Did you know that most sodas are sweetened with a teaspoon of sugar per ounce? That means the average 12-oz. can of soda (pop) contains the equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar. Excessive, to say the least. Actually, it causes diabetes and obesity. Not in my cup of tea. When would you ever consider putting 12 teaspoons of sugar in your glass of iced tea? It seems absurd when asked this way, but people are doing it all the time — every time they pop open a can of soda. This week, we’re talking here about the crazy amounts of hidden sugar in processed items.

What I’m saying is that it’s not necessarily the amount of sugar that you, yourself, add to the foods you make, but rather the amount of sugar consumed inadvertently when you eat (or serve) something prepared by someone else. In this case, that someone else is the soft drink arm of the beverage industry. Your sugar bowl has gotten into the hands of someone who doesn’t give two hoots about your health, or your blood sugars, or your weight, or your blood pressure. Or your dental bills.

I once heard someone remark how different congressional appropriations would be if they had to count out each dollar by hand. What if big food conglomerates had to hire an army of sugar-clerks to spoon 12 teaspoons of sugar into every can of soda? 

If you glance down one of those ubiquitous lists of ideas for keeping a budget and getting out of debt, there’s always an entry for cutting up your credit cards and paying in cash. That’s because credit cards hide actual costs, making it much easier to get what you want (or think you want) right now, while making the real downstream costs invisible. That’s how it is with the hidden sugar in processed edible items.

Sugar is a stripped carb, which makes it not food but FUN. Fun is fine, but it’s not food. Just because I love going to the movies doesn’t mean I want to live at the movie theater. Food nourishes; fun entertains.

I’m going to go out on a somewhat shaky limb and say that, yes, I do believe we can all tolerate a treat now and then. A slice of key lime pie on Sunday, something warm and baked on Friday eve (yea, black bean brownies!), a mint after a special restaurant meal, a peach cobbler around about now, a cup of hot cocoa in the dead of winter after an afternoon spent throwing snowballs and building a snowman, kettle corn on a camping trip. A tray of homemade oatmeal cookies. There are hundreds of examples, and plenty of opportunities. These are not the problem.

That’s because these are portion-controlled examples of sugar that have mostly been measured out by you or someone who cares about you. There is nothing hidden about them. You know exactly how much sugar is in there because you added it yourself. If you decide to add one teaspoon of sugar to your glass of iced tea, as opposed to the twelve teaspoons in a glass of “sugar pop,” you will reduce your sugar consumption by fully 92 percent. Even if you add two teaspoons of sugar, you will still reduce your consumption of sugar by 85 percent! The amount of hidden sugar in our food supply is beyond your imagination. 

I want you to take back your sugar bowl, and see what happens.