Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenToday “news” shared by various media: Research by Foodwatch shows that sugar is added to a large portion of canned vegetables. I wondered: “What’s new about this?”
“Can I have some red cabbage with my sugar?”
“Another article about sugar?”. Yes, sorry. I’m not doing it to spoil the holidays or to guilt-trip you about the past week. I’m just reporting on the current events apparently dominated by fuss about sugar.
Foodwatch recently conducted a study[1]. This study wasn’t very complex. Pull jars of vegetables from the shelves of major supermarkets like Albert Heijn, Aldi, Lidle, and Jumbo and read the labels. According to Foodwatch, 79 out of 170 cans and jars of vegetables had sugar added. This includes green beans, spinach, kale, mushrooms, and asparagus, among others. Organic vegetables were not exempt. Sugar was added to 6 out of the 11 tested “organic” products. Red cabbage was the “winner”. Ten percent of the contents of the jar turned out to be sugar. Today, all media outlets headlined with big titles about sugared vegetables. As mentioned, I wondered what the news value of this report was. It’s not like the sugars were “hidden”. They are simply listed on the label. I heard an announcement of the research on the radio this morning and at first, I thought it was about hidden sugars. I even briefly stopped by the red cabbage in the Jumbo. It simply stated that sugar had been added. Not exactly a big secret of the food industry then.
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they eat”
“What’s the big fuss?” I thought. “Tempest in a teapot of sugar water.” But I belong to that group of people who like to know what they are eating. The macro-people who see tables of nutritional values before their eyes instead of a plate of food. Those people for whom the overview of ingredients on a jar is much more interesting than the pretty picture on it. Those people who only see the outer aisles of the supermarket as the green zone and avoid the middle aisles with processed products like the plague. A large majority unfamiliar with the know-what-you-eat-fitness-doctrine, however, can quickly be seduced by a picture of healthy-looking red cabbage. Let’s call them the “Willing but Unaware” group.
Sweet Tooth Syndrome
“Sugar is added everywhere, even to vegetables: sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, but all in all way too much. The food industry makes the profit for which citizens and healthcare pay the price. It’s high time the government finally took action against the food industry for this.”
Thus, Foodwatch. Foodwatch doesn’t actually bring anything new to light, but merely draws attention to a fact they would like to discuss with these numbers. I welcome that discussion.
Last week, I wrote about aspartame. Resulting in many reactions. People who didn’t read beyond the title and people who apparently thought I believed sugar is better than aspartame. That was never stated. I merely pointed out that aspartame itself as a replacement also has disadvantages. One of the arguments stemmed from studies showing that eating sweet makes you crave sweet. The advice was therefore to try to get used to eating less sweet so you don’t have to replace the sugar. That’s quite difficult when the food industry is making every effort to turn everyone into a sweet tooth.
The Unfuckables
2016 is also known as the year of the angry white man. However, the right to feel screwed over is not only reserved for white men. Nowadays, it seems everyone is angry. In 2017, angry people can occupy themselves with hating the food industry.
Complaining that you’re being screwed over always feels good. It absolves you of responsibility for what has “happened” to you.
Of course, it’s nice if the government protects you from all the evil in the world and you no longer have to consider people who have different interests than your health. However, until the time we all gather around a campfire singing kumbaya to celebrate world peace, you’ll have to take care of your health yourself.
As for this subject, it’s not rocket science: Read labels. Know what you eat. Be unfuckable.
References
foodwatch.org/nl/onze-campagnes/onderwerpen/suiker-vet-co/actuele-nieuwsberichten/zelfs-groente-wordt-gesuikerd/
