"Hey Man, You Got the 'Stuff'?"

"Hey man, you got the stuff?" Tommy asks.

"Um, what stuff you talkin' bout man?  I don't know nothing about no stuff..." Cheech responds.

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about - the GOOD stuff.  I need it bad man, I got a monkey on my back the size of Paula Deen."  Tommy says.

"Oh, oh, THAT stuff?  No way man, I don't have any of that.  THAT stuff will KILL you deader than Taylor Hicks' singing career."

"Okay man, you got any virgin-pure-uncut Kosher salt?" Tommy leans in as he asks this last question. 

"No way man, this is California.  That stuff will get you 3 - 5 in the Big House,"  Cheech answers.

Tommy lowers his eyes and asks Cheech quietly, "Transfats?  You got any transfats man?" I'm Jonesin' for some transfats.  I haven't had any since 2010.  Come on man, you gotta help out your bro' on this one..."

"I've got no transfats, I've got no salt, I've got no sugar, you hear me?  All I've got are these semi-automatic weapons I bought at the high school and a couple of rocks of crack.  You want those?"

"Nah, that STUFF will kill you."  Tommy says as he stares down at his hands folded on his lap. 

"I think there's a Smoothie Shack up there, you want a Cucumber-Tomato-Carrot-Dill Smoothie or somethin'?"

"No.  I'll just get out of the car and graze on the grass along the shoulder of the highway..." Tommy says.

"Okay, just make sure you don't eat any weed..."

The scene fades as today's post begins

Sugar - The "New Crack"
Eat it, baby, eat it!!!

From the San Francisco Chronicle Online:  Like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is a toxic, addictive substance that should be highly regulated with taxes, laws on where and to whom it can be advertised, and even age-restricted sales, says a team of UCSF scientists.

In a paper published in Nature on Wednesday, they argue that increased global consumption of sugar is primarily responsible for a whole range of chronic diseases that are reaching epidemic levels around the world.

Sugar is so heavily entrenched in the food culture in the United States and other countries that getting people to kick the habit will require much more than simple education and awareness campaigns, the UCSF scientists said.
...
It's going to require public policy that gently guides people toward healthier choices and uses brute force to remove sugar from so many of the processed foods we eat every day, said Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF.

"The only method for dealing with this is a public health intervention," Lustig said in an interview. "Everyone talks about personal responsibility, and that won't work here, as it won't for any addictive substance. These are things that have to be done at a governmental level, and government has to get off its ass."

...
In their paper, they argue for taxes on heavily sweetened foods and beverages, restricting advertising to children and teenagers, and removing sugar-ladened products from schools, or even from being sold near schools. They suggest banning the sale of sugary beverages to children.

Schmidt noted that those policies could nudge people toward healthier choices - but only if, at the same time, healthier choices are made widely available. Such policies have worked in reducing alcohol consumption and smoking rates, she said. There's no reason they can't work with sugar too.

Lustig said he realizes that there will likely be heavy resistance to the idea of largely removing sugar from American diets - and resistance not just from the food and beverage industries, but from the public at large.  (Moos Note:  Hey, did they just slip a PUN in here?  "The public 'at large'?")

Yes, there is more to this, but I'm out of time.  Work calls and I must answer.  But here's something to think about while I'm gone:  What happens when you 'Nudge people toward healthier choices?'  I know.  Later today, you will too...

Have a nice day!

Eat at your own risk...  Um, while you can.