A reading from the label of...

Liking to cook is a good thing when it comes to eating for fitness.

Over the weekend, I went to the store for the weekly shopping.  I pay fairly good attention to labels, but this time I paid strict attention.  Sugar is added to pretty much every prepared food.  It was hiding in the spaghetti sauce.  It lurked in the beef jerky my husband likes for snacks and in his favorite peanut butter.  I already knew that all the fruity yogurts were out, as well as the packaged cereals.  The salad dressing I like best:  sugar’s in there.

But here’s the deal:  I like to cook.  I’m obviously not going to whip up any beef jerky any time soon, but I can make my own salad dressing.  I can eat actual fruit instead of sugary fruity yogurt, or I can mix that same real fruit into plain yogurt.  It doesn’t take that much time and it is worth it to begin to combat the sugar addiction that is rampant at my house.

Ours isn’t the only house made of gingerbread, so to speak.  Culturally, sugar consumption keeps rising along with our obesity rates.  Fight the power:  cook your own food.