How Did We Get So Hooked On Sugar?
We'll be posting a new poll this week (thank you, all 193 of you who voted on how important eating healthy is to you). The new one is about the foods and drinks that are hardest to give up. For me, the most difficult cycle to break is my dependency on sugar - primarily ice cream but any dessert. I know that there are homemade desserts with five ingredients or fewer (re: Michael Pollan), but the problem is that, like a potato chip, I can't eat just one.
In the last 20 years, our annual sugar consumption has increased dramatically, from 26 pounds per person, to 135 pounds per person. Some think we eat even more.
When I don't eat refined sugar, I'm more likely to eat healthier in all other areas of my eating. Now, when I would usually be downing a pint (not of beer, of Ben and Jerry's) I eat fruit, including figs, plums and dates. And I love putting frozen fruit, especially cherries, in a blender with skim milk or non-fat yogurt.
How did sugar (and high fructose corn syrup) come to be such a staple of the American diet?
A journey into the world of "real food" with Seattle-based journalist Rebecca Morris
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7 comments:
HFCS is cheaper than sugar (beet/cane), and it has a longer shelf-life. Thus, food manufacturers use it in a lot of products to extend how long it will last. Also, once Americans became acclimated to the taste, they began to expect it in many foods. Another problem is that high levels of sugar/salt mask unpleasant flavors/poor quality of ingredients used in processed foods.
Not to totally blame it on a conspiracy theory, but there are at least two factors involved:
1) our propensity towards addiction
2) exploitation of that addiction
I personally think that American have been "groomed" by food manufacturers from a young age. 30 years ago, you didn't see us Asian kids in Taiwan eating cold crunchy cereal with milk, and having that milk turn pink or purple. Candy was a rare treat: even in the U.S., my asian counterparts here were not allowed to indulge in sweets. We didn't have dessert for dinner; we had fruit. I was allowed to earn up to 25 cents a week to buy one or two pieces of candy, and I had to do a lot of chores to earn it. I never thought it was worth it. As an adult, I don't find eating desserts attractive, and after a couple of attempts to socially eat dessert, my tastebuds gave up. So did my digestive system.
I feel the food industry exploits the fruit (no pun intended) of their grooming labor by creating more food choices with sugar (and high salt and fat as well) over providing more quality natural food. Try finding pasta sauce in a bottle or can that doesn't have added sugar, for example.
For every problem, there is a possible solution. Mine is Mindfulness. Use that at the dinner table when eating unseasoned food, observing and tasting the food, experiencing its texture, smell, and effect on satiation. Over time, you may notice you need less seasoning, less sugar, less fat, so you can actually taste your food. And notice the after affect, such as the absence of that sugar coma that comes after a poor-quality pasta dish with sugar, as opposed to a quality grain pasta with less fat and sugar, more vegetables, higher quality lean meat if you eat meat.
135 pounds per person? Ugh...that is really a disgusting statistic...gross. But I believe it. HFCS is in everything.
We don't buy candy and rarely eat desserts but it is not uncommon for my kids to be rewarded at school with candy. There is "M&M Math" and "Tootsie Roll Measuring". I'm all for making education fun, but do we really have to ply the tykes with sugar to make our point?
As I live on substitutes in my coffee...I'm waiting for a study to come out that says, "Stop with the Splenda, already."
My husband came across your blog and gave me the link because we also live in the Seattle area and this whole "real food" and "local food" has become a big focus for me in the past few months. I even started a blog about it (http://localfoodadventures.blogspot.com/). It's not easy, but I'm enjoying it.
It was tough answering your poll this week because I've started making our own ice cream and our own pizza, so I don't really miss the packaged versions very much (except for their convenience factor) because the homemade tastes so much better. But in our household, the toughest thing is that my husband just can't seem to give up Coke. Luckily, I've never really liked the stuff. But we do try to find cola with cane sugar instead of HFCS whenever we can.
I agree with everyone, and while I tend to discount other conspiracy theories, I think there is one with regards to sugar and HFCS!
Angela, I'm afraid to try making ice cream out of fear I'll want to do it daily! Thanks everyone, for your suggestions.
The Gottesman Family, I couldn't stomach using non-dairy creamers after reading a quote by Marion Nestle is which she compared those to "liquid margarine". Haven't touched it since.
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