Tragedy? Indeed!
The workers at Canada’s massive Rogers sugar factory workers are on strike. Thank goodness though everyone managed to get through Hallowe’en, and children could get their bags of sweet goodies safely home.
But now there’s a sugar shortage starting. Over the years I’ve cut down on sugar in our house. A five-lb bag will last us a year. But I still love creamy cakes. Love the way you have to smash through a solid sheet of sugar on the top of crème brûlée for dessert. So sugar in the pantry doesn’t count!
We often don’t know how much sugar we consume. This stat from the American Heart Association is quite interesting.
“American adults consume an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day, more than 2-3 times the recommended amount for men and women respectively.
“This adds up to around 60 pounds of added sugar consumed annually. That’s like six 10lb bowling balls”. Sounds extreme, doesn’t it?
Has sugar changed?
I ask this simply because growing up in Zululand, South Africa, I recall eating a lot of sugar. It was just what you did.
Meals were never complete until you had the dessert after your lunch or dinner. It gave the parents ammunition to exhort children to eat their vegetables and main meal ingredients, otherwise “no dessert!”
In our large family hunger before a meal would drive you to get a slice of bread, open a can of sweetened condensed milk, and spread a couple of liberal spoonfuls on it. I know now that amount would have been about 60 mls. The sugar content then would have been about 6 teaspoons of sugar per snack slice. Yikes!
We used to frequently make fudge. It was of course almost pure sugar, mixed with cocoa, and a bit of water, brought to “soft ball” stage over heat, then spread out on a pan to cut into sugary squares. Yum!
Now, with a microwave, you can make lovely, perfect fudge in just a few minutes. You need the can of sweetened condensed milk of course, and some chocolate chips. Add pure vanilla, just to feel virtuous. Microwave 1 minute, then let it all melt together. When that’s happened, spread it quickly into a 9x9” pan. Restrain yourself, wait until it has cooled, then cut it into squares.
So, going back to those early days…what happened, health-wise? Nothing, short and sweet. We all grew up slim and healthy. So did everyone else I knew. But this was in the days before development of many food chemicals that are now interspersed with the sugar, in food as well as candies.
Obesity was such a rarity that I only knew one fellow student with it. My parents spoke to us about it, explained she had a medical condition, and told us very firmly never to mention it to her, and to be very kind.
These days, I see so many folks obsessed with different diets. Obesity is a huge concern in developed countries. Sugar is blamed for so much of the ills of society. But is it the main culprit?
I’ve never really been able to square away those early sugar habits and complete lack of obesity with what I know to be true at this much later time, the 21st century.
Life has sped up since I became an adult. It’s hard to get a break from the relentless speed of it. But strangely, in between gym sessions, or lounging in a recliner, depending on your choice, people seem to feel virtuous when they manage to shy away from sugar. It has become a “guilty pleasure.”
I must admit I find the practice of trick-or-treat quite deplorable. Yes, it’s fun for everyone to dress up, but really, should you send your children to beg for copious amounts of candies to put in huge bags? What does it mean? The sad thing is, this year folks had to decide between their need for groceries and buying candies at exorbitant prices to please their kids.
It might have been easier on the wallet to make some treats, but the sad truth is that is no longer acceptable. Anything homemade will be weeded out and discarded by caring parents who know that dangerous things can be included in homemade “treats”.
Inside those beautifully wrapped, delicious and harmless-looking Mars bars you have other interesting ingredients though.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, corn syrup, lactose, malted barley extract), Milk ingredients, Modified palm oil, Cocoa butter, Cocoa mass, Cocoa powder, Salt, Soy lecithin, Dried egg white, Artificial flavour. Please refer to the product label for the most accurate nutrition, ingredient, and allergen information.
Let’s look at Twix
Ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Pgpr, Artificial Flavors), Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Palm Oil, Corn Syrup, Skim Milk, Dextrose, Less Than 2% - Salt, Cocoa Powder, …
So some of this stuff I'm willing to bet you’ve not heard of, and most definitely don’t have in your home kitchen. Pgpr isn’t a word, for starters.
Unfortunately, for the following information, it’s hard to translate this science -speak into language that most folks can understand.
PGPR is a mixture of esterified products manufactured by the esterification of polyglycerol with condensed castor oil fatty acids. The brief 3-step manufacturing processes is as follows:
1. Polyglycerol preparation: Glycerol is heated to above 200 ℃ in the presence of an alkali catalyst to produce polyglycerol.
2. Condensation of the castor oil fatty acids: Castor oil fatty acids (synthesized by hydrolyzing castor oil in water) are heated to above 200 ℃ to create interesterified ricinoleic fatty acid chains of varying lengths.
3. Esterification: Then polyglycerol mixed with interesterified ricinoleic fatty acids to produce PGPR with different chain lengths. (1)
Voila! There you have your unpronounceable polyglycerol polyricinoleate.
Sugar is indeed the first prime ingredient in these candies, and of course that’s a whole lot in those bags of candies.
Palm oil farming is causing rapid deforestation of the tropical forests of Brazil, and other tropical areas. This destroys animal habitats, in addition to wreaking incredible damage to life on our planet and climate change.
There is a really good discussion of this here: What is Palm Oil? Facts About the Palm Oil Industry
Image via VickiW
So, there’s a lot going on in those bags of candies! My parents used an opportunity to help us become aware of a problem. They trusted us to use it wisely and kindly to help someone.
Can you teach a child to recognize some words on a label when they shop with you? Sugar is one. Palm oil might be a good choice for discussion of their future. Just hope they don’t ask you about any of the mysterious other ingredients in the lists above!
Children love discussion with parents and grandparents, or any adult prepared to give back-and-forth friendly talk with them. It lasts so much longer than chatting on social media.
Time passes quickly. Always seize the opportunities to talk with children. They are your future.
Regarding sugar: my parents taught “moderation in all things”.
A special week!
I love to walk down the little creek. Imagine my delighted surprise to see that salmon are returning to spawn. What an interesting amazing show from Mother Nature.
Then, amid the splashing of tails on the gravel rock bed, there are amazing reflections and colours in the water, away from the fish.
Image via VickiW
VickiW
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