Calorie counts are pretty weird, too. Most things (like drinks) have multiple servings in the container. And let's face it--most people don't drink just one serving.
People vastly overestimate portion sizing. Take coffee creamer for instance. A serving size is 2 tablespoons. Measure it. It's amazing how much darker my coffee is with a measured portion. And peanut butter? Try covering a piece of bread with the "portion" listed on the nutrition label. And why is there sugar in the peanut butter?
Corn syrup is in almost everything in the country--whether or not it's supposed to taste sweet. Corn syrup. You know that sickeningly sweet syrup you use to make pecan pie? In everything. Why?
Then there are all the chemicals and colors and flavors that aren't even listed. They're just called natural flavors. What does natural mean, anyway? A rock is natural. So is a dog turd. That doesn't mean I want it in my food. If I did, I could go out and scoop up some fresh in the front yard.
Do you know what you're eating? Really?
anny
Corn syrup is used in place of almost every other sweetener in everything because it is cheap and readily available. BBQ Sauce, catsup, chips, etc. you name it. It's even in spaghetti sauce. I have found that a bit of natural turbinado sugar brings out the flavor in other foods that are not sweet.
ReplyDeleteI like cherry flavored drinks, but I don't want three cups of corn syrup of sugar in one drink, so I buy Walmart's Clear American cherry soda water and I also buy a case at a time of concentrated natural black cherry juice (no additives and no sugars). I pour a tablespoon of juice concentrate over ice in a glass and pour in enough Clear American to mix it up and stir it in. Delicious.
Where do you buy the black cherry juice?
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting, isn't it, Anny? Once you start looking at portion size and ingredients. With the drought corn syrup won't be quite as cheap. We may see more actual sugar in the list of ingredients next year.
ReplyDeleteYep, Julia. I really am trying hard to know exactly what's in my food! And that is hard. Check the milk! Yuck.
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