Well, we don’t like rules so much, so sometimes we decide we know better.

Like, for instance, the makers of high fructose corn syrup. They’re big rule breakers. They say that isn’t so, but trust me, they break the rules.

But we pay the price.

Well, I could write about many things to prove my point, but let me talk about minerals.

Our bodies need minerals. Big time. Because our food no longer provides much nutrition, most of us are mighty low in minerals.

Minerals act as catalysts, making things happen, things that need to happen for function and good health. Not enough minerals means not so many things happening, which means reduced function and less than good health.

Except for all my foot-stamping, probably nobody ever told you about this. When’s the last time you had a conversation about, say, magnesium–probably the most important mineral of all, the initiator of more than 300 body functions. See what I mean? Big problem; no talk.

And here’s where nature’s rules come in. Nature insists on balance. Your body will balance your minerals even if it leaves you in a ditch. For instance, if your calcium and magnesium get out of balance, you body will eliminate whatever it must to get them balanced. So, if your magnesium is scraping bottom, your body will eliminate calcium until it’s scraping bottom, too. You’re in the ditch, but they’re balanced.

Since most of us are low in most minerals and our bodies attempt to keep things going by constantly balancing what minerals we have, is it any wonder that fatigue and disease rates keep zooming higher?

So we’re in a world of hurt, and the villain hasn’t entered the scene yet.

Enter high fructose corn syrup, processed to a fare-the-well, a concoction never seen in nature. Part of the processing strips minerals. So, HFCS is hugely unbalanced, in nature’s view of things.

When the devoid-of-minerals HFCS gets into our bodies, then, it shouts ‘Hallelujah!’ and scarfs down our minerals to balance itself. Our bodies then balance down what’s left. We think we’re just enjoying a soda, but World War III is going on inside us. And we’re losing.

The result? Our bones go south, our skin withers and aging gets ferocious–even early on. Our brains take a licking, too. Not to mention that all sorts of diseases see us as easy pickings.

We need to do two things to win the battle: We need to have a good vitamin/mineral program so our bodies have what they need, and we need to quit taking in high fructose corn syrup so it can’t do a number on us.

I help with the first one in my e-book, Pep for the Pooped: Vitamins And Minerals Your Body Is Starving For.

The second takes a lot of label-reading because HFCS is everywhere, in everything. All I can tell you is you get on to it. Reading labels may never be your favorite thing to do, but do it.

Unless you like that lower-than-a-snake’s-belly feeling.