Farewell, HFCS, I Hardly Knew Ye...

Really. I had NO idea how much of this syrupy stuff I was ingesting in my daily life. I don't drink soda regularly (diet or otherwise), so I really kind of thought I was a-okay. I was glad when Starbucks cut HFCS out of it's baked goods' ingredients, because that meant I could eat my maple walnut scone and feel good about it. Right? Right?

But people, there's HFCS in loaves of bread!! Bread?! The stuff I make turkey and cheese sandwiches out of?! Corn syrup? And my Fiber One bars and my Special K Red Berries cereal that I thought were so healthy good for me??!!! And I cannot even bear to admit that high fructose corn syrup is the FIRST ingredient on the syrup my poor child has on his organic, whole wheat pancakes every morning. THE HORROR!

Bah!

So, after some soul-searching (and a bit of pouting, because WHY does this all have to be so haarrrrrrrd???!!!), I have decided that our family is kissing HFCS goodbye. I get the whole argument that HFCS is not an evil poison in and of itself and that in moderation it's not going to kill me, but it is EVERYWHERE, and that's the problem. Because of it's omnipresence, it's almost impossible to practice moderation. And it's really just not something my body needs.

So fine. Bye-bye HFCS and refined sugars. I'm hoping that this change will make a difference on the scale, but more than that, I hope it will make a difference in my blood pressure, in my propensity towards diabetes and my overall health. I've put the scale away. I really do want to lose 30lbs. But more than that, I want to treat my body with the respect it deserves. It sure isn't doing what I want it to do these days (cycle #27 of trying to conceive? BRING it.), but beating it up with artificial sweeteners and other crap that it would never come across in nature just isn't fair.

Day #1 of no HFCS was far less challenging than I thought it would be. Trader Joe's is an awesome resource. I don't think I found one product there with HFCS in it. My day was comprised of a lot more fruits and vegetables without the constant temptation of chocolate-y, sugary goodies lurking in the cabinets. Whole foods and natural sugars, like a blueberry, banana and plain yogurt smoothie (so delicious) and can I just say, OMG, that Barbara's Puffins cinnamon cereal??!! made it easy, actually.

I'm one of those people, though, for whom Day #1 is always easy. I ride high on the possibilities and the hope of what might be. Lost weight. Lowered blood pressure. Stable blood sugar. Yay! I'm turning my life around and I feel grrrrreat!

But like most people for whom Day #1 is easy, the reality of it sets in on days #2 and #3, when I start to wish I could have that candy bar in the check out aisle or that muffin at Starbucks. And then it gets tough. I so wish I were the person who pulled their hair out the first three days and then wakes up on day 4 like a new person, saying "wow! I can't believe I ever ate that crap!" But alas, I skip gleefully through the first few days and end out the week a whiney, twitchy mess.

So that should be fun.