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It is the sugar, but the answer to your questions arises from science, marketing, and greed.
In the 70s and 80s, scientists figured out how to withdraw all the fat from foods. The marketers then sold that food as “fat free”, with the implication that this meant it couldn’t make you fat.
Except when you withdraw fat you make food bland. So, to make it palatable, manufacturers added sugar. Sugar was flavor.
Sugar is also what makes people fat. Well, specifically highly refined sugars that are quickly digested, and which lack fiber to provide satiety. You give people that, and they eat too much, and store it as fat.
What caused the obesity epidemic? Tons of sugar. Why do people eat so much sugar? Because it’s in all of those foods marketed as “fat free” (or, since were past that gimmick, “gluten free” or “non GMO”)
I take a pill called Wellness Formulae, and It works for me.
Why? It has a marked placebo effect, why ruin it? Its harmless and not expensive.
LOL!
Like putting “sea salt” in a soup.
That is one, possibly large, contributing factor, but it definitely is not the only one. At least as of 10 years ago, the contribution of sugar to the obesity epidemic was still quite controversial. That is, scientists on both sides presenting evidence that supported or refuted the hypothesis.
This wasn’t the talking heads yelling at each other news show debate, but the slow progress of science debate. None of them (except those paid for by the soda industry) were saying sugar was healthy, but there is a big difference between saying excessive sugar consumption is a factor in obesity and health problems in this specific person, and saying it is the sole cause of a nationwide obesity epidemic.
In that 10 years since I was more familiar with the literature, the amount of soda consumed has plummeted, but the obesity epidemic continues to grow. It is completely possible people have replaced sugar from carbonated drinks with sugar in other places, though.
Of course. I mean it’s not technically impossible but it would make irrigating the Sahara look like a 4-H project.
She’s an intelligent woman. I’m embarrassed for her.
Yeah, don’t tell her that. Even if the jeans do make her butt look fat. 
As has been pointed out already, sugar is in so many foods. Soda is just a drop in the bucket.
Possible?
For just one example, walk down the cereal aisle some time and try to find an option that has less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Be sure to check out all of the “healthy” options. And count the total before adding the milk (which adds another coke can’s worth).
Virtually anything sold in a box has sugar added. Even things that say “no sugar added” have sugar in them.
The modern processed food diet is loaded with sugar.
There’s a tourist tchotchke shop at the beach near us. Like many such shops they do a brisk business in cute little signs with hokey sayings. My favorite says:
I just love being at the beach.
The ocean makes my butt look so much smaller.
The problem we have is that the jeans make her butt look perfect, but I can’t understand paying $255 for pants.
Wow! I’m guessing ‘True Religion’
Good for her.
We might or might not be able to understand things like those. But there are certainly things about the Universe which we can’t understand. Most notably, our own brains.
That one’s not controversial. Mars has almost no magnetic field, and that’s probably the reason why its atmosphere is so thin, and it also exposes the surface to higher levels of some sorts of radiation, all of which means that any colonies should be underground.
Oh, sure, there are subtle differences. And it’s certainly possible to have an allergy or other bad reactions to some but not others. But they’re still all sugar, and for most people (without allergies or the like), they’ll all have similar effects.
Here’s another unsupported scientific belief:
Billions of years ago, Mars was a fertile planet with an atmosphere and flowing water. It probably sustained simple life.
Its present condition is a precursor to what earth will become when our planet also loses its atmosphere and ability to sustain life.
Speaking of…I predict that our planet will eventually become inhospitable. Human behavior is rapidly accelerating this timeline. This will eventually trigger the demise of humans. We won’t ever be technologically advanced enough to be able to develop a civilization elsewhere.
If anthropogenic climate change continues unabated on the Representative Carbon Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) it will certainly become largely unsuitable for us, and most other unprotected macroscopic land animal and plant life, as well as corals and many oceanic life forms, but it won’t turn Earth into the uninhabitable near-vacuum of Mars (nor the massive hothouse of Venus), or even extinguish all complex life. It’s actually pretty doubtful that we can even extract and emit enough carbon dioxide to fully exercise the RCP8.5 projection, although it is possible that unknowns in feedback mechanisms could drive the Earth down that path anyway, and even lower concentrations will still likely spell the end for industrial civilization and the death by famine, heat stress, climate disasters, et cetera for billions of people and mass extinctions for millions of species. Deep ocean life and many species of fungi may thrive, however, in the newly open ecological spaces once the planet cools again.
We will not colonize Mars or any other world in the solar system as a “Plan B” home, and it doesn’t seem very likely that we will be able to build sustainable solar-orbiting habitats in the foreseeable future. It seems unlikely at this point that we’ll even be able to build self-replicating systems that will carry on in our steed or spread out across the universe despite the fanciful imaginings of science fiction fans.
Stranger
Plain cheerios. Weetabix. Kix.
Inedible without a sweetener and milk. To most people. Seriously eat a plain Cheerios. Just one. Cardboard is what they taste like.
I forego all dry cereal. It’s not worth it. I am not eating cardboard in skim milk. There are many things that I can eat that have a payoff enough that I don’t miss the sweet. And I can stay on my restrictions.
My wife and I went recently looking for pickled cucumbers. Pickled like in brine and vinegar, maybe some herbs and mustard seeds, a simple classic recipe. We only found one without sugar. The rest all included dextrose, maltose, corn syrup or the like. Same happened with smoked ham. Sugar is in every single processed food.
And I believe the worst of all sugars is corn syrup.
As if it made a difference… Check out the link to find out how it is made if you’re curious.
I so agree with you. Sugar is pervasive. Everywhere.
I understand. It tastes good. Why not have a nice taste occasionally? But why do canned beans need added sugar? A bean is a bean. You get what you get.
Do you mean canned “baked beans”? Baked beans have been sweetened in the pot since the original native American recipe, apparently.
I believe there is a tiny homunculus in my skull who controls my mind, like this.
I believe there is a tiny homunculus in your skull, too, but it looks more like this.
