Category Archives: Food

How Sweet It Is

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By Judy Berman

Every night, I run the gauntlet as I leave work. I hear the siren song of the vending machine trying to lure me in.

A seductive voice whispers my name as I slip past the huge red, white and blue soda machine.

“How sweet it is,” I hear Jackie Gleason croon, as he downs a drink. Then, off he rushes across the stage as he shouts, “And away we go.”

What energy he has. It must be the sugar rush.

When I resist the temptation of a soda, candy – anything chocolate, or pastries, I congratulate myself for not caving in and buying it. But the sweet stuff is lurking in a number of unsuspecting places such as in cereals, spaghetti sauce, yogurt and Lunchables. Just to name a few.

Sugar is addictive. Dr. Sonjay Gupta reported on “60 Minutes” that we need to limit sugar consumption because it’s taking a toll on our health. “The average American consumes 130 pounds of sugar a year.”

Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, “believes the consumption of added sugars has plunged America into a public-health crisis.” He said 75 percent of it is preventable.

“New research … is starting to show that sugar, the way many people are eating it today, is a toxin and could be a driving force behind some of this country’s leading killers, including heart disease,” Dr. Gupta reported during his “60 Minutes” report, “Is Sugar Toxic?”

Yeah, I know. Buzz kill. Check out any store. Chocolate bunnies and sugary marshmallow peeps have multiplied faster then … well, rabbits.

Sugar is everywhere. At the grocery store, I bypassed the usual suspects containing sugar. Sodas and sweets? That’s old school. You can satisfy your sweet tooth from morning until night. Just read the nutrition facts on the labels to decide which one is the better choice for your health:

  • Instant oatmeal. Once you start adding maple and brown sugar, or raisins, dates and walnuts, you can deduct nutritional value. I saw one brand that contained 11 grams of sugar in one serving.
  • Spaghetti sauce. Sure, I add a little sugar in my sauce when I cook a vat of it. But one brand in the store had 9 grams of sugar per serving. Depending on the brand, a serving is only a half-cup (4 oz.).
  • Fancy some mac ‘n’ cheese? You can have it along with 7 grams of sugar per serving.
  • Lunchables – those favorite no-fuss, no-muss lunch packs for kids. One had as much as 32 grams of sugar for an itty-bitty lunch.
  • Yogurt – healthy food, right? “Caveat emptor.” (“Let the buyer beware.”) One brand had 29 grams of sugar per serving.

They’re all sweet talking us with James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You.”

Dr. Robert Lustig said we replaced one unhealthy thing with another in our diet.

“Take the fat out of food, it tastes like cardboard. And the food industry knew that. So they replaced it with sugar.”

So what’s the solution? Dr. Lustig, in a report he co-authored with the American Heart Association, recommended “men should consume no more than 150 calories of added sugars a day. And, women, just 100 calories. That’s less than the amount in just one can of soda.”

That’d be hard to swallow for most of us. A sensible solution is to have a balanced diet, reduce calories, and exercise.

And I’ll get right on that after I polish off my long-eared chocolate bunny.

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* Photo: chocolate bunny (author: domenico bandiera from cattolica in 2006 – image originally posted on Flickr http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chocolate_bunnies.jpg

* Jackie Gleason: “How sweet it is.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eo3btT7UPA

* Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s report on sugar and the serious toll it can take on your health on “60 Minutes.”  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403942n&tag=api&fb_ref=belowVideo&fb_source=home_multiline

* “Is Sugar Toxic, 60 Minutes,” – An article on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s report on new research showing that beyond weight gain, sugar can take a serious toll on your health …  http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2012/04/is-sugar-toxic-60-minutes.html

* “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You,” by James Taylor http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+sweet+it+is+to+be+loved+by+you+James+Taylor&view=detail&mid=7CE6E14B0F46736BF26B7CE6E14B0F46736BF26B

Dining in the Dark

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16

By Judy Berman

First, let’s put this right out on the table: I am not an adventurous eater. When I go to a restaurant, I can be counted on to order the same thing every time. It only varies depending on the type of place we’re dining at.

Boring. I know. So the idea of dining in the dark – first permanently opened in 2004 under the name of Dans Le Noir (French for “In the Dark”) in Paris and recently opened in New York – was surprisingly intriguing. Still, given a rather disastrous experience in a restaurant I’ll call “Murphy’s Law” – whose motto is “anything that can go wrong will” – I’d have some hesitation about making a reservation.

The Dans Le Noir restaurants in New York, Paris, London, Barcelona and Saint Petersburg, Russia, as well as elsewhere across the globe, are staffed by blind waiters who guide you to your table. Then you have a “surprise” menu that offers one for meat-eaters, one for fish and seafood diners, one for vegetarians and a fourth that is truly a surprise.

“Guests can choose only among a limited choice of surprise menus. The idea is that each guest should not know exactly what he or she will be eating…just the general category. It’s all about the flavors, the textures and the seasonings. It is an old principle often used in the industry, called ‘blind tasting,’ ” according to the Dans Le Noir website.

That’s where my experience eating at “Murphy’s Law” rushes in. “Are you sure? Something new?” Concern is deeply etched on its face.

What happened? Well, the night was an aberration, to be sure. We’d dined there before – no problems. This night was – to put it kindly – an off night.

First, my daughter, Danielle, ordered a steak. She asked if it could be sent back to the kitchen, as it was very rare. The waitress informed her that the heavy abundance of red juices she saw on her plate “was just the lighting.” Believe me, the meat was so rare it was practically galloping off the table ready to return to pasture. (She is now a vegetarian. I’m sure this experience had nothing to do with her change in eating habits.)

Then, we noted that the sweet potatoes were undercooked as well. So they also were dutifully returned to the kitchen and then back to our table. But the waitress at Murphy’s Law got the orders mixed up and gave mine to my husband.

How do I know? Mine had fork marks in it from where I taste-tested it. Thank goodness we’re all family. It could have been worse.

As a gag, I’m sure, we saw someone lick one of the rolls and return it to the basket at their table. By New York state law, restaurants are supposed to throw out unused bread. Apparently, that was not the case at Murphy’s. We learned later from a family friend who worked there that leftover rolls from one table are frequently recycled to other tables.

Yikes! How unsanitary. We never returned.

So, should one disastrous experience influence all of my dining decisions? Absolutely not. Time to stop being skittish. It’s comforting to have all five senses engaged when dining. But how deliciously decadent to savor your meal sans lighting. Already Dans Le Noir has drawn more than 1 million people to its restaurants.

To them, I say, “Bon appetit!” (“Enjoy your meal!”) Go for the gusto. Someday, I might be there at a table near you.

To learn more about Dans Le Noir in New York and to book a reservation, click on this link:

http://newyork.danslenoir.com/

Photo credit: filet mignon (http://commons.wikimedia.org/)