how much are we eating, and how much is sugar?

[kenllama]

Mssr. Pollan caught people's attention on The Daily Show the other day, stating that Americans get 20% of our calories from HFCS, and that we eat 240 lbs of sugars every year, and I can't make his math add up. USDA says (see esp. tables 50-53) that we eat a total of about 140 lbs of sugar every year, something like a third of which is HFCS -- about

Comments

[starrthinks]

Oddly enough in that clip he singles out Kraft as the only name brand he drops... and all the Kraft products in my house have actual sugar and no HFCS to be found. Also I did a quick check and my spaghetti sauce (Ragu) is free of HFCS as well.

I am eating it in my bread, but I knew that and made the choice. I fell in love with this particular bread and I am very odd about what bread I will and will not eat. A bit quirky about it really. So anyway, for those of us who do buy these ready made products, Ragu sauce, Kraft Mayo, and Kraft Ranch is real sugar.

[matrixx]

I don't know if his figures were right or not, but I saw the interview and thought it was intriguing at least. The message seemed to be not so much to villianize the food (which is what I would have expected) as to emphasize the need for awareness about foods and what is "food" as opposed to what isn't. That's a hard message to disagree with. REAL FOOD doesn't come in a box or a can or a jar, unless you put it in there yourself. I'm intrigued enough to check out his book at least, which I guess was the goal.

[kenllama]

Oh, I'm totally on board with his message. I am a fan of what he calls "food", and what I tend to call "food made of food" (not to be confused with "food made FROM food", or what he calls "edible, food-like substances").

And since I agree with him, I really want to make sure his facts are correct...