According to science writer and diet researcher Gary Taubes in his latest book,
Just kidding about sugar turning people into axe-murderers, though I'd probably turn into one if anyone tried to take my sugar away from me.
The thing is, I love sweets. So shoot me in the head. Oh, never mind, all the sugar I eat will probably do it, if Mr. Taubes is telling us true.
The truth is, I eat sweets every day. The last time I can remember going for more than a day without eating any sweets was when I was in 5th grade and gave up eating sweets for Lent,
But then how can I?
I was programmed to crave sweets from an early age. I grew up in a home with parents who were fabulous cooks, where every meal was an occasion and no meal complete without dessert.
Mayhaps my sweetness for sugar runs in the very sap of my family tree.
It's not that I need a whopping big slice of strawberry cheesecake with whipped cream every day, though I'd gladly eat a whopping big slice of strawberry cheesecake with whipped cream every day, twice a day, even, if I didn't fear revisiting my 5th grade physique.
When I was in Portland a few weeks ago visiting my sister one of her friends - a vegetarian, anti-sugartarian, and fierce health-food disciple - informed me that I had an addiction to sugar.
I did not dispute her but pointed out that even if I did have a sugar addiction it didn't keep me from getting to work on time nor did it have a deleterious effect on my interpersonal relations or my life in general. Quite the contrary: sugar is the fuel that energizes me, gives me a boost, cheers me up and incentivizes me, as in:
For me a spoonful (or two or ten) of sugar helps the medicine of life go down and makes the sweet times sweeter.
And it tastes good.
But now along comes this anti-sugar zealot,
(Sigh). Talk about wasting my flavor.