Open Letter to Food Makers
Wednesday, 3 December 2008 16:52![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
earthbelow
Dear People Who Make Sugar Free Things,
When you make an item that is sugar free, please try not to make it taste like crap. I know you may think you're doing good by having foods like that at all, but you're not.
It's actually really hard to adjust to having to eat different and have different medical concerns than normal, completely healthy people. It's overwhelming, depressing, and makes you feel like God hates you and wants you to be miserable as long as you live.
And you know what doesn't help? Having the food that's supposed to be for you taste like backwashed horse manure or worse. That's like you're saying, "Here you go, here's your punishment for having insulin issues. Enjoy the inflated price and the diarrhea afterwards!"
Nothing convinces diabetics and others who need sugar-free food to just give up and stop eating healthy like having nothing but shitty sugar free substitutes to look forward to for the rest of their lives. It's hard enough when you get a diagnosis that your body is doing the wacky, it's even harder when it's a diagnosis that comes with a lot of stigma and scorn from doctors who basically tell you, "It's your own fault, you stupid obese person. I despise you, why did you even come in for treatment that you don't deserve? Why can't you just stop being a fat slob and get skinny? STFU and die already, kthnxbai." And yes, I've gotten that treatment from doctors before, as have many others, I wager.
So, maybe, when you make a sugar free product that's designed for people who are facing this sort of thing, try to have something people would actually want to put in their mouths.
Kind of Tired,
Meg
PS - Splenda does not taste like sugar. At all. It tastes like an artificial sugar substitute because it is an artificial sugar substitute. Please quit trying to convince me that my tastebuds are wrong. Nothing tastes like sugar but sugar. Maybe keeping this in mind when you make your reduced sugar/sugar free food will help you to make things that are better tasting.
When you make an item that is sugar free, please try not to make it taste like crap. I know you may think you're doing good by having foods like that at all, but you're not.
It's actually really hard to adjust to having to eat different and have different medical concerns than normal, completely healthy people. It's overwhelming, depressing, and makes you feel like God hates you and wants you to be miserable as long as you live.
And you know what doesn't help? Having the food that's supposed to be for you taste like backwashed horse manure or worse. That's like you're saying, "Here you go, here's your punishment for having insulin issues. Enjoy the inflated price and the diarrhea afterwards!"
Nothing convinces diabetics and others who need sugar-free food to just give up and stop eating healthy like having nothing but shitty sugar free substitutes to look forward to for the rest of their lives. It's hard enough when you get a diagnosis that your body is doing the wacky, it's even harder when it's a diagnosis that comes with a lot of stigma and scorn from doctors who basically tell you, "It's your own fault, you stupid obese person. I despise you, why did you even come in for treatment that you don't deserve? Why can't you just stop being a fat slob and get skinny? STFU and die already, kthnxbai." And yes, I've gotten that treatment from doctors before, as have many others, I wager.
So, maybe, when you make a sugar free product that's designed for people who are facing this sort of thing, try to have something people would actually want to put in their mouths.
Kind of Tired,
Meg
PS - Splenda does not taste like sugar. At all. It tastes like an artificial sugar substitute because it is an artificial sugar substitute. Please quit trying to convince me that my tastebuds are wrong. Nothing tastes like sugar but sugar. Maybe keeping this in mind when you make your reduced sugar/sugar free food will help you to make things that are better tasting.
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no subject
Date: 4 Dec 2008 17:56 (UTC)My brother was just saying the other day that he had to get used to just eating things with little to no sugar when he lived in China, but once you get used to it, it's the sugary stuff that tastes awful. In my experience, if you make your own food, it's a lot easier to have decent-tasting, sugar-free food.
no subject
Date: 4 Dec 2008 21:46 (UTC)I've tried it, and it's pretty good. Not everything with Splenda is bad, but there are some things where the Splenda just doesn't cut it.
I also sort of wrote all that in a moment of frustration. Mostly I am adjusted to eating lower/no sugar things, but every once and a while, something really awful comes along that makes me want to scream because it's just so bad tasting and food for diabetics need not taste awful.
There are even sugar free cupcakes that I'm fond of from the grocery store, so I know it's perfect possible to make yummy things that are sugar free. I guess that's why I get mad when some companies don't.
no subject
Date: 4 Dec 2008 22:58 (UTC)Your frustration is entirely justified! Companies that make crappy "health" food suck.