Sugar in a Plastic Bucket, Doesn't that Sound Appetizing?

Here is a grotesque close-up 

Yesterday I was in Rite Aid on the check-out line to purchase some shampoo when I looked to my left and saw something truly horrifying. Appalling. Even sickening. Here it is:

 All I have to say is: what has our the world of food come to??? Who in their right mind would stroll into a drug store, see a plastic cylinder filled with wrinkly pastel floss and think, "That looks like something I want to put in my mouth!"

Yes, I have seen cotton candy before. Yes, I have eaten it. But tasting the melting sugary sensation only makes me want to spit it back out.

And you know what the best part is? In the yellow balloon on the container it reads "Fat Free". Like that makes everything better. Oh hooray! It's fat free! That makes up for the ALL THE SUGAR I AM SHOVING INTO MY BODY.

FACT: When something says its "fat free" it means that all the fat has been taken out and has been replaced with refined sugar to compensate for the lost flavor. Fat free is not a good thing.

We need to be schooled on the importance of food knowledge. No, not how many hot dogs one can eat in one sitting, no, not the price of a chocolate bar at Walgreens.

Nutrition facts of a tub of the cotton candy

Before you purchase one bucket of cotton candy, or any processed food item, ask yourself, "Do I know what is really in this?" Knowing where our food comes from. This is invaluable.


More,

Gourmanda

FED UP!

On July 2nd I went to go see a new film with my family. This film is called Fed Up and it is an eye-opening, jaw-dropping movie that everyone needs to see. The film was produced by Laurie David and former news anchor Katie Couric and directed by Stephanie Soechtig.

Fed Up follows four different teenagers struggling with obesity who share their experiences. Ms. Couric, the narrator, then explains the science behind the growing epidemic and why it is worsening everyday. Many credible experts such as Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, and Bill Clinton speak on different points throughout the movie as the point are illustrated using simple graphics and video clips.

"'Fed Up' is probably the most important movie to be made since 'An Inconvenient Truth,'to which it’s related in a couple of ways," said Mark Bittman in his article about the film (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/opinion/bittman-an-inconvenient-truth-about-our-food.html?referrer=&_r=0). "One of its producers is Laurie David, who also produced “An Inconvenient Truth.” Climate change, diet and agriculture are inexorably intertwined; we can’t tackle climate change without changing industrial agriculture, and we can’t change industrial agriculture without tackling diet."

What I learned from the movie is this: Sugar is the root problem of the obesity epidemic in our country and if we don't do something about it now, the majority of the population of America will have food-related diseases (diabetes, heart disease) in the near future.

The movie drew an interesting parallel by comparing the Sugar Industry to the tobacco industry. Thank goodness I am not old enough to have grown up with cigarette/cigar/chewing tobacco advertisements on TV and billboards without the Surgeon General's warning, but many people did live through this time. We need to urge those people to implement the successful strategies used to win against the tobacco industry on the big sugar companies such as Coca Cola, Kelloggs, McDonalds, and Pepsi. Today kids are unarmed in facing the commercials that bombard them with sickly-sweet messages. Sugar cereals, Go-gurt (I used to like that stuff, but now that I think about it, I was squeezing sugary goop out of a tube and into my body,  BLECH!), McDonalds, Chuckie Cheese's, and many, many more.

So how do I get started? How can I improve my eating habits without sacrificing some of my favorite foods? One easy way for you and your family to embrace healthy eating and eliminate sugar and processed chemicals from your diet is to purchase Laurie David's new cookbook The Family Cooks. It contains lots of delicious healthy recipes for every meal, beautiful pictures, and helpful shopping and eating tips. I have already made five recipes from the book and I bought it three days ago!

I will be posting a lot about this movie so stay tuned because this is an issue that desperately needs our (and our government's) attention and support.

MUCH MUCH MORE!
Gourmanda :)

P.S. Did you notice the clever title "Fed Up" contains many different meanings?