S U S T A I N A B L Y

Another lame assertion by the Center for Consumer Freedom

Recent headline on the "Center for Consumer Freedom"'s blog: "News Flash: Parents Can Help Kids Overcome Obesity"

Well, duh — yet another foolish post from the bought-and-paid-for shill of the restaurant and food products industry that is wrong, even when it's right.


Yes, I do use artificial sweeteners

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This post feels like one of those "full disclosure" statements. I blog incessantly (but, of course, oh so interestingly!) about the attributes of processed sugar, especially lately. And the question could certainly be asked, "so what do you do for sweetness?"

 

It's more than an idle question: Science shows quite conclusively that we are hard-wired to seek out sweetness (**see below for my favorite "proof."), and I'm as hard-wired as the next guy.


Haves, and have nots

As soon as I'm done writing this post, I'm going next door to return the box of Trader Joe's Multigrain O's cereal I bought the other day.

 

It seemed like such a good idea when I saw it — perched colorfully with its identical siblings on the end cap — that I went for it, even thought I'd bought plain old regular O's at the Stop and Shop 15 minutes prior.

Both were for Joe, of course, who fulfills the kids-love-Cherios stereotype admirably. I knew he'd all those O's soon enough, and the TJ's box just shouted good tidings: Not only was it multigrain, but it promised 14 grams of whole grains per serving, 29 percent of the RDI for whole grains. (How whole grains appear in a box of O shapes, I don't know, but I'm sure they can back that up. I guess. I mean, they're marketers, not (outirght) liars.)

The package also cries out low fat in orange capital letters, on top of a list of 9 vitamins and minerals the cereal is "an excellent source" of.

So I was pretty surprised when I got home, though perhaps I shouldn't have been, that Trader Joe's Multigrain O's cereal, is a glazed sugary cereal. Sugar is the second ingredient, and brown sugar is the sixth. Every ounce has six grams of sugar.


It's all still sugar

Moved by this story on Crop To Cuisine, which recaps recent maneuvering on the "corn sugar" battlefield, I renew my support for the Corn Refiners Association bid to rebrand its high fructose corn syrup.

 

Yes, I'm being redundant, but I am so rarely on that side that I'm indulging the sensation. The refiners seek the change because HFCS has won such a villainous reputation that some products are now promoted as having "real" sugar instead.

It is not good when marketers are selling their product by crowing that they left out your product.


Rosenbaum blogs

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Unreservedly, one of the voices I respect most on issues of sustainability as it regards buildings is Marc Rosenbaum, a curious mix of wonk and Luddite. (When he announced that he'd started a blog, he assured his correspondents that he still didn't have a cell phone.)

But he does now have a blog, detailing his move to Martha's Vineyard and new housing, and how he is approaching the retrofit. These are adventures I'm eager to follow — and how I wish I could include Thriving On Low Carbon in my blog reader, but he appears not to be set up for that.

So here's the address.


Audio from "Where We Live"

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Even though it was a great hour of radio, I've been lax in linking to the audio from my appearance Monday on "Where We Live," the hourlong show on WNPR-FM and Connecticut Public Radio. Though I've no reason to, it could be I'm getting blase about such appearances. Even though I have no reason to. I love doing them, and I'm grateful for each opportunity.


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