Sugar

 This year, I resolved to make Wishes for 2013…

actually 10 of them…some attainable, others pure “fantasy”!

Someone stated, “My dreams shall be my guiding stars

as I navigate through my unknown destiny.”

Another mused, “A Man without Dreams

is like a Bird without Wings.”

New Year’s Resolutions:  Many have 1 or 2, 3 or more.

Perhaps one aspiration is “Food”!

The following is a “sweet tooth” essay

from one of my ardent blog followers.

It is entertainingly written and suggests much truth.

I hear all this fuss about so much sugar in soda.  And in New York, it has become

unlawful to sell soft drinks larger than 16 oz. (but alcohol is still okay).

At one time, I worked with a Russian friend  and when we made coffee

I would put about half a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee (like half a packet)

and he would  put about five packets of sugar in his.   

This is the way he drank coffee: with about five sugars.  I used to say to him, 

“Would you care for a little coffee to go with your sugar there, Serge?”

We were having lunch in a restaurant and I ordered a piece of apple pie for

dessert, along with some coffee.  I put the usual half teaspoon in my coffee

and ridiculed Serge about his coffee-flavoured syrup.  Serge then pointed

out to me that there was likely more than five teaspoons of sugar in the slice

of apple pie that I was enjoying.  And I realized he was right!  So I didn't

criticize his coffee any more.

At home, I often make desserts.  A Filipino dessert called Braso de Mercedes

called for two cups of sugar.  I make it as two smaller meringue-custard

rolls, so each one has a whole cup of sugar.  Each one will be cut into about

four to six servings.  Stop to consider that one cup consists of 48 teaspoons.

So if it is cut in six, then one slice has 8 teaspoons of sugar:  almost the

sugar of one can of Coke.  If  you cut it in four, then one slice has 12

teaspoons of sugar.

Yesterday, I made a German Chocolate Cake.  The frosting calls for 2/3 cup

(that'll be 36 teaspoons) of sugar and 2/3 cup of Carnation milk and 1/3 cup

of butter.  That's the essential sticky base to which we add 4/3 cup of

coconut and 1 cup of chopped pecans.  Oh, it's absolutely delicious!!!

But that frosting sure is loaded with goodness.

A few years ago, my daughter and I made some pumpkin pie from scratch.

There was so much milk and sugar in the mix, I realized that the pumpkin

was little more than flavouring.  The mix was essentially gelled sugar to

hold some pumpkin base.

Now, maybe the high consumption of soda pop is yielding childhood

obesity and a multitude health problems. (Back in the 70's we used to

play outside.  Imagine that!) But it cannot begin to compare to the ills of

alcohol.  And I don't see any laws barring the size of a slice of apple pie!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A senior citizen acquaintance of mine “loves cookies”.  High on the priority list

are Oreo cookies.  (Recently on a 4-cookie packet, the label indicated these four

Oreos have a total of 160 calories which in my calculation means that 1 of these

cookies  equals 40 calories).  At a social event, this senior consumed at least 16

Oreo cookies .It's a  “no-brainer”  to realize that 640 calories were consumed  

within a couple hours.  But they were immensely enjoyed with hot tea.

Many people today are lured and enticed through media advertisements: radio,

television, internet, magazines, billboards and other technology invading our 

daily lives and environment…with their lilting music, happy jingles, clever ads with 

brilliant cartoons, birds, animals…even merchandise packaging with colouful labels.

I'm reminded of a Johnny Cash song,

Sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening,

sugar at suppertime.

Be my little sugar and love me all the time.

A Brief History of Sugar

Sugar is the generalized name for a class of sweet-flavoured substances used as

food.  They are carbohydrates and as the name implies, are composed of carbon,

hydrogen and oxygen.

Sugarcane is a giant grass and has been cultivated in tropical climates in the Far

East since ancient times.  A great expansion in its production took place in the

18^th century with the setting up of sugar plantations in the West Indies and the

Americas.  This was the first time that sugar became available to the common

people who had previously had to rely on honey to sweeten foods.

The world produced about 168 million tonnes  of sugar in 2011.  The average

person consumes about 24 kilograms of sugar each year, equivalent to about

260 food calories per person per day.

Since the last part of the 20^th century, it has been questioned whether a diet

high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is bad for health.  Sugar has been

linked to: obesity and suspected of being implicated in diabetes, cardiovascular

disease, dementia, macular degeneration and tooth decay.

Numerous studies have been undertaken to clarify the position.

“Buddha's Pearl of Wisdom”

Health is the greatest gift,

contentment the greatest wealth,

faithfulness the best relationship.

Merle Baird-Kerr...written November 1, 2012

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