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As a side note, I was reading yesterday that Krispy Kreme will now produce and sell donut drinks!! Eeegads!
Sugar Wars
Taking it to the Peddlers of Diabetes and Osteoporosis
by John F. Borowski
I look forward to September, a time when millions of students, head back to school, to build the foundations of democracy, delve into the arts, sharpen a sense of wonder and build equity in our society. But, I like many teachers, am fighting a nemesis, one that inhibits thought, puts children on a roller coaster of emotion and drains their vitality. And this nemesis is often an invited and welcomed guest: soda pop. Nearly 19 out of 20 high schools like mine, sell soda. Ironically, the past can foretell the future. In 1931, a Coke bottler bragged, “the kids play basketball at recess on Coca-Cola goals, use Coca-Cola blotters to blot our their troubles, consult a Coca-Cola thermometer and write their notes on Coca-Cola tablets.” And seventy years later, Coca-Cola’s senior vice president for public affairs and its chief lobbyist isn’t passing out Coke blotters: no, John Downs Jr. now has a seat on the National Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) as a board member! Under the Bush Administration the Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson has heralded the Grocery Manufacturing Association for its “fine job in promoting healthy eating.” With positioning on school related organizations and aided and abetted by the Bush Administration (Leave No “sugared” Child Behind?) pop pimps see schools as a “sugary nirvana.”
(clipped, see link for the rest of the story)
In Reply to: Sugar Wars (article) posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 05:53:25:
A little excerpt...
I tried to kill myself by food. As we raced across the sky, the noise of our little propeller plane provided the engulfing intimacy an overdose required. I swallowed one handful after another of those pretty M&M chocolate pills until I’d consumed two large bagfuls in a fit of pacified depression. This is not the recommended diet for someone suffering with chronic fatigue, but I wanted to be somewhere else. I wanted a simpler, less technological life with my feet on the lush green ground. So there was no better companion for overcoming the personal shortcomings that kept me employed in a life I didn’t want, no better candy, impeccably and precisely designed, for making one feel as if they are doing something more enjoyable than they actually are. Flying around the country doing environmental and engineering appraisals so someone else can make big bucks on a real estate deal always sent me to the M&M cliff. It was a decent living, but if I died in a place crash it would be because someone else needed a report on an apartment complex. Not exactly purposeful living.
They say if you fail to kill yourself in a suicide attempt it’s a cry for help, but I just couldn’t use a more successful method like jumping off a building or blowing a hole through my skull – the thought of that kind of potential pain, even briefly, was too frightening – death by suicide would have to be limited to the accidental consequences of my behavior, fueled by those misunderstood and deeply buried demons. I’d have to go out in a blaze of gluttony by overindulging in all the crap that I’d denied myself over the last few years as a struggling health nut – the real garbage of American junk food. I’d have Twinkies and fruit pies as appetizers, with chocolate stars and ding dongs, malted milk balls and peanut butter cups. My main meal would be the good stuff: muffins and scones and pies from a good bakery, chocolate chip cookies and my sister’s fudge, and my all time favorite, blueberry pancakes and waffles smothered in pure maple syrup. I’d eat piles of stacked pancakes and bagfuls of baked goods until I – in a Homer Simpson moment – collapsed breathless, passed out face first, mouth open, into a strategically placed box of Krispy Kreme donuts and died of suffocation, the last hopes for breath snuffed out from the creamy mouthful.
Such desires made me wonder, was it food or drug? I’ve come to believe its just junk, like heroin, and not junk food. I never dreamt of taking myself out on bowlfuls of spinach or zucchini.
I was hooked on sugar at an early age and quickly became a chubby kid. Not obese by today’s standards, but definitely overweight. I loved the sweet stuff, and as much as I loved baseball, there were times when I declined playing ball with my friends because I wanted to bake a Betty Crocker cake. It pains me to admit to this now, but I was hooked on sugar at an early age. It was a dark period. The cake, of course, was just a place to put the frosting. I’d have preferred just pure frosting if I’d not had an observant mother. There was no limit to how much sugar I could consume. I’d swear I could out sugar-eat anyone on the planet, but as I look around at the bodies of my fellow Americans today I have my doubts. There appears to be many suitable challengers that have taken their consumption to a level far beyond my own, whose mothers were raised as I was but kept going beyond restraint and now teach their children the same way of life.
Thankfully, I grew out of my cake-baking habits, but not the sugar addiction....
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 07:06:37:
He! **Clap Clap**
Wow, you said that perfectly.
I think all the person's addicted to sugar (my ex-self included) are trying to kill themselves slowly for lack...
My specific baking addiction was cookies. I even had a little business for a while with a client in who wanted them shipped to Chicago! LOL
This sounds like one of your more recent pieces.
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 07:47:08:
Looks like the engltalian is finally getting to my spelling and grammar.
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 07:47:08:
Hey,
Now you can ship healthy foods to Chicago (or hand deliver them...).
Will that new donut drink be called Sow's Milk? They'd better start building those caskets even larger
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 07:58:47:
Uh huh, would love to drop off some healthy blueberry cobbler I made yesterday to a certain Chicago resident :)
The KK drink is called Liquid Glazed Krispy Kreme, or some such pre-diabetic equivalent. I read it on CNN Money yesterday.
In Reply to: Sugar Wars (article) posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 05:53:25:
I'm at war with sugar, the more I eat the more I want. I've found that when I'm eating healthily I don't desire it quite as much, but still do. So generally I have dessert about once a week, this way I don't feel deprived, and yet don't go overboard either from deprivation or from having to sustain a daily addiction.
Now I know you have chocolate once a day, I just can't seem to do that. If I have the slightest bit, I want the whole damn Lindt bar [bittersweet]...so I commend you in being able to give in to yourself and yet control yourself, in such a perfect balance, at the same time.
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 07:06:37:
FW I loved your story. It really made me feel, and the strongest feeling I came away with was having some sadness at you not being fulfilled -- "Not exactly purposeful living". I hope someday soon you are discovered for the creative writer you are. In the meantime is a career change/adjustment out of the question at this point in your life?
I apologize for being too nosey, but just couldn't resist...
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by gabriella [151.890] on July 22, 2004 at 11:04:35:
Hi Gabriella:
The way to curb your sugar addiction is to indulge strictly in the creme-de-la-creme, the aristocracy, if you will, of the confectionary world. You must develop a taste for the best. Look down upon the common and the cheap. Adopt an air of disdain whenever someone mentions (gasp) Dunkin Donuts.
Through this technique, you will, like me, only be able to afford the best....oh, let's say once in a Blue Moon, or even less...maybe every leap year or so.
Next time they mention any sort of vulgar, sugary muck, simply say "But my dear, I can only digest the finest Linser Tortes". :-)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 11:33:50:
Hi Philly,
Now what in the world makes you think I don't indulge in only the best? I eat imported chocolate, chocolate rum cake from the Prolific Oven Bakery, homemade chocolate pudding from a very good deli, and if I should dine out then a good Torte, Fruit Crisp, or Creme Brule might suffice.
Since we both have a love of art, culture, and fine dining it would be a lot of fun to share that with you if I'm ever in your neighborhood. I'll show you who you're dealing with my dear, and it's not some dunkin' donut babe, that's for dang sure!!!!
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by gabriella [151.890] on July 22, 2004 at 11:13:57:
Hi gabriella,
Don't feel too sorry for me. This excerpt was actually suppose to be slightly humorous (although in that sad clown sort of way). I think, as a writer, anything that takes me away from my writing is a source of frustration. As jobs go, its hard to beat mine. I don't think I would give it up for anything other than full time writing (and not for a magazine, rather only for myself). I don't want to write what someone else wants me to write.
The reports I write to earn a living are dull and tedious, but they are also relatively easy, meaning I can crank them out and then turn my attention to the creative stuff.
My job also has a tremendous amount of flexibility (thus I'm been doing the panchakarma treatments for a week without ever taking time off from work, since I work at home and set my own schedule). So I don't have much right to complain, but I do anyways and use it in my writings.
I'm currently working on a book, which could take me years to finish, and if I do finish it and can actually publish it, who knows what might happen.
On the other hand, if your sympathy leads to some of those gabriella treatments, well then...
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 12:00:32:
Thanks for setting me straight FW, I know you emote sometimes as an expression of your creativity, and I sometimes take you too literally. Your current work situation as you explain it sounds like a good workable plan for you, and I really hope that book comes to pass, as I bet it will be wonderful. I understand why you wouldn't want to write creatively for someone else, it could be stifling not having complete freedom of expression.
Now about those treatments, are you ready?
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 11:58:48:
Hi Gabriella:
Wow, thanks for correcting me. What was I thinking of? It must have been a temporary bout of insanity. It was those damned sun spots...yeah, that's it...sunspots:-)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 12:14:50:
Yeah, right, uh huh, the sun spots. Let's hope it was temporary...
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by gabriella [151.890] on July 22, 2004 at 12:32:23:
Hi Gabriella:
Yes, only temporary.
Sunspot number 652 erupted today in a colossal burst of magnetic energy that momentarily interrupted the flow of brain waves....It was an X-class flare. Check out the website and see for yourself.....There’s no telling what I’ll do next:-)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 12:09:34:
Ready and willing, well, maybe even more ready after the current panchakarma is over :)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 12:41:04:
Hi Philly,
Well my friend, I have a response to this post, but I have to go off to work now. I'm temporarily helping a wonderful interior designer close up her showroom. And then I've been asked to participate in a market research project tasting flavored coffee drinks. So when I come home later I shall respond...
Have a good day and try to behave yourself, if you can!
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 12:59:40:
To me you are perfectly desirable just the way you are, and with or without your panchakarma. I have to do some work this afternoon and early evening, so I'll be back here later. And as for your treatments, we can start by you telling me what you need, and the more honest you are, the better the treatments...
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 11:33:50:
Hi Philly,
You people in Philly are soooo stuck up and living so close to Hershey, PA..I bet they won't be inviting you for a plant tour anytime soon..Do they still give you a free sample?
Silver Fox!
In Reply to: Sugar Wars (article) posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 05:53:25:
Thanks, Thessa!
I had to laugh at the line in the article that says, "And seventy years later, Coca-Cola’s senior vice president for public affairs and its chief lobbyist isn’t passing out Coke blotters: no, John Downs Jr. now has a seat on the National Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) as a board member!" This guy's deluding himself if he thinks there's even a silent minority on the National PTA board who are concerned enough about our children's health and nutrition to make a stand against the garbage our kids have access to in the schools.
The Texas Dept. of Agriculture has issued a policy regarding "foods of minimal nutritional value (FMNV) which the school districts have been directed to follow. You should have seen the PTA moms having a fit because they couldn't send a soda with their child on a field trip, or sell ice cream in the cafeteria! It's hilarious to me -- an exerpt from the *policy*: For high schools: "New contracts and contract renewals executed after March 3, 2004 must expressly prohibit the sale of sugared, carbonated
beverages in containers larger than 12 ounces." Yeah, so they'll just buy 2 aluminum cans of pop rather than the 20oz. plastic bottle. That's gonna help!
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. . .
Donna
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 13:06:50:
What do I need? That's easy. Love, baby. Just love :)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 13:02:51:
"...Have a good day and try to behave yourself, if you can!"
Okey Dokey:-)
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by Steve [135.4] on July 22, 2004 at 14:18:03:
Hi Steve:
Did the tour back in the '80s. Twas fun.....But that was before I went "organic".
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars - speaking of Krispy Kreme posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 18:35:43:
src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/217.gif' alt='Cupid 2' border=0>
In Reply to: ok, here goes......... posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 19:49:04:
Oh darn, I screwed up a couple of images I guess, but I hope you got the general idea.
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 12:41:04:
Hi Philly,
Now 652 is interesting and all but you don't think I buy this excuse for a minute, now do you? You know that there's enough room in the world for two fantastic ladies don't you? Actually, we're the sunspots, we're the bursts of incredible, indescribable, energy.
So now enjoy all that there is to enjoy about yourself, as I will be doing the same for me.
In Reply to: Re: ok, here goes......... posted by gabriella [87.890] on July 22, 2004 at 19:51:40:
Hey beautiful, I get the idea!
So are you that stunning blonde in the picture?
I'm feeling better by the minute. Now I'm good to go, and can float to my next panchakarma experience in the morning and then get back to my creative efforts with a free and open mind, knowing that the world is fine.
In Reply to: Re: ok, here goes......... posted by FW [28.218] on July 22, 2004 at 22:11:34:
Yes, I'm beautiful, yes I'm your 'love' practitioner, and yes I adore you! How's the treatment working so far?
I'm glad you feel so good, and tomorrow does sound like it will be a wonderful day for you. Keep those creative juices flowing, they will stimulate your vigorous imagination.
In Reply to: Sugar Wars (article) posted by thessa [112.20] on July 22, 2004 at 05:53:25:
Thanks, Thessa.
You just stimulated my gag reflex!
Walt
In Reply to: Re: ok, here goes......... posted by gabriella [180.890] on July 22, 2004 at 22:37:12:
Oh, so far so good on the treatment, so keep it coming. I'm like a dry sponge soaking up what you have to offer.
Well, the weather today in Chicago is absolutely gabriella gorgeous, and I'm done working for the week, so I better get outside and enjoy it...
In Reply to: Re: ok, here goes......... posted by FW [28.218] on July 23, 2004 at 13:44:36:
Yes, you surely should enjoy your weather and your life...
In Reply to: Re: Sugar Wars (article) posted by PhillyLady [1906.41] on July 22, 2004 at 11:33:50:
Hi Philly,
I cannot believe my descent into lolly-land. I have never eaten or like boiled lollies, fudge, toffees or anything like that. Just really good chocolate. No cadbury, no Rowntree, no nasty hershey, nothin. Then a couple of weeks ago on a long car trip a friend of mine gave me a Werthers toffee. I was hungry. I can't SUCK a toffee, I just crunch them, so I treated half a packet of Werthers like food. I cannot believe that two weeks later I am eating toffee. I've also graduated onto the chewy version. This is going to be so bad for my teeth, and it has pushed my sugar consumption way up.
I haven't had any today, and I am going to get off these things. It's amazing how quickly you can undo an adulthood's good practice from one proferred toffee!
Back to the organic chocolate sauce...
Jane
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