Reply #10: HFCS is addictive

[LiberalEsto]

I lost 26 pounds in 2006 with acupuncture. The acupuncture more or less got rid of my chocolate cravings, and I finally was able to give up Chips Deluxe cookies after several years of virtual addiction.

One thing that helped a great deal was Nature's Promise chocolate chip, granola bars, which are sold by the Giant supermarket chain in the D.C. area. These granola bars are sweetened with brown rice syrup. They tasted good, but they didn't create huge cravings. I could eat one bar a day instead of the cookies, and didn't need any more than that.

Then Giant pulled them off the market early this year. Looking for a substitute to keep me from going back to the cookies, I went for the Quaker 25% less sugar chocolate chip granola bars. Unfortunately these contain high fructose corn syrup. As the weeks went by I found myself craving more and more of these each day. I began gaining back some of the weight I had lost.

Last week I saw that Giant had brought back the Nature's Promise granola bars. I bought a box. Right away I found that I could get by with just one of these a day instead of 5 or 6 HFCS-sweetened granola bars. What a relief! Eventually I will cut down to half of one a day, and maybe give them up for good. But I won't touch those HFCS Quaker bars again.

It is just amazing how HFCS can create addictive cravings. The stuff is a form of poison, and unfortunately it's in almost everything now. Try buying a bottle of ginger ale without HFCS in a regular supermarket. It's not possible.