Make sure that sugar high is worth it

05 April 2017 - 09:34 By Andrea Burgener
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Before indulging in a sweet treat debate whether it's worth the raised insulin levels or an extra trip to the dentist.
Before indulging in a sweet treat debate whether it's worth the raised insulin levels or an extra trip to the dentist.
Image: iStock

If we're going to eat sugary foods, we owe it to ourselves to make sure we indulge in the best, writes Andrea Burgener

Sugar-coated Gummy Vites. I can't remember how many containers of these child-directed vitamin gums and immune-support gums our family bought when my children were very small.

For some strange reason I never read the small print on the back. Maybe a combination of sleep deprivation and toddler nagging allowed me to believe they were sweet simply because of the elderberry, or that they were filled with stevia or fairy dust. And I guess when the words vitamin or immune support are on something you (stupidly) put it more in the health than trash category.

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But last week when I stumbled across them again in the pharmacy, something made me check out the nutritional info on the "immune support" pack (though nutrition is really too strong a word here).

What I read was truly bizarre: 85g of sugar per 100g of gumminess! We're told that they're free of yeast, wheat and eggs (wow what a relief), and OK sure I'm happy that there aren't any preservatives, but then the sugar's already doing that job. Yes, you're only eating a bit at a time, but calling it immune support is plain bonkers.

Children would be better off eating some good dark chocolate (which is also free of preservatives, wheat, yeast and eggs but doesn't boast about it). How do the lovely people at Adcock Ingram get away with it? Maybe because we don't read the small print?

If we're going to eat sugar, we should do so knowingly and deliberately. And because it shouldn't be our daily bread and butter, so to speak, we should ensure maximum happiness by only indulging in the best and feeling entirely satisfied.

That crappy too-dry supermarket cake your colleague brought in for their birthday, topped with fake cream, is truly not worth the raised insulin levels or an extra trip to the dentist.

To justify your indulgence, you can do no better than a visit to Patachou. This patisserie is the real deal. Here you will find the most delicate patisserie, so intense in flavour and fine in texture-play that you guess the owner and chef are French before anyone confirms it.

The macarons, almost unfailingly disappointing in local places, are perfect, and not an iota less glorious than those at macaron temples Ladurée and Pierre Hermé in Paris.

The éclairs, the canelles, the citron tart, the Paris-Brest, are all glorious. If sugar is truly forbidden on your diet, great salads, sandwiches and croque-monsieur are the answer. There are also stupendous cakes which you can order at 48 hours' notice. Forget the rest, these guys are the bomb.

Patachou is at Shop 44A, Rivonia Village, 011-234-0700, and in Parktown North at 15 7th Avenue, 011-268-5702.

This article was originally published in The Times.

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