More important (could I be more off topic) than substituting for sugar should be making food less sweet, period.

I'm with ita, tommy and Kate on this. With processed and packaged foods from babyhood, most if not all of them, if "naturally" sweetened being so now with high fructose corn syrup rather than cane sugar, or if "lite," sweetened with either aspartame or sugar alcohols, our collective palates are cultured to crave the sweet.

Anthropologically, we're built to crave fats and sugars, even though our lifestyles mostly no longer require high-energy and energy-storing foods. But the double-whammy of natural cravings and deliberately-by-marketing cultivated ones makes us a society of overweight people prone to diabetes and other health risks.

The simple act of *not* adding sweeteners of any kind to foods that don't actually need them would improve Americans' health dramatically. But, over a generation or two, it would also lower the acculturated cravings that power the soda and snack industries.

Heh. I suspect we're getting close to the end of this thread, as it's quickly turning into just another natter.

It ain't over 'till the fat penguin sings....

Oops. Sorry. I forgot where I was.

So how 'bout that 2006, eh? 86% more windy in January than previous years!

Nah, I think that the Slacker Santas/ees still deserve some time.

Nah, I think that the Slacker Santas/ees still deserve some time.

Oh, absolutely. It's just one of the signs that the thread is coming toward its end.

Are there still people out there who haven't sent/received gifts?

Are there still people out there who haven't sent/received gifts?

A kind birdie told me my gift is on its way, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Are there still people out there who haven't sent/received gifts?

I haven't gotten mine, but I wouldn't start worrying until the 31st. I do Slacker Santa for a reason :)

A kind birdie told me my gift is on its way, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Same here.

And now, back to nattering...

I love the Knudsen's (I think) light spritzers because they are actually less sweet. They are still a little too sweet, but not as much so and have only fruit juice sweetening. I hate the taste of aspartame in anything but Diet Dr. Pepper, and have given up even that because after being able to drink it for a few years, it started making me ghastly ill. Including those nasty migraines. Blech. I had actually gotten to the point where I could stand saccharine right before NutraSweet came out and took over the market. Such is my life.