A growing number of scientists suspect that there’s a connection between the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the diet and America’s skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes.  HFCS is a sweetener and preservative, sweeter and cheaper than sugar, used in many processed foods to extend shelf life.

According to Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., “Despite the lack of clarity in research, the fact remains that Americans consume large quantities of high-fructose corn syrup in the form of soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages and other processed foods. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutritional value.” She recommends reading labels and the following:  

“Avoid or limit foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup. Some other easy tips for cutting back on high-fructose corn syrup include:

 Buy 100 percent fruit juice instead of fruit-flavored drinks.

 Choose fresh fruit instead of fruit juices. 

 Choose fruit canned in its own juices instead of heavy syrup.

 Cut back on soda.”

In Dr. Andrew Weil’s March 2008 Self Healing newsletter he suggests “giving up soft drinks and any other items sweetened with high fructose corn syrup including some jams, jellies, syrups and condiments.  While the amount of fructose (fruit sugar) that you would get from eating an apple or a peach is fine, the large quantities found in high-fructose-sweetened foods can upset your liver metabolism and increase your levels of blood fats.”

Investigative journalist Michael Pollan goes further in his new bestseller, “In Defense of Food”, “People eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets.  Scientists can argue all they want about the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whichever it is, the solution to the problem would appear to remain very much the same:  Stop eating a Western diet.”

Pollan suggests that you can do this by going back to eating “real food” and gives these guidelines:

• Don’t eat anything your great grandmother  wouldn’t recognize as food.

•  Avoid food products containing ingredients that are A)  unfamiliar, B) unpronounceable, C) more than five in number, or that include  D) high-fructose corn syrup.

• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of  the middle.  (Most supermarkets are laid out  with processed food products dominating the center aisles while dairy,  produce, meat and fish line the walls.)

• Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.  You  won’t find any high fructose corn syrup at the farmers market.   Indeed, the surest way to escape the Western diet is simply to depart the  realms it rules:  the supermarket, the convenience store, and the  fast-food outlet.  It is hard to eat badly from the farmers market,  from a CSA box or from your garden.

• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

• You are what you eat eats too.  The diet of the  animals we eat has a bearing on the nutritional quality and healthfulness  of the food itself, meat or milk or eggs.   Industrial agriculture produces vast quantities of cheap animal protein.  But in doing so it has radically changed the diet of most food animals  from plants to seeds, because animals grow faster and produce more on a  high-energy diet of grain.  However for most food animals a diet of  grass means much healthier fats as well as higher levels of vitamins and  antioxidants.  Look for pastured animal foods and invest in a freezer  to buy in quantity.

• Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.  Find  out how your food is raised, choosing organic methods and local for the  most nutrient retention.

 Pollan ends his book with a chapter entitled “How to Eat.”  He recommends eating less and enjoying it more. Going for quality rather than quantity.  Eat long leisurely meals like the Italians and the French. During a month long stay in the south of France I was amazed by the outdoor markets in every town, how much everyone cared about the food they ate, how knowledgeable they were about it and what lengths they would go to get it.  People shopped every day for gorgeous looking fresh foods including wonderful still warm baguettes from small bakeries.

√  Eat meals. Try not to eat alone.  Sadly Pollan says Americans are increasingly eating in solitude, in front of the TV or in the car.  “The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from mere animal biology to an act of culture.”

√ Eat slowly and consult your gut.  It takes twenty minutes before the brain gets the word that the belly is full yet most of us take less than twenty minutes to finish a meal.    

√ Cook and if you can, plant a garden. “As a cook in your kitchen you retake control of the meal from the food scientists and processors, you know exactly what is and is not in it.”

“Eating is an agricultural act,” said Kentucky farmer, writer and visionary Wendell Berry meaning that we are not just passive consumers of food but co-creators of the systems that feed us.

Pollan concludes, “Depending on how we spend them, our food dollars can either go to support a food industry devoted to quantity and convenience or they can nourish a food chain organized around values like quality and health.  Yes, shopping this way takes more money and effort, but as soon as you begin to treat that expenditure not just as shopping but also as a kind of vote, a vote for health in the largest sense—food no longer seems like the smartest place to economize.”

Also at the market will be Azmira holistic dog food, homeopathic remedies and treats, local pecans, Dr. Hummus and Adventure Coffee with fair-trade organic coffees from around the world.

Spinach Quiche

(By Judy Goodenough)

1 baked pie crust

8 ounces ricotta cheese

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/2 cup minced onion

15 ounces fresh spinach

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

4 beaten eggs or 8 ounces egg beaters

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Wash spinach and steam 2 minutes until wilted.  Drain. Combine all ingredients.  Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Ok if center is jiggly. 



 Whole Boiled Greens with Onions & Spicy Peanut Sauce

(Adapted from the Garden of Eating by Rachel Albert-Matesz)

1 or 2 bunches of chard, kale or collard greens

3 quarts of water

1/2 tsp sea salt

extra water to cool greens after cooking

1 tray ice cubes

1 medium red, yellow or white onion, sliced into thin half moons

Boil onions uncovered in salted water for one minute.  Remove with skimmer.  When water returns to boil, immerse greens.  Cook uncovered over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, then turn greens over and continue cooking for 4 to 6 more minutes until leaves are tender and vibrant green.  Plunge greens in ice water to stop cooking and hold color.  Drain well.



Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup crunchy or smooth roasted, unhydrogenated, unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter

1/2 cup warm water, additional tablespoon as needed

1 to 2 tblsp tamari soy sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lime juice

1/2 tsp ground chipotle (or less)

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup minced fresh scallions or cilantro

2 to 4 tblsp cold water to thin sauce

Combine soy sauce, water and peanut butter in blender.  Add vinegar, garlic and chipotle and blend again.  Add 2 to 4 tblsp cold water.  Stir in scallions or cilantro by hand.  Pour into jar, cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until thick before serving.