"Sweet tooth" is one of many genius phrases in the English language, a neologism (newly coined word) that lets the listener know exactly what the speaker means in just 2 basic words, even giving a visual representation of it as well. Surprisingly, the phrase was coined in the Middle Ages, as even back then human beings must have discovered how great sweet things were.
MJ's nurse friend recently gave us a a gift of cake and cupcakes and mentioned that she likes to bake and has a sweet tooth. Nothing inherently wrong about this and it was very nice of her to gift us food, but I cringe just at the idea of a sweet tooth, of the image of someone gorging on sweet candies on Halloween, of forgoing other food to have sweet items. It may be because I'm a reformed sugar-eater and realize what it does to our bodies, as well as the truth of diminished returns once you've had the first few bites of sweet stuff. Sugar really has one taste, with many incarnations, levels, and they no doubt all taste good. I find that too easy: just give kids some candy and they'll be happy; well yea sugar is reliably yummy for people, but it's also one of the foods that makes your body crave more, making you slave to it. There's no sophistication to sugar, no subtleness, it's just BOOM in-your-face sweetness; other dishes have much more nuance and layers of taste involved that only a developed palate can appreciate.
Sugar is like a legal drug; it just hasn't been categorized as an addiction. Not to sound too hoity-toity, but I find non-sugar tastes to be much more superior than sweetness: bitterness, savory, salty, sour, spicy, even tasteless vegetables (and TOFU! see previous article) have a freshness to them that makes me feel good about myself and know that it's not going to make me feel sick if I eat too much of it, unlike unreasonable levels of candy that can just leave a pit in my stomach. I learned early on in my sports "career" not to have sugar right before doing any physical activities as it gives just a short burst of energy before crashing.....the negative effects of sugar are right up there with alcohol... just a hangover if you're lucky, or that "sugar rush" feeling that dissipates quickly. There's also the aftereffects of sugar to one's breath: that sour taste in your mouth after sugar that you feel like you need to wash out, I would just rather stick with the neutral foods that don't have the upside of the sweet foods that make you feel good for 30 seconds of mouth pleasure but then gradually feel worse, to the rock steady staple foods, like a McDonald's or Apple stock that just stay on a slow upward trajectory rather than the zigzagging motion of an Amazon or Tesla that could go up quickly but crash down (FINALLY I'm learning that stocks are like a diet- stick with the reliable and healthy companies).
Also, the idea of a "sweet tooth" makes me cringe because the physical aspect of sweet stuff sticking to the gums and causing....tooth decay, bringing a whole new definition to that term.
If I were to have a New Year's Resolution, that's what I'd do: lay off the sweet stuff. Rely only on fruits for sources of sugar. No artificial sugars. I know, very hard to do and a little unrealistic to avoid all sweet stuff altogether, and it makes off limits all the hyped-up food society has deemed to be the tastiest: doughnuts, candy, cake, ice cream, pies, cupcakes, and one of the biggest ones people cannot go without: chocolate.
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