"Our white, refined sugar..."

Our white, refined sugar containing sucrose is made mostly from beets and cane. Both plants needs different climate zone, soils and level of precipitation, temperature and moisture as well, so it isn't strange that they're cultivated in different parts of Earth. Together they give 3/4 of world's sugar production and now we'll take a closer look to them.

As you can see on map, world's potentates in production of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) are countries from Asia (India and China) and from South America (Brasil and Angertina). Big plantations of sugarcane are also in Australia, because sugarcane needs a lot of sun, heat and moisture, semipermeable, poor in organic compounds soils, like oxisols, so tropical and subtropical climates are best for its cultivation.

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) cultivation is different. World's potentates of it's production are some countries from Central Europe, Russia and eastern part of USA and China. Sugar beet grows in heavy soils, mostly alfisols and ultisols and needs lower temprature, and less amount of precipitation during growing season than sugar cane, so it's cultivated in tempered zone with shorter vegetation period.

So what is the way from sugar beet and sugar cane to rafined sugar ? ... 

It'll be easier for me to describe it by sugar beet, cause I live in Poland :).
First of all we need some sugar beets. We wash them and cut into strips. Then we pour them into sugar extractors with hot water, starting process of leaching sugar. Waste formed during this process is used as feed for farm animals and sugar solution is further purified by addition of lime milk (here we wash out all minerals like calcium carbonate, potassium and phosphorus salts and nitrogen compounds! ) and saturates solution with carbon dioxide (carbonation). Then we filter it in several stages and after it to have our beauty, white crystals we have to evaporate water from the solution in evaporation machines and split brown molasses from it in centrifuges and we have our final product.

Pretty cool, isn't it ? Yes - I can almost feel the taste of sugar beet in it after this process ;) ... All was going well until I we came up with the industry and started to treat food like deposits of rocks, wood or sth like that. And we can subject it in many processes to have completely different products after. And that is quite scary, cause no other animals use it, and so we can easily answer to question - why do we have so many diseases having such an advanced level of medicine at the same time ? ...

We eat too many refined products, full of carbohydrates and sugar (look into McD-d's menu) and poor in minerals, vitamins and other usefull stuff. And that's why I'm writting this blog. We'll be always a consumers but we can be conscious too ...

Wiliam Dufty in his book "Sugar Blues" wrote:

" (...) Heroin is nothing but a chemical. They take the juice of the poppy and they refine it in to opium and then they refine it to morphine and finally to heroin. Sugar is nothing but a chemical. They take the juice of the cane or the beet and they refine it in to molassdes and then they refine it to brown sugar and finally to strange white crystals (...)".

Now go to your kitchen, open the fridge, browse in your cupboards and check how much product contains no sugar ...

Good luck :) 

"Mosanto Policy - The Truth About It"

As a gap between stories about our sugary life, I'd like convince you to watchingvideo about food industry's largest company - about Mosanto.

I think that after this video you'll know more about food industry and have new vision about strategies of major corporations. Maybe next time during shopping you won't have some things in your shopping trolley. I hope so!

I've got reflections that most companies of food and pharmaceutical industry are like tapeworms - they won't kill us but we won't be as healthy as we schould be so they'll sell us their goodies and make us being depending on them. So take care of yourself by now to be healthy now and in old age without those miracle drugs, and great food that they want us to push during our life.

Monsanto developed G.M. seeds that would resist its own herbicide, Roundup, offering farmers a convenient way to spray fields with weed killer without affecting crops. Monsanto then patented the seeds. For nearly all of its history the United States Patent and Trademark Office had refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life-forms with too many variables to be patented. “It’s not like describing a widget,” says Joseph Mendelson III, the legal director of the Center for Food Safety, which has tracked Monsanto’s activities in rural America for years. (..,)

Farmers who buy Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready seeds are required to sign an agreement promising not to save the seed produced after each harvest for re-planting, or to sell the seed to other farmers. This means that farmers must buy new seed every year. Those increased sales, coupled with ballooning sales of its Roundup weed killer, have been a bonanza for Monsanto.

This radical departure from age-old practice has created turmoil in farm country. Some farmers don’t fully understand that they aren’t supposed to save Monsanto’s seeds for next year’s planting. Others do, but ignore the stipulation rather than throw away a perfectly usable product. Still others say that they don’t use Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds, but seeds have been blown into their fields by wind or deposited by birds. It’s certainly easy for G.M. seeds to get mixed in with traditional varieties when seeds are cleaned by commercial dealers for re-planting. The seeds look identical; only a laboratory analysis can show the difference. Even if a farmer doesn’t buy G.M. seeds and doesn’t want them on his land, it’s a safe bet he’ll get a visit from Monsanto’s seed police if crops grown from G.M. seeds are discovered in his fields.

Most Americans know Monsanto because of what it sells to put on our lawns— the ubiquitous weed killer Roundup. What they may not know is that the company now profoundly influences—and one day may virtually control—what we put on our tables. For most of its history Monsanto was a chemical giant, producing some of the most toxic substances ever created, residues from which have left us with some of the most polluted sites on earth. Yet in a little more than a decade, the company has sought to shed its polluted past and morph into something much different and more far-reaching—an “agricultural company” dedicated to making the world “a better place for future generations.” Still, more than one Web log claims to see similarities between Monsanto and the fictional company “U-North” in the movie Michael Clayton, an agribusiness giant accused in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit of selling an herbicide that causes cancer.

"Sugary drinks"

Western lifestyle gave us many facilities and new solutions. Industrial revolution and colonialism brought enrichment of Western Europe and USA at the expense of the third world countries and changed many things of average citizen lifestyle. 

XX century gave us television, mobile phone, internet and car for every average human being not only in rich but also in middle class countries. Life became very easy. Many people gave up with agriculture and started working by internet using other technologies. Our life usually does not require so many physical activity as it once was and food is easily available. It all makes us lazy and even with active lifestyle we're exposed to temptations. 

Logic tells us: when you aren't to activ you don't need so many food everyday. But when you're watching TV, surfing in internet or reading papers adverts about tasty, good food and colorful sweety drinks tempts us every day ... It's not easy to be a child in XXI century with world created on sweet deception especially when you don't know what is good and what is bad yet.

And how about sugary drinks - are they good for children, adults  or anyone ? 

It won't be a suprice when I'll write that I have no good informations for sugary-drinks followers. First of all they contain huge amounts of rafined sugar. This kind of sugar is easily absorbable from food to our bloodsystem and gives energy for us. 

But how it really works ? Sugar has got quite high glycemic index. High IG level means that it cause high peak blood sugar levels, as well as its rapid decline. So we're full of energy and then we're having rapid fall of it. And this is not good for us health at all. Previously people did not use as much sugar as they do now. Often we don't even know how many sugar spoons we ate yesterday. Food industry makes many products with to many sugar and salt with it cause it improves taste of the products. We need water to survive but do we need sugary drinks instead ?

200 ml of water - 0 kcal

200 ml of sugary drink = 60-100 kcal and a lot of sugar

Labels tell us that average person schould eat about 2000 kcal per day. But do we drink only 200 ml of it during day ? It isn't hard to drink 2 liters for average person and it'll give us ~ 900 kcal ... Almost half of day energy level only from substitute of water. Think about it when you will shopping next time. Do you really need them for survive or just for satisfy our desires in visions  created by thousands of companies from the food industry ...

Some fact about food and drugs advertisement"

Twentieth century gave us television, internet and global freedom. Flow of information become fast and world-wide. Now it's so easy for us to have informations from every part of Earth. Everytime and everywhere. It was just a dream for earlier generations. But it gave us much more with it ... 

It gave enormous power to the media and tools to lead our subconsciousness, It can be used in TV programs, films, advertises, papers, toys - everywhere. Most of us even don't know about it and live without sensing any danger. Food and pharmaceutical industry is growing up every year. New medicaments are created, new textures of dishes (for example smelly, colorful candies or sweet headache tablets) are taking part in our lifes everyday. But do we need all of them for sure ? ...

I read many books about healthy lifestyle, acient cultures, eastern and western look at the longevity, food and human spirituality. It gave me many valuable informations about my surrounding and myself. I started to observe my environment, by looking on my friends  lifestyles and impact of the advertising's industry to them. Health and food are very important for us and choices we made will affect the length, quality of our lives and number of potential problems in old age. 

Many companies offer us a colorful, healthy and long  life. Food isn't just something that keeps us alive. It's a product which can make you happier, more sufisticated and more slim. You can also take a pill for almost everything without going to doctor for recipe. It'll not only kill your phisically pain, but it'll resolve most of your problems. Many of us have one in our bag - just in case...

Why big corporations do that ? Do you think they really care about our health, long life and happiness ? Or maybe they want to create a vision which we'll live in and to live that way we'll have to buy new products and be even addicted to buying them, and thinking that living without suplements, vitamins, nutritious they're selling us is no longer possible ... Josef Stalin said "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic". I think that for big companies we are just  statistics -  numbers for marketing departments and naive consumers for sellers. 

In next posts I'll analyze ads from big companies in food and medicaments industries. We'll start from sugary drinks.