Sugar

This week for class we've been reading Sweetness and Power, a book about the effects of sugar on world history and its effect on our culture. After reading most of this book during the week, I left this weekend for a leadership conference during which I was stuffed routinely (and I'm talking during every meal and every break) with sugar. Cupcakes, rice crispie treats, sugary granola bars, cookies, fruit roll-ups, soda, you name it. I have never been so aware of the many ways that sugar creeps into the American diet-- and it's not just in dessert!

In light of this realization and some inspiring recommendations from last year's Food Class, I have decided to test our dependence on sugar by trying to go without it. Here it is, I'm writing it on the blog so I can't back out: no refined sugars until next Monday. Of course, in addition to Sweetness and Power, I have also read Steingarten's reassuring Murder, My Sweet, so I'd like to clarify that I'm not undergoing this business for health's sake. I am interested in categorization of our food. If I cut out sugar, what's left? With a diet that relies heavily on pre-packaged food that I can transport in my backpack, what options will I have if I eat the way I would have to without that now-normal commodity? How much this ingredient that my ancestors lived without for most of our existence snuck into my daily routine? These are the questions I'm looking for answers to.

Now, I'd like to lay out some rules for this week:

1. No processed sugar. I can still eat fruits, and I am allowed to put honey in my tea.

2. I'm starting to get a cold, so I'm making an exception for cough drops and Emergen-C.

3. No "sugar free." If I'm craving ice cream, I can't get out of this by going the sugar-free route. Ice cream and the need for a sugar-free variety wouldn't have come about with the absence of the real deal.

Tune in next week for the exciting results of "The Girl Who Gave Up Sugar." Wish me luck!