.

Those are pretty much the sweeteners I use. I know there are other good ones too like brown rice syrup and stevia. I know a lot of people use date sugar too.

Just be sure to stay away from artificial sweeteners like sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame (Nutrasweet) these are worse and have more side effects then sugar or corn syrup.

Anonymous said...

I saw that commercial the other day and just about died. I thought "you have got to be kidding me". I felt like they were saying, "there is no need to give your kids 100% fruit juice, just give them kool-aid and capri suns." I can't believe how stupid they think we are.

{leah} said...

I saw this commercial on TV a while ago and bot Steve and I just laughed, we couldn't believe what they were selling!

We are till moving forward on our health journey and have made a lot of changes. I still have cereal in the house but I am really picky about which cereals {used for those mornings when the kids want to be awake at 5:30... too early for me to make breakfast} We were in the store and the boys were asking for all the brightly colored cereals {"because mom, it has whole wheat in it!"}. I kept telling them no but they wanted to know why. I told them the first thing that popped into my head. FOOD COLORING! I told them why it is bad what it looks like on teh ingredient list {ie: red40 ect.} and why they put in in our foods. They stopped right there and started reading the labels. They only asked for cereals that did not have food coloring. There is still a lot to sift though but they no longer ask for colorful ones. In fact they have started going though all the foods at the store saying "Nope we can't buy this one it has yellow in it"

There is so much to learn and to teach them but we have started and it feels good to know that the boys are becoming aware of what they are eating.

Thank you for all your teaching.