The (American) Yellow Peril.

No, this is not a post about the Asian invasion or anything so interculturally serious. ; ) No, this is a post about a sly and sneaky harm found right here in the United States! Yes, friends, I'm speaking of... high fructose corn syrup. Hiding in every kitchen, in every cabinet, in practically every foodstuff on the market, thanks to the never-ending efforts of the well-subsidized (to the tune of $40 billion since the mid-1990's) Iowa corn lobby.

Here's my personal tale.

Recently, an acquaintance challenged me that it was pretty much impossible to eat healthily for less than $10 per day. I naturally thought that was preposterous, and so began my quest to prove that it was doable. One of the things I had in mind, while at the grocery store preparing my eat-healthy (well, relatively healthy) inventory, was the avoidance of products containing high-fructose corn syrup. Browsing down the bread aisle took quite a bit longer than I'd anticipated, since it seemed that nearly every loaf had, high amongst its ingredients, the dreaded high-fructose corn syrup. Finally, down near the end, I tracked down a loaf that appeared to not have it on the list.

Since that time, I have been enjoying two slices of toast in the morning with red raspberry preserves, and feeling quite virtuous. However, this morning I happened to notice that second on the list of ingredients for the raspberry preserves was... *ominous music* HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! Curses!

So, back to the drawing board for putting together a healthy food and recipe list.

High-fructose corn syrup: bulging waistlines and causing obesity since 1957.