I had always considered myself a moderate on the Carrot-Cookie scale - that is, until my housemate suggested that I watch Stephanie Soechtig's documentary Fed Up. Upon learning that the food industry has added sugar to virtually all that we eat, we decided we too were fed up. To be productive with our frustrations, we challenged ourselves to not consume foods with added sugar for one week, and what a week it was.
The boycott began with ill timing. I had grocery shopped just a couple days before and, alas, all I had bought became invalid: the crackers for my cheese, the Italian ice for tv time. Hell, I couldn't even touch tomato sauce; the situation was dire. On the first morning, I didn't even stop by my kitchen, as I already knew I couldn't eat anything in there (cereal? bread with peanut butter?). Without hesitance, I went to Bruegger's. After eating two of their delicious bagels throughout the day, it dawned on me that their sugar content was a mystery. A fool, I googled it and saw that (of course) there was added sugar.
So day one and I was batting zero. I tried to stay optimistic, however, and for dinner prepared a healthy couscous dinner with sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and chicken. No sugar there, right? Wrong. The system defeated me once again. As I was putting away the chicken broth with which I cooked the couscous, I saw the unforgiving word in the ingredients. Who would have thought that chicken broth would have sugar in it? I put my head in my hands: it was going to be a long week. That night for dessert I had a grapefruit, my first victorious meal. Ephemeral though, as I was once again hungry a moment later. It was the time of night when you start watching your latest Netflix show and snuggle with a blanket and your favorite snack, but I couldn't bring myself to try another grapefruit. After all, I was still drying off from having its juices sprayed all over me from my eyeballs to the tops of my feet. Desperate, I looked through my kitchen for anything - ANYTHING - to eat. As if on a cruel episode of "Chopped," I ultimately threw together a very eclectic omelet. Savory as opposed to sweet, I learned that this would have to be my crutch for the week.
After the first day, the challenge became only slightly easier. I consumed grapefruits only when I was at the point of starvation (they really are just too much effort). I ate free Domino's pizza and, to be frank, didn't even check for the sugar that was obviously in it because I was such a poor, hypoglycemic college student. Things weren't looking so great for me, nor for my purpose until I finally drove myself to Wegmans after work on the third night. I was nervous about shopping during the boycott (I'm easily tempted by the sweet side) but, actually, it went quite smoothly: just don't go past the produce department (except to find hummus). After this shop, the challenge was a breeze! Well, aside from that one night when it was my housemate's birthday and I ate really decadent chocolate cake as well as melting ice cream cake, but only because it was a special occasion, I promise.
Towards the end of the challenge, I learned that the FDA is finally adding a daily percentage value for sugar on all nutrition information. This step is a major victory because the amount of sugar we consume without cognizance is significant and can impact our long-term health by allowing people to make poorly informed decisions about their food choices. For example, a twenty ounce bottle of Coca Cola contains 130% of the new recommended daily serving of sugar. And while transparency and context are important and it's really cute that the government is finally being at least slightly proactive about it, I am still infuriated by how many seemingly healthy staple foods have been pumped with sugar by the food industry: virtually all, that is, past the produce department. I am fed up. Aren't you?
