musings of a gluten free runner

Posts Tagged ‘sweetener’

OK- so I’ve had a terrible stomach all week. It’s been debilitating. I’ve been rushing to the bathroom 4-5 X’s per day and I swear more is coming out then going in. ugh, too much information, I know (but not if you’re a runner, or if you’ve ever spent much time around me). I’ve been in limbo alternating between feeling completely bloated and totally depleted. Sitting here on my big blue ball, I just want to go and lie down. The worst is that today I’m really light-headed. At least I already did most of mileage this morning- (with only 1 emergency bathroom break en route)…

So what does this have to do with candy corn? It’s pretty much the only thing that I can pinpoint that I’ve eaten differently. (Well, I did have a glass of port and three little chocolates at Pix for Ian’s birthday on Tuesday…)

There is an EVIL bowel of candy corn that appeared out of no where this week right outside my office. Candy corn, plus those adorable little pumpkins, were my sweet-fix in college. The whole candy addiction thing was a new thing for me upon starting college cross country. I didn’t realize that people post-elementary school still had such strong connections with non-chocolate candy. Candy corn was the only thing I could get behind… I loved that honey-flavored sugar spike immediately after races. Their borderline obscurity plus the fact that I only see them for three weeks out of the year has continued to up their allure.

My parents didn’t make regular appearances at races in college (though they flew to Illinois last minute for Cross nationals my senior year), but someone else’s parents always brought me a bag of candy corn.

So- to get back to the subject- I’ve been researching whether candy corn could somehow contain gluten… and yes, I know about the cross-contamination issues (I just don’t know what exactly would be contaminating it? twizzlers? those fake-yogurt-covered pretzels? mystery to me)…

In my internet search I came across a blog post that I thought I would link to. The author discusses candy corn’s ingredients (basically different kinds of sugar & wax), as well as the harmful effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Check it out:
http://www.glutenfreeforgood.com/blog/?p=468

I think my gut needs a candy corn detox.

I was so excited to find this stuff last week… all I kept thinking was: it’s about time! Zevia is a “natural” soda made very simply: water, stevia and flavoring ingredient. I haven’t bought any kind of soda in ages, but I just had to try this stuff because it had stevia in it. Hopefully this is a good sign that more foods will start using the delicious calorie-free herbal sweetener instead of all the chemical sh*t that’s been out there since the days of women drinking Diet Rite. (For some reason those cans always conjure pictures of feather-haired women donning leg warmers, sweatbands, and full body leotards.)

More to the point, stevia is still considered a supplement. The sugar industry, and especially the established big boys of the artificial sweetener realm have been pressuring the FDA for years to keep this thing under-wraps.

What a shame. And if, like me, you tried using stevia 10 years ago and shied away because of the aftertaste… you will be pleasantly surprised by all the new “non-bitter” formulas out there. Basically a little of this “sweet leaf” goes a long way. Many of the new stevia powders (especially the packets) are cut with small amounts of other sweeteners (like sugar alcohols) and this mellows the flavor and makes it less potent. The straight stuff is SUPER easy to overdo!

It’s just a matter of time before this one hits huge… and we start seeing it appearing in more processed foods and drinks. Even with all the recent fan-fare stores like Whole Foods still can’t keep stevia next to the other sweeteners, because technically the FDA still classifies it as a “supplement.” So sometimes you have to go hunting for the herbal nectar. Most Whole Foods keep the packets by their tea selection. Trader Joes and Whole Foods both have really reasonably priced boxes of 100 packets under their own labels… both are around $5.00.

Sweetness.

For more information on Stevia and articles on artificial supplements check out the Zevia website links page. (Obviously they are going to be a little biased, but it has some good links).
http://www.zevia.com/products_stevia.html

The media, scientists, and health experts are always telling us that things are getting sweeter… Food that is. There is no way to get around it: sweetness is seductive. We love it. We crave it. And then we seemingly become addicted to it. Why?

One explanation for the palatability phenomenon is biological: Our foraging ancestors were attracted to sweet food because it was a sign that it was edible and good source of much-needed calories in a world where food was scarce and the next meal uncertain.

One thing metabolically certain is that when we ingest sugar (or starches) our bodies immediately respond by flooding our bloodstream with insulin. Insulin is the magical hormone that is responsible for storing that immediate energy in our fat cells (as long as it isn’t needed for immediate muscle repair or fuel for exercise). Increase the insulin, and you increase amount of fat stored. It is a brilliant system, as long as your goal is not to eat large amounts of simple carbohydrates and lose weight. I actually recently read an article about the eating disorder associated with Type 1 Diabetics, where they purge calories by skipping or under-dosing their insulin shots. This obviously is not a good thing- and these girls are suffering serious medical complications and premature death as a result.

Then there is the conspiracy-theorist’s explanation of why the world is getting sweeter…and more obese. Sugar sells. And it is addictive. Food manufacturers want to create ever more palatable offerings to lure and keep customers coming. So hence, we have an entire industry based on snack foods and soft drinks. And this cycle continues to fuel our need to satisfy those sweet and salty taste buds. Have you tried to find even jarred pasta sauce without sweetener? What is sugar doing in marinara? Producers even sweeten deli meat…It gets quite ridiculous when you stop and actually look at the labels.