Candy Crush Comes in Digital and Analog Mode

Candy Crush, the popular online game, apparently is threatening jobs, marriages, and sanity. Cable news shows mention therapy sessions, online threats, and neglected kids. 

“Mommy, what’s for dinner?” 

“Crushed candy. I’m working on it at this very moment. Now leave me alone.”  

Now they’ve come out with real Candy Crush candy. As this report says, “If it is anywhere as addictive as the game that inspired it, we're going to have a big, fat problem on our hands.”

We dealt with candy crushes decades ago as pre-cyber farm kids. I guess sugar highs can be digital or analog as these blog reflections demonstrate.

Candy Crush, High Fructose, and the Basic Food Groups

I grew up in the pre-fructose age, so it was much easier to avoid the sugar wars. But at times, I was able to satiate my sweet tooth while still hitting several basic food groups. Fruits and veggies are examples.  We didn’t get candy often, but when we did, it came as something that sounds at least pseudo-healthy.  

Orange Slices? OK, so they may not contain much vitamin C, and there was no disguising the sugar. This candy was shaped like real orange slices, but the sugar granules sparkled on the outside and the chewy orange content stuck to your teeth for hours.

Lemon Drops? Gotta get your citrus, and this flavor-filled hard candy could be handled in two ways. You could suck it slowly until your tongue, gum, and inner cheek went numb with a sugar high, or you could chomp down for a burst of flavor. Well worth an occasional chipped tooth.  

Jelly Beans (what? they’re not really a legume?) were by far the most interesting. My brothers and I would divide them, trade them, and occasionally fight over them. Green and red were high value. Black and white were the last to get chosen.
    
These sugar highs were part of a long-ago childhood, but I don’t recall folks debating fructose or any other form of sugar much back then. Most kids on the farm seemed naturally hyper because we were constantly running around outside. I never heard the word “obese” in my school days, but I did hear more about tooth decay then. I’m not sure if sugar was to blame, but toothpaste ads had animated characters attacking cavities, and our local dentist had plenty of kids sitting in his huge, uncomfortable chair. An ex-army dentist, he was a fine man who apparently did not believe in pain killers and who knew only two words: “Open wide.”
    
So, does sugar cause obesity and diabetes? You can find “scientific research” to back various opinions; it’s probably best to stay as informed as possible and listen to your own body. We all know that a Homer Simpson diet will not lead to a svelte, swimsuit body. And most know that an unbalanced diet and over consumption are probably going to cost us in the long run. I’ve even accepted the fact that fresh oranges and edible soybeans are better for me than the candied versions. But we all have our fructose safety zone. Mom still makes an amazing cinnamon roll, and somehow it seems to cover all the essential food groups.  

 by dan gogerty (visual from iltlaugh.com and bubblews.com)