Love Sugar But Hate Veggies? Think Again!

I went to the National Stock Show, in Denver, over the weekend. We saw cows, chickens, more cows and some horses. But I saw one thing I just can't stop thinking about: a sugar beet.

Here are some fun facts about sugar beets:

• 30% of the world's refined sugar comes from sugar beets
• A sugar beet is a vegetable. In fact, I found out, sugar beets are related to chard!
• You have to do a lot of work to turn the veggie into sugar. Look it up on Wikipedia if you are curious.

So, if you have a child who believes he HATES vegetables, but loves candy, maybe it's time for him to learn that at least some of our sugar comes from...vegetables. (And this is not to say that sugar is healthy or should "count" as a vegetable.)

The lesson, really, is that many foods that start out as pretty healthy, can be processed into foods that are devoid of nutritional value. Corn becomes corn syrup, wheat becomes refined flour, vegetable oils are hydrogenated.