Week 4- Unprocessed Kitchen Series

 

 Welcome to our fourth week of the 14 Weeks to an Unprocessed Kitchen.

Have you already started your unprocessed journey or are you new to this? 
This is a great place to start by taking 14 weeks to getting yourself on track for healthy living. 

You can find Week 1's post HERE
You can find Week 2's post HERE

You can find Week 3's post HERE

This week I'd like to touch base on another commonly used staple in your kitchen cupboard: 

Corn Syrup, and High Fructose Corn Syrup

Corn syrup is used in a lot of baking recipes and you can find these two ingredients in over 80% of all packaged foods at the store. If you are seeking a healthy kitchen then these two items need to go. 

Corn Syrup

Over 90% of all corn products in the U.S are genetically modified. To help in maintaining a healthy unprocessed lifestyle, we need to eliminate all food products that are genetically altered. This includes corn.

For the reasons of corn syrup being genetically modified and highly processed is why my family won't use it in our home.

Some healthy substitutes for using corn syrup:

Organic Brown Rice Syrup

Organic Agave Nectar

Pure, Raw Honey

100% Pure Maple Syrup

Each gives a different flavor to your food and all are perfect substitutes to any corn products for all your baking and cooking needs. Use them the same as you would corn syrup: 1 to 1 in your recipes..

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a man-made sweetener that’s found in a wide range of processed foods. Completely chemically processed. H.F.C.S is not good for you at all. No matter what the mainstream media is trying to portray with this ingredient. Your body DOES know the difference. We live in a country where our food is tainted with this ingredient and we are terribly deprived of nutrients.

The good news is that you can't just go to the store and purchase high fructose corn syrup and place it in your food to eat. It's an additive in the prepackaged food you buy in the store. So to eliminate this ingredient you need to read labels. 

The tricky part is that High Fructose Corn Syrup is also disguised in your labels under different names. 

Not only do you see the words High Fructose Corn Syrup but you will also see words:

High Maltose Corn Syrup  
Maize Syrup
Tapioca Syrup
Glucose/Fructose syrup
 Glucose Syrup
 Dahlia Syrup and Crystalline Glucose

All of these above are the same as High Fructose Corn Syrup so it's really important to read labels on everything you purchase. To have an unprocessed kitchen the goal is to eliminate the products that would contain these ingredients because they are in all processed foods you buy in the store. The more unprocessed you get, the chances of you running into these ingredients get smaller.. That's great news!

This week was all about eliminating all corn syrup products from our kitchens. I challenge you this week to read all the labels of products you have in your kitchen and find out how many have any of these ingredients labeled.. To also find an alternative ingredient to use in replace of your corn syrup..

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read this week's post. Please stop by for Week 5 of 14 Weeks to an Unprocessed Kitchen next Monday.. Until then...