Debbie
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Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Can I Put Sugar in My Coffee?
Go ahead and add sugar to your coffee. It’s amazing
how much people agonize over this calorically insignifi -
cant borderline case. Do you know how many spoonfuls
of sugar you’d have to put in your coffee to match the
sugar in one can of Coke? The answer is 10. (There are
39 grams of sugar in a can of Coca- Cola, and 4 grams
of sugar in a teaspoon.) No one in the course of human
history has ever put that many spoonfuls of sugar into
their coffee, so relax. Enjoy your coffee. Your ener-
gies are much better directed elsewhere. (Do watch out
for presweetened coffee drinks, though; those “desserts
in a cup†can easily match the sugar content of a can of
soda.)
So why do people tend to make such a big fuss over
this? The quick answer is big profit margins and adver-
tising budgets for sugar- substitute manufacturers.
But the sugar lobby is pretty powerful, too, and pushes
in the opposite direction. So I don’t think that entirely
explains it.
A bigger factor is that fussing over their coffee sweet-
ener lets people put on a constant show of how virtu-
ous they are. They get to assume a dainty look and ask,
“Do you have any Sweet’N Low?†or “Do you have any
Splenda?†(Subtext: “I might look fat, but see how virtu-
ous I am!â€) They’re pennywise and 250- pounds foolish.
It sounds ridiculous because no one in their presence is
fooled by such displays, but people do this all the time.
To many people, a demonstration of virtue, no matter
how unconvincing, is enough. Of course, the real pur-
pose of this show is self- deception, allowing a fleeting
sensation of virtue— a feeling almost as good as the real
thing and much easier to come by. It’s clear, with this
behavior in mind, why gluttony used to be considered
a moral vice: Because, as it’s usually practiced, it’s also
dishonest.
With the No S Diet, there’s no show. It’s the oppo-
site. Your excess is all out in the open. Instead of pre-
tending to be virtuous in public and gorging in secret,
you emphasize your vice (drawing attention to it with
embarrassingly big plates, openly enjoying sweets on S
days) and use shame to keep yourself in line. Honesty,
shame, virtue: old- fashioned stuff, like being thin.