Sugar Coated

It's interesting to see how many people are willing to change their meat eating habits in light of the recent mad cow disease scare, yet how few people are willing to drop the amount of sugar in their diet. In a Wall Street Journal poll, 78 percent of respondents said they'd eat less beef and 16 percent said they'd quit eating beef altogether, despite there being no cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease connected to mad cow-tainted beef reported due to the recent "outbreak" and something like a million to one odds that anyone ever will.

In the meantime, schools are bowing to pressure to remove sugary sodas from school vending machines -- and are replacing them with drinks like Snapple, which have as much and sometimes more sugar in them than the sodas they replace.

"Consuming all these calorically sweetened drinks -- soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks -- they all contribute to weight and obesity in the U.S.," says Barry Popkin, nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It's all just sugar water."

Much of the problem stems from the idea -- instilled months after birth -- that the liquid we consume should be flavored and sweet.

"One of the first questions a new parent will ask a pediatrician is 'when can I start juice?'" says Robert Murray, professor of pediatrics at the Columbus Children's Hospital and principal author of the American Academy of Pediatrics statement. "We've really created the habit of dealing with thirst with sweetened drinks."

My friend Damon used to be a Snapple addict. One day he realized just how much sugar he was consuming and how sick it was making him feel...and just quit. After a little time to detox, he felt great.

I'm going to do the same. Starting now, whenever possible I will no longer drink sugary drinks, be they soft drinks or sugar-added juice products (I will still drink pure juice). This dovetails well into my resolution to eat healthier, and I have other avenues to indulge in my sweet tooth. Chocolate is far more satisfying, and delivers the sweetness with far less sugar per serving.