The Sugar Problem

Sorry I haven't posted a blog in a while. April was a crazy busy month filled with holy week, an awesome visit from my parents, and a school gardens training. 

So this funny little green triangle dude is holding up a sign that says "sugar with IRON." Normally I am all for fortified food items, however I have heard a lot of Guatemalans say that they get their iron from sugar. Now I haven't done the calculations, but I'm pretty sure a person would become diabetic before they got their daily recommended iron intake from sugar.

On the whole Guatemalans consume what I consider to be a ton of sugar daily. Like in the U.S. sodas are extremely popular. Unlike in the U.S., both kids and babies are given soda (I have seen both soda and coffee poured into baby bottles). Soda is also commonly called "agua" or water. This is why it is important to specify "agua pura" pure water if you actually want to get water in Guatemala. I am an avid coffee drinker, but I told my host family that I don't like it so that they wouldn't serve me "coffee" at dinner. I put "coffee" in quotes because what they make is more like warm sugar water with coffee flavor. Needless to say not my favorite.