Sugar, Sugar In The Bun

Do you remember this line from the Snow White story? "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest fair of all?"
I have come up with a line that applies to our lives much much better. It goes like this: "Sugar, sugar in the bun, who is the fattest fat of tun?"

Those of you, who have tasted food outside of North America, know what I am talking about. The food tastes too sweet here, don't you agree?

I was hungry this afternoon and wanted something quick to suppress my hunger. There was a piece of French bread on the kitchen counter top (whole wheat version, as we try to eat healthy!!!); without hesitation, I tore a piece and put it in my mouth! "OH MY! Is this really bread?" That was my first reaction. I honestly turned over its nice paper wrapping to read the label and make sure that it was in fact bread and not some kind of pastry! And then had to read its ingredients to find out how much sugar was in it. Obviously since it was so sweet, I couldn't stop eating it. Talking about addiction, ha?

I remember a while ago we went to a famous chain pizzeria here in So Cal for the first time. I ordered a Carne Asada pizza, which is made of grilled steak, chilies, different kind of cheese, fresh tomato and cilantro. Yummy, right? Yummy until I took the first bite! The crust was so sweet that it dominated the taste of all of its other delicious ingredients. Imagine eating steak with a piece of muffin! Doesn't sound tasty anymore, does it?!

But why o why the food makers put all these extra sugar in everything they make? Why "spicy" ketchup, "vinegary" vinegars, and even "salty" pickled gherkins taste so sweet here?
When everything tastes so sweet, it does not really matter if you have French bread for lunch or pizza! They only look different!

I am one of those people who love to have a bit of pastry with tea or coffee. But, how can I enjoy a piece of, let's say chocolate-raspberry tart (one of my favorites), when so much extra sugar has entered my body without my permission!? And if I insist in having that piece of heaven, I have to cut back on my main meals or live with the guilt.

Did you know that the average American eats about 115 lbs of sugar per year? 115 lbs!!!? No wonder I am gaining weight this fast! And no wonder there are 24-hour fitness centers everywhere. This is for sure a not so easy way to burn off these extra calories that enter our body with or without our knowledge!

I wished someone had calculated the amount of money an average American is spending on fitness membership, dental care, health care, weight loss products, skin products, and wardrobe make-overs (because of size change) all due to this involuntary sugar consumption. I guess if you multiply it with 300 million people, it becomes an astronomic number! Doesn't sound too bad for the economy, after all!
Obviously, we can't put a price on the shattered self confidence, the torture of going on a diet, the health risk of obesity, and the time! Yes, the time you have to be on the treadmill away from whatever it is you like to do, shedding these extra pounds off!

Now the real question is what shall we do about this problem?

One thing we can do is to go back in time and find the person who discovered sugarcane and just make him undo his discovery!!!
How about if we all start growing our own food and making everything from scratch, like how our grand-grandparents were doing it?
Or an easier way is to ask the food makers not to put sugar in their food! If they don't listen, we all move out of this continent! Hopefully, they would get the message then!
Or we can pay extra attention when grocery shopping. This means spending more time while shopping and possibly spending a bit more money on high quality items. But then, what about when we dine out?

Oh, man! We are doomed! Let's get back on our treadmills.