Curiously Awesome

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photo credit: Mel B.We are encouraged to think of sugary foods as wholesome and desirable. Our children’s fairy tales and stories are filled with sugary references, Hansel and Gretel for example. Every special occasion and holiday has its own sugar icon. Birthday cakes for birthdays, candy for Valentine’s Day, Easter baskets for Easter, candy canes for Christmas.

Cookbooks call for cups of sugar for dessert recipes. Coffee breaks would hardly be breaks without sugared coffee and doughnuts. Bake sales are huge ways to raise money and Girl Scout cookies are a much-anticipated annual event.

We even equate sugar with goodness. Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. They then grow up to be someone’s “honey” or “sugarplum”.

Question: Is America committing gastronomic suicide with our current rate of sugar consumption?
Sugar (or sucrose as it is technically called) is more a drug than a food. Foods are supposed to have vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, trace minerals and elements. Sugar has none of these elements that are essential for life.

Most people don’t know how much sugar they eat. Why? It’s not a matter of just keeping track of how many teaspoons you sprinkle on your cereal or pour into your coffee. 75% of the sugar we eat is already present in the prepared and packaged foods and beverages we buy.

Sugar is virtually invisible. Very few food items are sugar-free and sugar is the largest single ingredient in the American diet.

Part II - What Happens When You Eat a Piece of Chocolate Cake?