My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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Sugar addictionWho can resist a slice of cake? Or cool, refreshing, melt-in-the-mouth ice cream? And how about those candy-coloured, sugary dollops of icing on the top of cupcakes? The answer is, nobody. Period. No matter how hard we try to resist, one look at a cream puff and we start to salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs. Our inner resolve crumbles at the sight of any kind of sweet. We're all sugar addicts, and like any user, we struggle to break free of it. Sugar can trigger activity in the part of the brain that controls the gustatory regions. In simple terms, whenever we eat something sugary, our brain is stimulated and we get “high”. A wolf in sheep's clothingWhile products like soft drinks have been targeted over their high sugar content and their role in the current high levels of obesity and diabetes, there is still controversy over the role of sugar in our daily diet, with attitudes see-sawing between 'good friend' and 'poisonous foe'. Australian filmmaker Damon Gameau decided to find out for himself what happens when, instead of eating a normal diet based on fresh ingredients, he ate products that are generally perceived to be “healthy”, like low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, health bars, breakfast cereals, even whole grain bread. All these claim health benefits but are in fact loaded with added sugars. You can see what he discovered in his movie That Sugar Film . It's all about perceptionSight and smell are very important in helping us make food choices. Our appetites are more often than not driven by the look of the packaging. We create a narrative from images of bees, flowers, sunny countryside. They allow us to imagine an unpolluted environment, one in which chemicals and unnatural ingredients are banned – in other words, they tell us that the product is safe to eat, healthy and full of goodness. We believe it when we're told that products are low fat or free from this or that. We often shop at times when we're too tired or distracted to check everything we buy, and fall back on the idea that if it looks good, it must be good. Read the label!Sugar, like most foods, isn't a menace in itself. Few of us eat more than an occasional slice of chocolate cake or other sugary product. The danger lies in the amount of sugar we eat without our knowledge. Sugar is added to enhance flavour, and above all it's the sugar that causes us to like the product. Food producers must specify in the labelling each of the ingredients, by amount and by its nutritional value.
So don't be lazy! A few minutes spent checking a label can save you a lot of problems in the future. |
AuthorI love cooking, and when it comes to quality I'm quite fussy. Archives
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