I was reading a lengthy-but-completely-on-target article in the British newspaper The Telegraph on sugar dependence — boy, the Brits are much more on top of this topic than American media is — when I noticed this "top stories" box at its bottom.

Sex and food, yes, but the last entry is what moved me to share it.

"Low sugar hot fudge sauce" exemplifies what I consider some of the most pernicious threads of modern humanity:

* "I want what I want, without the consequences that come with it."

* And, "I can outsmart nature," and the larger lie it branches from, "I am not part of nature."

The fact is, hot fudge sauce is a decadent substance. Can we just accept that? In my sordid eating history, I strayed into "no sugar added" ice cream and "sugar-free chocolates," and the result was always ugly. Of the former, it just sanctioned (in my ever-equivocating mind) binging on high-milk-fat, calorically dense half gallons, and in the latter, added terrible gastric distress (read: mega-flatulence) to the mix.

I wanted what I wanted, without the consequences. And, I thought I could — via food technologists, since I was only *buying* the stuff — outsmart nature. Neither attitude has proven to be beneficial.

This isn't about low sugar hot fudge sauce, per se. It isn't an indictment of all manipulations of the natural world. Life is rarely black and white.

But I say we give acceptance a point on the continuum, to identify the point at which we stop trying to manipulate nature and just accept that, say, hot fudge sauce is not healthful and act accordingly?

This isn't a screed against the modern world, or against all food processing — I don't, after all, intend to eat wheat off the stalk, or drink ocean water for my salt intake. But could anyone maintain that there's no difference between, say, and apple, and this...?

I say that the more manipulated something is, the less valuable it is, even if it tastes good. Tasting good can't be the only standard.

More than usually, I'm very interested to know your reaction. Please share it with us.