HEY CHUBBY!

That would include me, of course, I have an over sized waist I would love to get rid of.

But why are sooo many Americans nowadays struggling with too much fat?

Turns out is just might be corn fructose.

Fructose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar), which the body can use for energy. Because it does not cause blood sugar [to] rise tremendously (has a low glycemic index), it was once thought that fructose was a good substitute for sucrose (table sugar). However, the American Diabetes Association and nutritional experts have changed their minds about this.

High blood triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease.
Fructose ends up circumventing the normal appetite signaling system, so appetite-regulating hormones aren't triggered--and you're left feeling unsatisfied. This is probably at least part of the reason why excess fructose consumption is associated with weight gain.

What are the major sources of fructose?

Fruits and vegetables have relatively small, "normal" amounts of fructose that most bodies can handle quite well. The problem comes with added sugars in the modern diet, the volume of which has grown rapidly in recent decades. The blame has often been pinned to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

High fructose corn syrup has become incredibly inexpensive and abundant, partially due to corn subsidies in the United States. So, really, the problem is more that it has become so cheap that it has crept its way into a great number of the foods we eat every day.

The whole key to this thing is the bit about fructose ending up circumventing the normal appetite signaling system, so appetite-regulating hormones aren't triggered--and you're left feeling unsatisfied... so you keep eating: More than you needed, more than necessary.

My wife and I have been experimenting with this fructose thing. We have been checking labels on foodstuffs to see which contain this additive. A whole lot of our food does. Just about every soft drink does... gobs of it as a less expensive sweetener.

One amazing result: When we prepare and eat a meal with little or no fructose, we eat less and stay satisfied (That not hungry feeling) much longer.

Want to lose weight?

Take a few seconds and read the labels. Avoid products where fructose, corn fructose, high fructose - however it's identified - are way up near the top of the ingredients list.
The higher up the list it is, the more in quantity it represents.
Quit sucking up those fast food soft drinks. They are perhaps the biggest culprits, including their canned and bottled versions in the store.

An unintended consequence of using vast amounts of corn for ethanol and the resulting steep rise in the cost of corn may be the return to more traditional sugar by food and drink manufacturers, bringing about a national weight-loss program not intended by anybody.

Maybe all those 24-inch waists are recoverable after all.