A Bit About High Fructose Corn Syrup

I've heard so many warnings about 'High Fructose Corn Syrup,' but I'd neglected to learn anything about it beyond knowing that it's something that one should take arms against, and avoid it as one does the plague. In a nutshell, this is why:

High Fructose Corn Syrup

(Fructose comes from fruit, but syrup comes from corn [corn sap...?].)

 The Facts:

• Obesity is a common repercussion of the consumption of high fructose corn syrup:

 "[There was] a study conducted by Princeton University, [which] found that rats that were fed HFCS gained fat 300% more quickly than those fed an equal (or slightly larger) dose of fruit-derived sugar (So sayeth this website)."

• High fructose corn syrup is similar to sugar, but it's processed within the liver; kidneys; and galbladder, which makes it quite the fiend against one's liver. Many strong prescription drugs are processed in the same manner, so this is a very bad thing (especially if you're on as many psych. medication as I am)
• It's caloric, like sugar, and it carries the same health risks (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc.)
•  There lies a connection between HFC and pancreatic cancer. In all honesty, a lot of man-made sweeteners have the capacity to cause either cancer or tumors: Sugar Substitutes 

After reading what I have, I don't think that HFC is really that much worse than sugar. It's a chemist's concoction, and it has its own unique drawbacks... but sugar has its own brand of horrors as well. It's really just a matter of 'picking your poison.'

If calories aren't one's primary concern (hah...), it's suggested that raw honey is a decent replacement for high fructose corn syrup, although I'm more fond of sorbitol, which has the potential to cause "severe weight loss (see my Sugar Substitutes link for details on the matter)." The body does get accustomed to sorbitol, however, so it's best to take in smaller doses rather than taking it excessively under the false impression that more of it begets weight loss. 

 

Weight: 114 113 112 111 110 109 108 107 106 105 104 103 102 101 100 99 98 97 96 95

Height: 5'4"

Points: XXI

Unrelated to sugar and such: I've fallen into a bought of mania, and it's been dreadful this time around. I've been nervously sucking down cigarettes (a habit that I tossed away two years ago), and I've had to take an obscene amount of my anti-anxiety medication- and sleeping pills, and alcohol- just to fall asleep. I wake up fuzzy and peaceful for about an hour, and am then shot with brilliant alalertness which lingers and wakes me until I swallow my medications all over again. I am on antipsychotics. I'm on a good mood stabilizer. And yet there's no rest. There's no solace. There's just a seething madness that floods my reason and my ability to function as a normal human being should... I'm weary of leaving my home for anything but cigarettes, because it's all so overwhelming to me. I'm Icarus, but I don't want to fly anymore. I know that my wings will melt. I know what lies ahead. I know that only depression will follow the storm, and that it will linger as it always does.

I'm sorry for the melodrama. On a remotely positive note, mania has deflated my appetite trtremendously, which has allowed me to break free from the miserable binging. For that, I'm grateful. For all else, I'm frustrated with myself. I wish that I could be the type of manic who revels in those surges of energy. Alas. I'm climbing cliffs instead of stairs.