As you might remember from my last post, I've tried to cut high fructose corn syrup out my diet and this means cutting out almost all of my soda intake. This was a big change, as I drank a lot of it.

I tried diet sodas for a while, but there is just something about a sip of aspartame that bites the inside of my mouth like a scorpion-filled swig of whiskey. I didn't care for it.

That was when I discovered the wide array of sodas made with cane sugar, IMHO, taste better and are marginally better for you than soda's with HFCS. They also cost more, sometimes twice as much, but its worth it. After tasting a few, I thought would share my findings.

Jones Soda's Cola

Jones Soda Co. is a small soda maker (at least when compared to Coca-Cola or Pepsi) based in Seattle. They are known for their wide variety of soda flavors, ranging from classics like root beer and cream soda to weirder ones like strawberry kiwi and thanksgiving dinner. I've always been a fan of their green apple flavor, but for the sake of comparison, I tried their good old-fashion cola flavor.

Its an unconventional taste. It reminds me of RC Cola, or maybe Safeway Select. It has a somewhat musty flavor, as though it had been aged in a wooden barrel (or maybe it just had too much syrup!). Overall, it was ok. I think I will stick with Jones's other flavors.

Pepsi Natural

This is a new gourmet soda from Pepsi. It takes the Pepsi formula and replaces it with certain natural ingredients.

It doesn't really taste like Pepsi. Have you ever had one of those candies shaped like coke bottles that taste sort-of like a soda? Imagine mixing a bunch of those into a Pepsi, and that is what this tastes like.

But that isn't a bad thing. It tastes great! It also has a fruity aftertaste, which lets you nurse it over time and enjoy it longer.

Mexican Coke

This is Coca-Cola bottled in Mexico. Since Mexico doesn't have ridiculous subsidies for corn, they make their Coke with sugar instead of HFCS. Aside from that, its pretty much the same drink as its US counterpart. It tastes a little sweeter and maybe less fizzy, but its just as refreshing and addictive. In one way it is the antithesis of Pepsi Natural, in that the flavor feels somewhat empty. You want to chug it instead of nursing it. I've heard some baby boomers drink it because it tastes like Coke did before they switched to the HFCS sweetener in the 1980's.

It's a charming drink overall. It comes in a 12-ounce glass bottle with the same footprint as the old 8-ounce Coke bottle, but taller. All the writing on it is in Spanish except for an ingredients and nutrition facts sticker stuck on the top (Mexico must have different laws regarding nutrition labels).

The biggest problem with this drink is finding it. It's the Big Foot of sodas. There are a lot of stories and myths across the internet regarding where you can find it. Some say you can find it in Costco, but you need ask for it. Some say you need to go to Mexican grocery stores. I buy mine from a Bartells' Drug store near where I work, where it is hidden in a far corner of the Coke fridge in the back of the store.

That's all I have to say for now. Enjoy your drinks! And stay away from HFCS!

It makes us fat, and it is just about everything a modern American eats. It's not sugar, but industrial food companies use it in lieu of God's natural sweetener wherever they can.

It's high-fructose corn syrup, and I am challenging myself to cut it from my diet as I type this post.

HFCS is nasty shit. Studies show that it contains poisonous mercury, and many attribute it to causing the wave of fat people rolling over this fine nation. Moreover, the stuff is just plain unnatural.

So last Sunday I resolved to stop eating it. I figured, hey, all I need to do is avoid cheap pancake syrup, candy and Coke, right? I didn't think I was going to need to completely change my lifestyle. I was so wrong.

Tuesday evening I was at work and desperately needed food. I took the easy road and decided to go to the McDonalds next door. I thought "I'm cutting out a sweetener, not trans-fats, salt and bovine fecal matter."

Well, I forgot to tell the guy to hold the ketchup... and the bun... and the whole meal for that matter.

Sauces such as ketchup have plenty of HFCS. I knew that. Turns out that its also very common in bread. I never saw that one coming.

Two days in, I had already failed, but I soldiered ahead anyway.

The following morning I sat down to a bowl of cereal. I was halfway through the bowl until I realized what I was eating: Frosted Mini Wheats. I always assumed it was just sugar on the white side, but then I looked at the ingredients list. Twas HFCS.

I shook my fist at the world and solemnly finished my cereal. I had already broken my vow and no use letting the rest go to waste.

Later that day I went to see some friends on Bainbridge Island. Around 8 pm we started drinking margaritas, and things went downhill from there. By midnight I had a Miller High Life can in my hand, proudly mumbling to telling my friends that I was going to cut HFCS from my diet.

One of them smugly pointed out that a lot of cheap beers use HFCS as a sweetener and also as the base substance they ferment from. A quick google search found that the margarita mix was also probably laced with this faux fructose.

Cursed industrial food system! They have taken cheap drinks from me, too!

Since then, I have learned to look at the ingredients of everything I eat, and I have been mostly successful in keeping HFCS out of my diet. Still, it is proving difficult.

I have found it in yogurt, bread, Rice Krispies, any and all frosted cereals, Orange Julius, ice cream and cheap juices.

Cutting HFCS is possible, but difficult. If you intend to try it, be prepared to look at the ingredients list of everything you eat or ask the folks at every restaurant what is in their food.

It might be useful if you checked out these links.

This one is a guide to cutting HFCS out of your diet.

This is a list of food with HFCS in it.