Another sugar bashing party starts. It’s no secret, my family and friends know I hate sugar with a vengeance. This one condiment is a bane to our society and is hugely responsible for the decline of health, and consequently, our civilization. An unhealthy society is a corrupt society. Sugar is linked to diabetes, obesity and cancer. As sugar consumption increases, our society declines. Here are my latest thoughts on this topic.

It all started with Columbus, who brought in sugar cane with him in the 1400s. Back in history refined sugar was a luxury, exotic spice. The sugar exploitation began with the increase in production. Sugar production is labor intensive, difficult and dangerous. In order to ramp production, slaves were utilized. Commodification of sugar changed the world. Indigenous lives were destroyed in places such as Central, South America, Mexico, Guyana, Cuba, Barbados, Jamaica and almost 11 million Africans were enslaved. In the mills, children worked alongside adults in a dangerous, highly disciplined environment of boiling hot kettles, open furnaces and grinding rollers. Fatigue could result in losing an arm or being flayed. Torture chambers were used wherein a disobedient slave would stand in a box with nails placed in a way they couldn’t move, chase flies or ants that crawled up on their body. Blacks are still not able to own sugar farms.

In 1790s, British population got informed and wanted to do away with sugar produced by slave labor. So they abstained from sugar produced by slaves in the West Indies. It was one of the first modern consumer boycotts. The search for free sugar (sugar not produced by slaves) led the British to India. Turns out, there’s no free rides in life. Indian sugar has a similar barbaric history with a majority of the sugar produced by migrant laborers. Hey, the production has the same levels of risks, whether in the East or the West. With stakes this high and the profits this large, sacrifices have to be made right? As long as someone else is being sacrificed.

Well, fates have a curious way of handing justice. As it turns out, exploiting someone else to get to a resource didn’t do us much good. As a society we got sicker. Our ancestors ate fruits and grains in their unrefined states. In this form, sugar and starch supports life but in their refined form as we currently consume it, sugar is detrimental because it is devoid of bodybuilding elements. Our own body’s store of vitamins, minerals and enzymes are needed to digest refined carbohydrates. So this form of sugar depletes our body. When we consume sugar without fat and protein, they enter the bloodstream in a rush and overtime our endocrine system will be disturbed resulting in other pathologies, such as allergies, obesity, alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

There’s lot more to unpack but I am going to stop. What’s the solution? We need to lower our sugar consumption by a huge amount. This is easier said than done, I am aware. However, sugar dullens your senses to the point that all other flavors become unenjoyable. There’s so much more to life than this.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs we gave up sugar in 2014. We went cold turkey. This was after our younger daughter got cavities. It worked well for us and this one choice was a turning point for our family. We went down this path which takes us far away from the normal society. Just giving up sugar makes you depart from civilization, which is amazing to observe. However, it is also very difficult. Insidious ingredients in all grocery store items places a huge burden on the cook to produce every meal and snack at home. Slowly, sugar has crept back in our lives. Although it is low, I can still notice it. It maybe time to tighten my reins again!

My animals are getting annoyed by my ramblings and so its over to them.

Rosie the dog: I am not a sugar dog, let me tell ya. I am a meat gal. I told you before, when mom’s parents were here (Nana and Nani), I would beg Nani to give me some meat. Instead Nana gave me unrefined sugar. That was the beginning of my addiction. But I am proud to say that I have kept my unhealthy desires well under check. I don’t do much sugar and I do no grains whatsoever. If someone gives me a pizza or bread or pasta, I give them such a disdainful look that they shrink back looking like shriveled prunes. My family eats cookies every morning. Let me tell you, I will eat my mom’s home made maple syrup cookies and reject store bought cookies (umm, I do like biscottis dipped in tea. So that’s an exception, yum!).

Moving to other topics, I have been enjoying the spring more than the rest of my family. I lay in the yard at a sunny spot for hours. Once in a while I remember my Papa and cry to come in. After 10 minutes of being in, though, I yowl to go out again. So I am keeping my family busy and fit with my demands. Heh heh. Oh, here’s Kylo Ren. Over to the supreme leader (hmph, snicker).

Kylo Ren the dog: Oh, looks like my wife Rosie is in an extra good mood today to have called me the supreme leader! On to the topic of the day. Yes, I like sugar and am not afraid to say it. But then I like a lot of things. When I first came to this household, I was so hungry that I ate anything and everything. There were two reasons for that. Firstly I had stomach worms. I know, it sounds bad, and it was. Before bringing me home for the first time, my Papa noticed the worms and took me directly to the vet to get a dewormer medicine. That, plus the pumpkin seeds that mom fed me, helped me get rid of the worms within a couple of days. After that I was ravenous. I kept eating and I kept growing. I would run off with a carrot or green bean, really, anything that I could find. My family thought my food obsession was hilarious. To tease me, they once gave me a Bittergourd which is called a Karela in Hindi. Guess what, I ate it! I am proud of myself.

The second reason for my enormous appetite, of course, was that I had to grow, and grow fast. I needed to grow into my paws and ears, so that my anatomy made sense. When I was a pup, my huge ears and paws with my tiny body made a funny sight. I had to change that and become the supreme leader Kylo Ren that I was destined to be.

Anyway, back to the topic, I eat any kind of cookie offered by my humans, or cake or ice cream. But just like my dear wifey, meat is my favorite. I will pick a bone over a cake any day. Oh, here comes the chicken. Over to Ms. Baby.

Baby the chicken: We like sugar. You may have heard before that we would fight over pancake bits during our great California trip. Once when the human girl Leena was little, she was out with a cookie. Guess what (hee hee). Dandelion and I coordinated a heist. She pecked Leena’s knee and when she was distracted, I jumped and stole her cookie! She went running and crying inside to complain to her mom. Mom, of course, gave her another cookie. Now wiser, she ate it indoors (sigh). We are also very good at toppling her maple vanilla yogurt so that we get it all.

That said, give me an earthworm and a cookie and I would pick.. you guessed it! The earthworm, no questions asked.

Laters my pals.

References:

https://www.nytimes.com › interactive › 2019 › 08 › 14 › magazine › sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/12/19/migrant-labourers-suffer-exploitation-in-indias-sugar-fields/

Nourishing traditions by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig