CHALLENGE: High Fructose Corn Sacrifice

Nobody seems to know what High Fructose Corn Syrup is. The word "corn" is a dead giveaway that it has something to do with maize. Syrup is probably indicative of a pancake-condiment-like consistency. But when you put all the words together, they appear to take on a whole life of their own. The only thing people seem to know is that it's bad for you... or good for you, depending on what people think they know.

What is HFCS? It's a manufactured sweetener. It basically is milled and processed corn that is turned into starch, then corn syrup, then given a little enzyme party that turns almost half of that corn syrup (almost all glucose) into fructose. Fructose is the sugar molecule associated commonly with fruits and is what most food companies add to their product to make it taste better.

Now that your eyes have melted into your skull from boredom, here's a diagram I made for you in MS Paint to explain the process:

Science!

Is HFCS bad for you? There is some research that seems to link steady consumption of HFCS to a number of health issues, including obesity. Those on the other side will point out that there is no conclusive link that HFCS is the main cause of any of this.

Whether it is good or bad is not the point of this challenge. The thing I've noticed is that it is in EVERYTHING. Can something like this - that is "fine in moderation" - be taken in moderately when it is nearly unavoidable? How much do I normally take in? Can I stop? Will it even make a difference?

THE CHALLENGE:
Avoid all High Fructose Corn Syrup for 30 days. A day for each year of my life. My wife will be the observer and auditor.

RULES:
1. Absolutely no HFCS products, including condiments and dressings
2. All days are consecutive
3. If eating out at a place that doesn't make all food in-house (bars, fast food) I must know ahead of time. If I don't know ahead of time, I have to assume that foods that could have HFCS WILL have it. Asking is allowed.

START DATE: October 4th, 2011 7:00pm
ESTIMATED END DATE: November 3rd, 7:00pm

My first meal tonight HFCS free was going very well. Wife and I were aiming for some Kroger brand Shells and Cheese with vegetarian hot dogs. Not a usual meal, but some classic comfort foods perfect for the start of fall. Checked the shells and cheese: clean. Checked the hot dogs: clean. So I sat down to eat and grabbed the ketchup...

Ketchup: HFCS, third ingredient.

Dry hot dog. Nice.

Also, the buns were stale. Not that I could have eaten those anyway (HFCS). This is going to be annoying.