Splenda: The Food of the Devil

I hate Splenda.

We've been planning a Mediterranean themed meal, and I realized that we didn't have any ground lamb, nor any plain yogurt. So we went off to the store to pick some up.

Safeway didn't have any small cartons of plain yogurt, but we picked up a large one instead. While we were looking at the yogurt, I spotted an interesting flavor: Apple and Goji. After picking up some pita bread, we found out that Safeway (where we live) doesn't carry ground lamb... huh. So, we put the large carton of yogurt back, but kept the pita as well as my little apple and goji yogurt.

We stopped at Albertsons, who didn't carry ground lamb either. Finally, we went to Sherm's (a local grocery) and picked up their last package of ground lamb as well as a small carton of plain yogurt.

When we got home, I was feeling a bit hungry, and decided to try the yogurt I had purchased. Which is where my actual story begins.

I peeled off the lid, and licked the extra yogurt off in anticipation. It was okay, kind of like a tart peach flavor. Then, a second later, an all too familiar bitter-sweet, cloying, chemical flavor flooded my mouth. I looked over the carton. Sure enough, there on the back was the dreaded Splenda logo.

I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a spoonful of the yogurt, before discarding it.

I've been trying to lose weight, and so I've been grabbing the yogurt made with 1% milk, etc. I would rather have something lightly flavored and unsweetened than getting surprised by Splenda.

I know it's my responsibility to read labels before I buy, but :-( this is not the first time I've accidentally been burned by Splenda.

Just a note, I'm not too concerned with the health issues surrounding Splenda and other artificial sugars, I'm just complaining about the nasty after taste.

Health Care and the Next Generation

I've been reading a bit of the debate about the new health care plans, and how it might affect the young adults of the nation (that's me!) If you read the comments on FOX (yikes!) the main argument is 'why should we pay for something we won't use?' The other argument is 'The old folks have been paying for Medicare their whole lives, and now that's being replaced! What will they do?'

Does anyone else see the funny? What, exactly, is the difference between these two programs, besides the fact that you can tap into it before you get old?

I pay thousands of dollars into Medicare and Social Security every year, and I don't make very much. Everyone pays about 15% of their paycheck to this program, no options. The youth are paying for it, and as of today, gain nothing from it until they reach the age of 65. That means that if you are earning $25,000 a year, you are paying out $4,000 in social costs every year. Which also means you are really only earning $21,000 in a year, minus what you might pay in regular taxes.

I'm not going to jump on the band wagon and say that I trust that anything the government comes up with will be awesome and fix all of our problems, but I sure hope it ends up better than what we have now. If I don't get some of my health problems taken care of, I might not even live much past 65 anyway, and all that Medicare / Social Security money I paid out will have been wasted.