Getting out about

In my little head, what I really want to be doing during my time here is journeying all over the USA – seeing cowboys at a Rodeo, gasping over enormous canyons, oggling Gracelands, throwing my arms up with the Sunday church brigade, taking a whisky sour at a blues bar, eating lobster on the shore line, hitting the boardwalk in the sunset on rollerskates and making conversation with those who live north, south, east and west of where I currently reside.

(And, on a side note, I would like a soundtrack of tunes to accompany me. I’m thinking everything from Elvis to Journey to 80s dance tunes. Strange but true.)

But, this Bill Bryson-esque journey-athon is not an entirely feasible thing to do, since I have a son in school, a part-time job and do not possess wads of cash to go gallivanting about all the States in such a wondrous and frivolous manner.

Sigh.

But my current status is reflecting in my blogging. I am blogging from what I see and hear and observe in my present situation, so this to me, right now, right here is ‘America’. And I am under no illusions that this is just it, or that this is how it is throughout. My wish is to see these other places and areas, so forgive me if my blogging is a little subjective, a little HoCo-orientated, a little moderate in behaviours, a little East Coast MD, a little suburban; it’s just that is what I’m seeing, hearing, observing and feeling.

It would be the same to be an expat in the UK – a blog about life in a Cotswold village would be far removed from a blog about a life in Soho, London. (Believe me, I’ve lived both in the Cotswolds and London and they ARE NOT THE SAME ;))

However, I am totally aware that even if I travel just 30 miles south or north or east or west of HoCo things are different again – laws are different, people have different accents, lifestyles are different, geography is different, wealth and poverty and culture are different, and religion and politics make a huge amount of difference to how things are. And that is amazing to see and makes me realise how places can be so unique and strange and wonderful and different, and I embrace it all and ponder on it and am constantly bemused and amused and confused – in a good way.

And whilst I am fortunate enough to have done NYC, Virginia and Florida (see past blogs 49, 65, 71 and 76 for my observations on these areas) – this gal is craving more America, more reality, more sights and sounds!

So bring on the summer, because that means bring on the travelling! 🙂

High fructose corn syrup (aka The Devil)

“There is sugar in bread,” a friend told me before I came out here.
“Surely not,” I replied.
“There bloody well is,” she confirmed with vigour (she’s British, hence the ‘bloody’).

She’s right, don’t you know.

This is a normal supermarket British loaf’s ingredients: Wholemeal Wheat Flour,Water ,Salt ,Spirit Vinegar ,Yeast ,Soya Flour ,Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Acetyltartaric Esters of Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids) ,Vegetable Oil ,Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid).

Okay, not great, but at least no sugar.

By comparison, an American grocery store’s loaf’s ingredients: Whole Wheat Flour, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Salt, Molasses, Soybean Oil, Cracked Wheat, Oats, Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Wheat Bran, Whey, Soybeans, Wheat Germ, Nonfat Milk, Soy Lecithin.

That’s not just sugar, that’s the Devil Incarnate (so I am told): HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. I don’t really remember seeing it in anything in the UK, though it probably is lurking in various things and I was totally unaware, but HFCS has reared its nasty, cavity-making, gut-increasing syrupy head since I’ve been in the USA, and I’m not liking it too much….

And the blighter is everywhere.

What is it? Basically, it goes in processed foods and it is said to rot your teeth and lead to many health issues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup

OMG, I have looked at stuff in my cupboard and it is in soooo much stuff. Out damn HFCS. Be gone! It is being blamed for many issues surrounding obesity and it beggars belief that it is being allowed in stuff, me thinks. Health government type people up on high – what’s going on with the HFCS thingymajig?

I would love to know from American bloggers when it appeared and if it has really had such a dramatic impact on obesity and health……

I’m popping off to the organic shop and being all virtuous now (plus you get to nibble stuff as you go round, so that’s ace).

🙂