SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | MAY 2022 17
By Clare Mendez, Resident
Here's a scenario at our house…We wake up and soon decide to have pancakes for breakfast, "Oh Happy
Day!" I like pancake mornings because hot, fluffy pancakes cook up so fast and easy with my "just add
water" boxed pancake mix. Soon they are smelling heavenly as they're dished out onto plates. If we have
some blueberries or bananas in the house I throw in a bit of those for nutritional value, and to ease my
guilt. We try to eat healthier, but it's okay to have a cheat day once in a while (or so I'm told). We strive to
eat fresh, organic meals most of the time.
Now that we've decided to forego a nutritious breakfast to have pancakes, we come to the decision of
which syrup to pour over our fluffy stacks of goodness. The debate goes like this…Real, organic,
maple syrup versus the fake, but sugar-free, syrup. The serving size for each is 2 tablespoons.
When we study the ingredient list on the bottles here's what we find: One serving of
real, organic maple syrup is 110 calories, 27 carbs, and 24g of sugar. The fake, sugar-free
syrup is just 10 calories, 4 carbs, and 0g of sugar. The ingredient list, however, for the fake
syrup is long. There is water, sorbitol, cellulose gum, salt, caramel color, phosphoric acid,
aspartame, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, sorbic acid, sodium benzoate…
plus 9 more ingredients, none of which come from a maple tree.
I fight with my conscience on this decision, reaching first for one and then the
other, and ultimately decide to go with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Cut
it down the middle. But, let me tell you, the serving size is way off. Let's just say
I pour out more than two tablespoons of syrup and promise to cut back on my
sugar intake somewhere else. Oh happy day, indeed!
Real Vs Fake
