<p><a href="http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/6a00d8341db04e53ef01348755906b970c-pi.jpg" style="display: inline;"><img alt="DSC_0199" class="asset  asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341db04e53ef01348755906b970c" src="http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/6a00d8341db04e53ef01348755906b970c-500wi.jpg" title="DSC_0199" /></a></p>
<p>I don&#39;t believe in diet food.</p>
<p>However, I am making a concerted effort to eat better -- I started out by cutting out high fructose corn syrup from our diet whenever possible and it has made a huge difference in many ways. It&#39;s a quick way to cut out junk from your diet. Notice I didn&#39;t say easy. Have you ever noticed how many foods have HFCS and don&#39;t need them? I even bought a little bottle of milk at a convenience store once and it had HFCS in it. Milk!</p>
<p>Anyways, this simple change has forced me to really think about what I am putting in my body. And I have found that I <span style="text-decoration: underline;">need</span> to have treats around the house -- I&#39;m not virtuous (or foolish) enough to live on fruits and veggies alone. I have also learned that I really like the way high-quality treats taste (shocker!) and that high-quality sweets also come with high prices (double-shock!).</p>
<p>Case in point: My favorite soda. It&#39;s expensive! I buy it at $1 a bottle, and that&#39;s a bargain. It costs even more on Amazon. It&#39;s so pricey that every time I want to have a soda I find myself debating whether I really need to drink that $1-2 soda at that very moment.</p>
<p>Isn&#39;t that what nutritionists are always telling us to do? To eat thoughtfully?</p>
<p>Well guess what...a lot of the time I realize I don&#39;t need the soda as much as I think I do. So I have water instead. If I was good at keeping track of things I&#39;m sure that I would have found that the empty calories I&#39;ve saved by really thinking about my soda needs are vastly greater than what I would have saved by slurping &quot;diet&quot; soft drinks all day.</p>
<p>And when I do have my ridiculously expensive cane-sweetened soda? It tastes like heaven in a glass bottle.</p>
<p>It&#39;s so worth it.</p>
<p>And today, <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/a-new-name-for-high-fructose-corn-syrup/" target="_blank">I wake up to news that the corn refiners want to relabel HFCS as &quot;corn sugar&quot; </a>-- I don&#39;t think they get it. They really think we&#39;re simple-minded, don&#39;t they? People, at least some of them, are starting to finally think about their food. We&#39;re starting to demand that our food be just that, food, and not just a mishmash of cheap industrial products. And this is how they react? By relabeling their junk?</p>
<p>If I ever thought that we were being too hard on the food industry, that maybe we should trust them more, this convinces me that no -- they are not to be trusted. They clearly have something to hide.</p>
<p>I don&#39;t pretend to speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself: I don&#39;t want cheap subsidized junk. <a href="http://www.everydaytreats.com/2009/04/honest-food.html" target="_blank">We just want food. Real food. Honest food</a>.&#0160;</p>
<p>Give us the choice, and we will choose with our wallets. But don&#39;t try to trick us.</p>
