#19 A WOMAN’S BRIEFS  June 14, ‘21

So, while it is true that per unit of volume, as much sugar is in catsup as in Coca Cola, we Americans feel better about smearing catsup on our hotdog than we feel about drinking a cola with it. 

Our hotdog, by the way— 314 calories of processed meat packed with fat, sodium, carbs, sugars, and a bit of protein —really is not good for us whether we drink milk, water, or soda with it. We know that.

One reason we know that (as well as a whole lot of other stuff like why brown rice is better for us than white rice; or that the typical American manages to ingest about 22 teaspoons full of sugar a day in a variety of hidden and not so hidden ways; that fresh fruits — even though fruit growers have deliberately diminished the food value (like 50% poorer in iron, less vitamin A, and calcium than fruit of the 1950s), and increased the sugar in order to grow fruit faster and sell better; and we know that fresh vegetables are better for us than processed ones but, hey, we know what we like. And bless their caring hearts, Industry knows what we like, and serves it up.

Did you know (thank you Bill Bryson, “The Body,” page 243) that in 1970, Congress started a federal nutrition survey just to see if we, the best fed nation in the world, happened therefore to be of the best health. Oh, say what? The study was embarrassingly cancelled? Because why? Oh. “A significant proportion of the population surveyed is malnourished or at a high risk of developing nutritional problems.” 

Well, yeah. Why not. Let’s go grab a quick hotdog and America’s most consumed vegetable, French Fries, and talk about the money we saved the nation by cancelling the study.

Did you know . . . I love this fact, it is why I hope there is a God (I believe there is but I can’t prove it) . . . It is estimated by some scientists (and who’s to question some scientists) that perhaps 200 billion galaxies exist in our known universe, likewise, as many stars in the Milky Way galaxy, ditto, cells in our bodies, and neurons in our brains—you know, those magical sparking devices tipped by synapses delivering information across the corpus callosum to various points in the brain where among other things ideas and feelings emerge telling us to ignore information about nutrition that doesn’t agree with our conformation bias. 

We know; it’s just that we don’t want to, you know, know.