RedCat's Profile

Sugar is all sucrose which is made up of 1 fructose and 1 glucose. I believe corn syrup gets up to 50% fructose with the rest being glucose, however this varies. I think their might be some that have no fructose and are just glucose.

Maple syrup is all sucrose unless something else is added, I believe. Honey is 50% fructose, 49% glucose, and 1% sucrose. HFCS varies. There is 45%, 55%, 95% fructose the rest being glucose. The 45/55% are more common I think.

My point with this that they all contain close to the same amount of fructose. So HFCS isn't chemically any more evil then other options. If you replace 45% HFCS with honey, you end up with more fructose.

I'm worried this making HFCS the enemy is missing the point that we are eating too much sugars in general. Replacing HFSC in a product with sugar/honey/maple syrup doesn't actually improve the nutrition.

My issues with HFCS is that it is in everything which besides making it easy to overdose on sugar, makes it hard to eat foods without sugar, because they end up not tasting sweet enough. (Common problem with kids, but also adults!) My other problem is that it is made from corn, one of the most expensive plants to grow. It takes a ton of nitrogen out of the soil which then has to be fertilized to grow next years crop. The only reason HFCS is so popular is corn subsidies make it cheaper to produce then sugar. It think it also preserves things better, so they last longer on the self.

Those are pretty ugly. I'd think you would be able to reuse the parts in a manner that looks better then that. The idea isn't bad though.

I just watched an interesting lecture on sugar. The important take home message from this that a lot of fructose is horrible for you. Much of it turns into the bad fat that causes cardiovascular disease. It also messes with insulin and makes your brain not get the signal that you are full. It is at least one cause to obesity. Also your body treats it a lot like alcohol. You end up with much of the same physical problems an alcohol wood if you ingest too much fructose.

So you might be wandering what this had to go with agave nectar. Well according to Wikipedia, it probably has a ton of fructose! It seems like you can get it with different amounts of fructose. Wikipedia had one source say 56% and another 92%. Maybe there is one with a lot less. This makes it very similar to high fructose corn syrup which is has a 45-55% fructose syrup and a 90% fructose syrup. Sugarcane isn't a better choice. It is a bunch of sucrose which is 50% fructose. Sugar is fruit is also sucrose. Fruit juice is as bad for you sugar-wise as soda. (Fruit isn't a problem because it contains enough fiber to counteract the problems fructose can cause and you end up ingesting less sugar then you would with an equal amount of juice.)

I haven't finished researching if there is actually good alternative outside of not eating it. Honey and maple syrup seem better, but it seems they still have between 30-40% fructose which makes me what avoid using them with anything that isn't also giving me a decent supply of fiber. Of course, there is always the solution of only consuming a little.

The company website has very little information on it. It seems they are a start up company, so I think we shall have to wait and see if they succeed enough to get the windows into our market.

Monster's stuff is cheaper on Amazon. That particular model can be found here. There are also cheaper models.

From what I saw searching for it, there isn't enough research to really say whether GMOs kill bees. Right now I don't have a feel either way for GMOs being good or bad. From a couple things I read though, I wouldn't buy them because some of the companies controlling them seem awful. I don't trust them to do enough research to actually make sure something is safe. And Greenpeace claims they are preventing outside research. Not that I trust Greenpeace that much as they are too extreme to give unbiased data, but I didn't see much research when I searched for it.

That is pretty common for human nature. First of all most creatures are creatures of habit. You tend to do what you are use to and have trouble getting into a new habit. People who are stressed out (usually from work) tend to have problems change habits because trying to change ups their stress (and they are already plenty stressed). Even small things (like using reusable bags) can be had for a highly stressed person to do, but stress really messes with their brain. They have problems remembering and caring.

Second, I don't see how it is hypocritical. It is pretty easy to realize if everyone biked to work we could cut down on a massive amount of pollution. Deciding to bike to work is a different from recognizing the wisdom/logic of why you should do it. There are various issues to solve before you can biking to work. In some cases, you pretty much have to move to feasibly do it.

Third, unless I'm missing something, for the "In the coming year, do you intend to do this less often, the same or more often?" Fewer people said 'less often' in 2010 then in 2008. Obviously people are doing something right! If you go and do some math on those you will see that if 'more often' went down, 'same' went up as least at much for the ones shown on TreeHugger. The data doesn't show how often people already do it, so you have no idea if someone already does it to the point where they can't do any more. (i.e. If you always have your heat set at 68 degrees or below, how are you going to do it more often?)

smellofsawdust,
That is called "No 'Poo". Re-Nest posted about it awhile back.

I don't know a lot about this, but I thought I'd add my two cents, since no one else has.

For where to get such a table for a reasonable price, you could find some reclaimed wood you like and have a local wood worker/carpenter build you one. Cost would depend on supplies and labor. I don't know how much that would cost. Or you could also try making it yourself. Since they seem to be becoming more popular, you might be able to find them in less pricey stores soon though.

Most wooden items are protected with a finish of some sort. A finish that offers good water resistance should prevent you from staining it. Obviously asking about it will help you with that. Reclaimed wood may have been finished before it was reclaimed. If the wood wasn't sanding down or trimmed, it may be fine as is. Finish can get beat up, so it could still need to be refinished.

I don't consider something green unless it is certified by someone I trust. Bamboo has a lot of potential to be green, but I almost never see anything certifying it. Taking a quick glance at wikipedia, I found that companies have been selling bamboo rayon (chemicals used in creation) have been being called "bamboo fabric". The FTC apparently has started to crack down on this last year which is good, but I ideally want organically grown bamboo. The organic label is only meaningful on food in the US (Yay USDA Organic label!), so there is a lot of 'organic' non-food items that aren't organic. You have to find companies that certify something as genuine organic (and trust they actually do what they are suppose to).

I find it really hard to buy green. I tend to buy stuff labeled organic or natural and hope for the best when I don't get a chance to research. Sometimes after I bring it home I find out it isn't very green (although often a little greener then some of the alternatives).